Russian TV Discusses Potential U.S. Civil War

Kremlin propagandists on Russian state TV said that political turmoil in the United States suggested that the country was facing a civil war.

Vladimir Solovyov's evening show regularly condemns the U.S. for its support for Ukraine and Monday's episode was no different. This time, the topic of discussion was the context of the Republican primaries and the 2024 presidential election.

The show played a clip of Republican presidential contender and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, in which she discussed age and term limits for lawmakers on CBS' Face the Nation, referring to Senator Mitch McConnell "being frozen at a podium" and President Joe Biden making gaffes.

"Our enemies are watching all of this," she said in the soundbite, prompting Solovyov to respond, "There is another problem Nikki—the whole world is your enemy right now because of the way you conduct your politics."

Political analyst Andrey Sidorov weighed in to say that Haley was not the head of state and referred to a favorite among Kremlin pundits, "the eternal President Trump," before Solovyov said whoever wins in 2024 "will fight against us."

Sidorov lamented how "there are no longer Dana Rohrabachers in today's America," referring to the former Republican congressman who was "the only elected official who had no plans to fight us," describing Rohrabacher's pro-Russian views.

But Sidorov seemed encouraged about Vivek Ramaswamy's stance on Russia, with the 2024 GOP candidate having suggested ceding Ukrainian territory to Putin to break the Russia-China alliance.

Solovyov said that the turmoil of the campaign trail signaled that "America is on the verge of a civil war" and that if "they get tough on Trump, who knows how it will end," referring to the former president's legal woes.

Sidorov disagreed with Solovyov's civil war comparison and said that even with Trump enjoying a high level of support, there were not any major protests.

Another pundit, Dmitry Drobnitsky referred to previous unrest in the U.S. and the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was cleared of homicide charges after he claimed self-defense in the shooting deaths of two men during racial protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, three years ago.

"If a Black militia came out with their weapons, even the National Guard wouldn't be able to contain it," said Drobnitsky, "everything will be decided with a civil war."

This prompted Solovyov to exclaim, "Yes, that's good, well said!" before adding over the cross-talk, "and we will help."

The exchange was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Russia watcher and journalist Julia Davis who wrote how Kremlin propagandists "placed their hopes in Trump and Ramaswamy, as they pined for a civil war in the U.S."