Russian State TV Mocked Trump’s ‘Salute To America’ – Including The Tanks

President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July celebration – the so-called ‘Salute to America’ – was widely panned overseas and by the media at home but one particularly interesting aspect is how Russian state TV covered the event. Russian TV often criticizes the US as part of a wider, anti-western agenda.

Russia’s Rossiya 1 network referred to the Salute to America as something you might see in ‘Putin’s America’ and hosts mocked the tanks that Trump insisted on bringing to Washington, DC.

“The paint on these vehicles is peeling off. There are no cannons, and their optics have been glued on with adhesive tape,” the network’s Olga Skabeyeva claimed, later tweeting the same criticism.

“Americans are allowed to hold a parade because theirs is democratic, but we are not allowed because ours is chauvinistic,” she said.

Skabeyeva’s comments highlight a serious concern about the event: normalizing displays of military power and authoritarian showmanship. This was a major source of contention for domestic critics as well, included prominent conservatives.

Russia has long been synonymous with military parades. During the Soviet era, huge parades of tanks and troops were a frequent feature of Moscow’s Red Square. However, Trump’s event had to make do with stationery tanks since the streets of Washington would have been wrecked by any sustained parade.

Russian state TV will continue to push the Kremlin’s agenda by mocking the US at every opportunity. Though Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump, Russia’s ultimate goal is to undermine the US and western nations, which it will use any means to achieve.