Russian Lawmaker Offers Donald Trump Advice

Amid this year’s presidential election, Russian politician Andrey Kartapolov had some campaign advice for Donald Trump when he said that the former president should “ride a motorcycle” and “go to Texas, put on a cowboy hat, and climb up on a horse.”

Kartapolov, a former Russian army officer and a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political party, United Russia, recently told Olga Skabeyeva on a state-run television program how Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, can edge out President Joe Biden in this year’s election.

In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday by journalist Julia Davis, founder of Russian Media Monitor, a watchdog group that was created “in an effort to combat Russian propaganda,” Kartapolov said, “I have advice for Trump. There are two things he should do before the debates.”

The first presidential debate is set for next week on June 27, hosted by CNN in Atlanta. Unlike previous debates, it will not feature a live studio audience. A second debate is scheduled for September.

Kartapolov’s first piece of advice for Trump was for him to “ride a motorcycle or at least a tricycle to avoid extra risk.” His suggestion was then greeted with laughter by Skabeyeva.

His second suggestion was in a similar vein: “Most importantly, go to Texas, put on a cowboy hat, and climb up on a horse—climb up on his own. Then Biden would stand no chance, believe me,” Kartapolov said.

The relationship between Trump and Putin has been under scrutiny since the former president’s 2016 run against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, with questions arising about Russia’s alleged election interference and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

Special counsel Robert Mueller led the U.S. intelligence investigation into election interference and in March 2019, his findings were made public in the Mueller report.

“Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the report said.

Russia has denied the allegations and Trump has called the Mueller report a “complete and total exoneration.”

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Washington, D.C., and Moscow’s relations have been increasingly strained, as under Biden, the United States remains a strong ally of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Russia signed a strategic partnership agreement with North Korea, which states that both countries will use all means to provide military assistance to the other, further straining Russia-U.S. relations.

Despite this, Putin publicly stated in February that Russia prefers Biden to be the next president and not Trump. He delivered the remarks in an interview with Russian state television, replying “Biden” when asked which candidate would be better for Moscow, explaining that “he’s more experienced, more predictable, he’s a politician of the old formation.”

The Russian leader added that regardless of November’s results, “we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people trust.”

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign spokesperson for comment via email on Saturday.

The presidential polls remain extremely tight, with FiveThirtyEight’s national poll aggregator showing that Biden has a 0.3 point lead above Trump, as of Saturday morning.