The Kremlin Loves Brett Kavanaugh, Hates America's 'Malignant Feminism'
Just like President Donald Trump, the Kremlin-owned media in Russia are wild about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. And their chief propagandist has lashed “malignant feminism” in America for challenging Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Russian TV pundit and media official Dmitry Kiselyov, chosen for his role by Russian President Vladimir Putin, earlier this week dismissed the sexual assault accusation against Kavanaugh by research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford as “like a joke.”
Kiselyov said Kavanaugh’s confirmation was held up by “malignant feminism,” which he blasted as a “tool for extortion.”
The “plague of malignant feminism is moving from America to Europe and toward Russia as well,” he charged on “Vesti Nedeli” (News of the Week) on Rossiya, a state-owned channel that reaches 90 percent of Russian households. It involves “infected ladies [who] project their sexual fantasies onto men who have a successful life and career, accusing them of attempted rape,” he said.
Kiselyov has called women “monkeys” and “witches” on Russian TV and has said he believes feminists should be imprisoned or committed to mental institutions, The Daily Beast reported.
HIs rants eerily echo recent attacks on women by Trump.
On Thursday, Trump ripped Kavanaugh protesters as the “very rude elevator screamers,” and he insisted — with no evidence — that they were “professionals” who were “paid” by Democratic donors. Trump appeared to be referring to two victims of sexual assault who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) last week on an elevator to challenge his support of Kavanaugh.
The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2018
Trump also mocked Blasey at a Mississippi rally earlier this week and lamented the “scary time” that “young men” are facing as they’re threatened by false claims of sexual assault. He said women, meanwhile, are “doing great.”
President Trump: "It's a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of."
Full video here: https://t.co/eIalSfbn4x pic.twitter.com/QOIB2tE8DF— CSPAN (@cspan) October 2, 2018
Trump himself has been accused by more than 15 women of sexual misconduct, with allegations including groping, workplace harassment, forcible kissing and assault.
Kiselyov said other “victims” of such malignant feminism in the U.S. have included Fox News contributor Kevin Jackson, who was fired for calling Kavanaugh’s accusers “lying skanks” (and “leftist women skanky”), and Les Moonves, the former chairman of CBS, who was forced out amid multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. He also scoffed at accusations of rape against Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo by American Kathryn Mayorga. She was in Las Vegas at the time of the alleged attack and didn’t go there to “study the Bible,” smirked Kiselyov.
The state-funded English-language news channel RT has also praised Kavanaugh and blasted protesters. It has also linked protesters to liberal donor George Soros as part of a conspiracy — exactly as Trump has done.
Attitudes like Kiselyov’s are also being driven home by the Russians on social media, according to Hamilton 68, which tracks Twitters activity to bots linked to the Kremlin. Kavanaugh was the top trending subject being pushed by Russian bots.
The Hamilton 68 dashboard, which attempts to track Russian influence operations on Twitter, is charting a lot of Kavanaugh activity right now. https://t.co/lEIzRgORs4 pic.twitter.com/jPgFpEwKyn
— Dustin Volz (@dnvolz) September 28, 2018
New Knowledge, another organization tracking known Russian bots, revealed similar findings.
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The #KavanaughHearings continue to be a popular topic for a Russia-linked disinformation network we're tracking at @NewKnowledgeAI - driving support for the nominee and attempting to discredit Dr. Blasey Ford. https://t.co/WflbSsFV5I pic.twitter.com/bgOXIhHXDQ
— Jonathon Morgan (@jonathonmorgan) September 28, 2018
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.