Russian bots are piling on President Donald Trump, and calling him a “clown,” after he publicly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
Nearly 1,000 posts ridiculing Trump have popped up on the Russian social media platform VKontakte since Sunday, after Trump vented that the Russian leader had gone “absolutely CRAZY” and was “needlessly killing a lot of people” in Ukraine.
The pro-government accounts have accused Trump of having dementia, Newsweek reported, citing investigative Russian news outlet Agentstvo.
Some of the comments accused Trump of “acting like a child” and “getting so mad early in the morning, as if he wasn’t given what he wanted.” Other apparent bot comments claimed Trump “really lost his mind” and “wants to sit on two chairs” – a Russian idiom for trying to play both sides.
Some bots mocked Trump over his post.
“What can you expect from a clown who threatens Russia instead of taking care of his own country?” one wrote.
Another piled on, “It’s not Putin who’s gone crazy, but Trump. Apparently, dementia comes as a hereditary gift for all U.S. presidents – along with the [presidential] chair.”
A spokesperson for the bot-tracking project Botnadzor found the recent spate of bots failed to keep a neutral tone in their comments about Trump after his Sunday comments critical of the Russian leader. The Kremlin downplayed Trump’s criticisms, chalking his comments up to “emotional overstrain,” while Trump claimed their recent phone call had gone “very well.”
Trump, who just this weekend expressed new harshness toward Russia, also threw jabs at Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, writing in the same post, “everything out of his mouth causes problems…it better stop.”
The 47th president has repeatedly claimed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its third year, in “24 hours.” He is now more than 100 days in office. Trump has frequently seen as supportive of Putin and his efforts, but in recent days has hit out more against Moscow over the war.
His lashing out at Russia comes after Moscow bombarded Ukraine with missiles and drones this past weekend in one of the largest aerial assaults of the war, now in its third year.
Trump, on Truth Social, suggested something “happened” to Putin to make him “needlessly” kill a lot of people.
“I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!” Trump wrote.
Trump also echoed the sentiment while speaking to reporters Sunday night, telling them, “He’s killing a lot of people. I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin, I’ve known him a long time.”
