A few weeks ago, Saturday Night Live featured a sketch parodying the hit show “The White Lotus,” reimagining it as a comedic commentary on the Trump administration.
One of the most notable parts of this sketch was Russian president Vladimir Putin consistently interfering with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and president Donald Trump.
Looking past the ridiculous exaggerations and the desire to evoke a response from the audience, the appearance of Putin in this skit led me to wonder how true this gag was, particularly the extent to which Russia plays a role in American politics.
There is no doubt that in the recent decade, the U.S. has been the victim of Russian interference.
During the 2016 election, Russian intelligence agents would go on social media pretending to be Americans, targeting people and groups from each side of the political spectrum as a means to sow divisions in our country.
Real Americans would be arguing and protesting against Russian agents under the guise that they were also real Americans. This is a harmful and manipulative tactic that further destabilized an already unstable country.
Following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, tensions heightened even more. Former president Joe Biden failed to achieve a permanent ceasefire, leading to Donald Trump inheriting the disastrous conflict.
Trump, in his lack of judgement, claimed that he would end the war in Ukraine in his first 24 hours in office. Now, as we have just passed his 100th day in office, we only see the war progressing into more and more violence.
The Trump administration has been much too arrogant over this issue, believing that they have more power than they really do in resolving the war without the help of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a Truth Social post, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” as though him addressing Putin via a mock X platform would do anything remotely.
Despite SNL mentioning Putin with more prominence, the Russian president has had a chokehold on the U.S. that traces back to 9/11.
Being able to evade a succession in office since 2012, Putin utilizes his experience as a KGB, or state security agent, as well as the resources in Moscow, in order to manipulate the U.S. into backing off, even when he takes violent action through invading Ukraine.
Trump is used to saying something and having it be so, but Putin doesn’t work that way. He will continue going through with the invasion until the Trump administration concedes and lets Ukraine fall to the hands of Russia.
Things are going the way Putin wants it to go, with more polarization today than ever and Trump’s reluctance to voice open support for Zelenskyy. It’s a perfect mess that encapsulates Russia’s main source of power over the American people: the people themselves.
In conclusion, the claim that the SNL skit made wasn’t wrong, and it goes way deeper than one would initially think.
America is regressing due to the increased divisions, leading Russia to continue expanding into the imperialist superpower Putin wants it to be.
