Russian State TV Says Elections Not Going Trump's Way, Trashes Marco Rubio
A Kremlin propagandist has suggested that it is better the devil you know as he predicted election wipeout for Donald Trump in the U.S. midterms but warned that whoever replaces the U.S. president, such as Marco Rubio, could in fact be worse for Russia.
Russian state television pundits have had a complicated relationship with the Trump presidency, initially hailing his return to the White House as a boost for the Kremlin, given his ties with Vladimir Putin.
While not necessarily reflecting Kremlin thinking, Russian state TV coverage can be positive when Trump undermines Ukraine, marginalizes Europe, or pushes Russian narratives about NATO expansion but can be critical when he threatens Russia directly or boasts about American military superiority.
Political analyst Rafael Ordukhanyan, who specializes in American politics, told the show One's Own Truth on the NTV channel that the mood music following this month's statewide elections in New Jersey, Louisiana and California, in which the GOP suffered defeats, pointed toward a faltering Trump administration ahead of November's ballots.
“Look at what is happening in the U.S.,” he said in the clip posted by Russia watcher Julia Davis from the Russian Media Monitor, “elections have started and we can already see that the results clearly won't be in Trump's favor.”
“We can expert a new person, an utterly Russophobic Rubio due to his family traditions,” he added, referring to the U.S. secretary of state. The anchor Roman Babayan chimed in and took a swipe at Rubio's Cuban roots in which his family fled the Castro regime ruling Moscow’s Caribbean ally. “The communists have taken everything from him,” Babayan said, laughing.
Ordukhanyan continued: “In this case in two years, a totally different group of people will come to power, believe me, we won't like it at all.”
Trump has diminished U.S. support for Kyiv’s fight against Russian aggression and tried to reinstate ties with Moscow after years of deterioration under Joe Biden. Ordukhanyan suggested that it was unclear what a new White House administration would mean for the war or for Moscow more generally and that the Russian government now has two years “to solve our problems.”
The Kremlin has recognized the rise in complaints from bloggers angry about a faltering wartime economy, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian cities and widespread mobile internet blackouts.
Ordukhanyan went on to lament the state of the war in Ukraine for Russian forces in which Ukraine has increased its strikes on Russia, as he called for Moscow to escalate in the conflict. “I think it's criminal not to see it. I think that our political leadership should pay extremely close attention to this,” he said, “whatever we do will be justified.”
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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 10:00 AM.