From Moscow to Mar-a-Lago: How Trump is Adopting Putin’s Media Playbook

In the 1990s, I directed the Global Thinking Project. This was a collaborative network of educators across the United States and Russia. During this time, I observed firsthand the rise of a new Russia. Among its most hopeful signs was the emergence of a vibrant and independent press.

Newspapers like Novaya Gazeta and the Moscow Times brought investigative journalism to the Russian public. Radio voices like Echo of Moscow and independent television channels delivered hard truths. This marked a significant change after decades of Soviet silence punctuated with massive propaganda.

But that era of openness was short-lived. All independent TV channels, except cable entertainment channels, were banned from the air. Independent newspapers are also banned, although the Moscow Times, in Amsterdam, is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. Novaya Gazeta also publishes its newspaper online.

Under Vladimir Putin, this experiment in democratic accountability was gradually—but ruthlessly—shut down. The result is today’s reality: a state-dominated propaganda machine, near-total censorship, and the criminalization of dissent.

Trump follows his leader

It is now clear: Donald Trump sees that model not as a cautionary tale—but as a blueprint. Trump’s Long War showcases his disdain for independent media. This attitude has been one of the most consistent elements of his political career. He has:

• Called the press the “enemy of the people” (echoing Stalinist language),
• Repeatedly suggested jailing reporters or revoking press credentials.
• Announcing that the White House will have full control over which journalists can access the press pool. Booted AP out because they don’t use the phrase “Gulf of America.”
• Flooded the courts with defamation suits, and
• Praised authoritarian leaders—Putin, Orbán, Erdo?an—for their iron-fisted control of the media.

---

Stephen Colbert

Trump’s recent celebration of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s cancellation—after Colbert criticized Trump’s influence over CBS—signals a new phase. He claimed Colbert’s firing was deserved for being “untalented” and promised “Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT… Fallon will be gone.”

These aren’t random outbursts. They’re warning shots.

From Dissent to Silence: What Putin Built—and Trump Wants

Putin’s model for media control involved four strategies, all of which Trump is now emulating:

1. Delegitimize independent journalism Label it as fake, corrupt, or foreign-funded.
2. Create loyalist alternatives Fill the vacuum with state-aligned media or MAGA-friendly platforms (e.g., Truth Social, FOX, lOANN, Newsmax).
3. Use lawsuits and legal threats SLAPP suits (A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) and vague laws are weaponized against reporters.
4. Pressure corporations This is seen in CBS’s payout to settle Trump’s meritless lawsuit just before Colbert was dropped. Trump’s behavior is a slow-motion replay of Putin’s rise. He does not need to rewrite the Constitution to control the media—he only needs to intimidate, delegitimize, and consolidate.

The View from Global Thinking

What Can Be Done

• Support independent, nonprofit journalism (e.g., ProPublica, Democracy Now, The Intercept, Substack, Lucid, The Contrarian. Note: there is a growing number of independent journalists, professors, small progressive-leaning companies, organizations, and institutes. Thousands of government workers across the spectrum of deep and wide knowledge bases are actively fighting the Trump autocracy, especially the largest police force, which round up people for no other reason than the color of their skin or their language. They detain them. Provide no legal counsel. And send them to a US concentration camp, such as Alligator Alley in Florida.;
• Protect whistleblowers and press shields.
• Push back on efforts to defund public media.
• Educate students to recognize propaganda vs. investigative reporting.
• Call out threats to free expression as red flags for authoritarian drift.

Please feel free to reach out to me by filing a comment.