RT, the television channel run by the Russian government and widely believed to be a propaganda machine for the Kremlin, has taken a liking to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, Michael Crowley writes in the May/June issue of
Politico magazine.
Trump
has said he views Russian President Vladimir Putin as someone he could get along with and make deals with – unlike what President Barack Obama has been able to do.
Putin in turned offered praise for Trump.
Likewise, Politico writes, RT has warmed to the U.S. presidential campaign as Trump has ascended and has even been able to bring Trump's old MSNBC foe Ed Schultz around.
Back at his old employer, Schultz branded Trump a racist for calling for Obama to produce his birth certificate and college records in 2011, and lampooned Trump when he considered running for president the next year.
"Who has shown any interest in Donald Trump being the next president of the United States other than Donald Trump?" Schultz said. "Mr. Trump, stop embarrassing yourself!"
Schultz also ripped conservatives at the time for praising Putin over Obama.
Now, with a show on RT, Schultz is more in line with RT, where, Politico notes, "you'll find a presidential race featuring Hillary Clinton as a malevolent warmonger, Bernie Sanders as an insurgent hero — and Donald Trump as a foreign policy savant."
Trump, Schultz says, "has tapped into an anger among working people," is "talking about things the people care about," and "would easily be able to function" as president, Politico notes.
"Those are strange words coming from an ex-MSNBC liberal better known for casting Trump as a racist lout," Crowly writes. "But RT is a strange place."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.