‘My Culture is Not Your Costume’: Russian Internet Reacts to Donald Trump’s Re-Election

The Russian internet has been awash in memes about the U.S. presidential election this week as former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
Here’s a look at some of our favorite election memes:
We’ll start with a classic. This cartoon, captioned “Russia today:” shows one pensioner telling the other that “They haven’t finished counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan,” a riff on the complicated U.S. electoral system.
Россия сегодня: pic.twitter.com/7kUHIfqUyi
Another play on a classic. In the first panel, the woman says, “they haven’t finished counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan.” And the man in the shower replies, “they’re taking a while.”
Россияне сегодня и завтра: pic.twitter.com/YddB5MXhOV
Another in the genre. The first woman asks, “Well, Galya, what’s going on there?” Galya replies, “Everything will be decided in Michigan.” 
Чисто твиттер pic.twitter.com/fexjeOtjWa
“Russians listening to Americans complain about Trump being on the ballot a third time.”
“My culture is not your costume.”
A darker meme. “Adam Kadyrov awarded medal for ‘Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election’,” referring to Ramzan Kadyrov’s son being given state awards after beating up Nikita Zhuravel, a teenager who was jailed in Chechnya after being accused of burning a Quran in Krasnodar.
⚡️Адам Кадыров награжден медалью за «победу Дональда Трампа на выборах президента США» pic.twitter.com/2jdm5SDeJ4
“Trump announces White House being renamed.” The inscription on the white house says “Trumpunkt,” a play on the Russian word for “Emergency Room (травмпункт)”.
⚡️Трамп объявил о переименовании Белого дома pic.twitter.com/tfYEzrqrAK
This one is about the previous presidential election in Russia. In 2023, Ella Pamfilova, the chairwoman of the Central Election Commission, refused to allow 40-year-old journalist and lawyer Yekaterina Duntsova to register to run for president.
Pamfilova famously told her, “You are a young woman. You have everything ahead of you. Any minus can be turned into a plus. Any experience is still an experience.”
Here, she tells Vice President Kamala Harris the same thing.
“Donald Trump has finished the SVO.” The headline being cut off appears to say that Donald Trump has ended the war in Ukraine, which the Russian government calls a “special military operation (SVO).”
Съели демократы! pic.twitter.com/aJFWD16ajf
“Come on, fix my life.”
сделал вам мем pic.twitter.com/uuP79QHDmZ
“Americans complaining about election night, as if it looks like this:” referring to the speech Vladimir Putin gave at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
And then there’s this bizarre meeting captured on Russian television.
This guy is a Republican candidate for the Minnesota State House https://t.co/dZPJI0KhIt https://t.co/4ZTWU285Po
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