Russian Scientist Calls Trump ‘Manchurian Candidate’ For Putin

Former President Donald Trump is a “Manchurian candidate” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to exiled Putin critic Andrei Piontkovsky.

Piontkovsky, a prominent scientist and political analyst, wrote in an opinion article published by The Kyiv Post earlier this week that Trump defeating President Joe Biden in November would be “a dangerous disaster for the U.S., Ukraine, and the West, essentially installing an instrument of the Kremlin in power in Washington.”

“If Trump wins, he will enter the White House on Jan. 20, 2025, as a much more dangerous president than he was in 2017,” wrote Piontkovsky. “He will be bitter and seek to take his revenge on the so-called deep state that he claims stole the election from him in 2020.”

Trump was compared to a character from the 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate and subsequent film adaptations, which concerns a plot to “brainwash” a soldier as an assassin to allow for a political candidate chosen by Chinese Communists to seize power inside the U.S.

Piontkovsky wrote about a hypothetical scenario where Trump is elected in November and starts his second term by granting a series of favors to this “friend” Putin, including ending American military aid to Ukraine, before announcing the formation of U.S.-Russia strategic partnership.

He predicted that Trump would “appear on television screens throughout the world to inform us that he is heading to Moscow on the invitation of “his friend Vladimir” days after beginning his term, with Trump insisting to concerned countries that “you’re going to love it.”

Piontkovsky imagined that Trump and Putin would sign an agreement that stipulates NATO is “no longer up to the task of maintaining security and stability in Europe” and ordains U.S. and Russian control over the continent, while forcing Ukraine to cede much of its territory to Moscow in exchange for “peace.”

“Candidate Trump promises almost every day that he will stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of assuming the presidency, which is code for putting an end to US arms shipments,” Piontkovsky wrote.

Piontkovsky argued that Trump has “the same list of enemies” as his “long-time partner Vladimir Putin”—the U.S. under President Joe Biden, Europe and Ukraine. Piontkovsky wrote that all three were “recipients of [Trump’s] seething hatred.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Friday night.

Two options for avoiding “the catastrophic scenario” were offered by Piontkovsky: a massive increase in military aid to Ukraine, or finding a way for “the most desired” presidential candidate to defeat Trump, which Piontkovsky argued was “most certainly Nikki Haley.”

“Most polling data currently shows both Trump and Haley defeating Biden in a general election, but Haley wins by a larger margin,” Piontkovsky wrote, before arguing that Haley would win a general poll that pitted her against Trump while excluding Biden.

Piontkovsky concluded by appealing to members of the “Reagan wing of the Republican party,” which he said included figures such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

“I hope also that a Reagan wing of the Republican party…(maybe after reading this piece)…will wake up at last to their historic mission: prevent the Manchurian candidate clinching the 2024 Republican nomination,” he wrote.

Piontkovsky is far from the first pundit to suggest that Trump is a “Manchurian candidate” for Putin. The term was used in reference to Trump on many occasions before he was elected in 2016, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also famously accusing him of being a “puppet” for Putin during their third presidential debate.

Trump himself has used the term to describe Biden, having claimed that the current president is “compromised” and “a Manchurian candidate” for China in a video statement released last year.