Trump's voters should be explained how Russia seeks to undermine U.S. might - expert

Ukraine is able to get its messages through to radical Republicans, including supporters of former President Donald Trump, but to this end, it is necessary to understand their motivations and refrain from putting forward certain arguments that the expert believe will certainly not work with this audience.

British journalist, writer and long-time researcher of propaganda issues Peter Pomerantsev, who also researches public opinion in the USA regarding Ukraine, shared this vision in an interview with Ukrinform.

"So, if you want to engage these people, you have to talk to them about American strength, you have to talk to them about how Russia is a force in the world that wants to undermine American strength, which it is. You have to talk to them how Russia works with countries like Iran to hurt and humiliate America. And you have to explain that to them and show them how Russia does it. Because while it's ‘support Ukraine!’ it's something very, very far away but when it's something that threatens the primacy of American strength, then it's something they can get very engaged in," the expert said.

He agreed with the thesis that the MAGA audience should be told that it is precisely Vladimir Putin who is preventing them from "making America great again". "Everybody in America hates Putin. You just got to make it clear that it's their cause as well," added Pomerantsev.

However, the British scholar noted that by and large, this audience is indifferent to both Russia and Ukraine as all they care about is “their version of America”.

"If we’re talking about the MAGA vote, it's around maybe half of Republicans. And again, they're not pro-Russia. The thing is they really hate Biden, more than they hate Putin. And they are anti-Ukraine because they're anti-Biden. Once you’re anti-Biden, you will look for any evidence to be anti-Biden: corruption, ‘Nazis’ in Ukraine – it doesn't matter," the expert noted.

According to him, when appealing to this segment of society, which is around 15-20 percent of Americans, it is necessary to understand they believe “more than anybody else in America” that "America needs to be the strongest country in the world and show its strength", and at the same time they don't care about such things as the rules-based international order or NATO.

"They're ready for America to leave NATO. They really are. So those arguments won’t work – when you’re talking about the international architecture or the world order. They claim they hate the world order so don't do that argument," said Pomerantsev.

As reported, Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday blocked a bill passed by House Republicans to provide emergency aid to Israel, which does lays down no assistance to Ukraine to support the nation in defending against Russia.