A bunch of far-right influencers and allies of President Donald Trump, including the man steering his controversial ballroom project, schlepped to Russia this week for a Kremlin-backed conference on the Russian economy.
Trump and the MAGA movement’s Russophilic tendencies have been in focus for the last decade. Ties between Trump’s inner circle and Russia’s government in 2016 were confirmed by federal investigations that determined members of Trump’s campaign sought, and ultimately received, Russia’s help in winning the 2016 presidential election. And Trump’s withholding of congressionally authorized military aid to Ukraine during his first term, which led to his first impeachment, underscored the ways in which his personal politics have aligned with Russian interests. More recently, a federal indictment in 2024 alleged several MAGA influencers were conscripted into a Russian-backed scheme to sow political dissension and promote pro-Kremlin talking points to American audiences.
So it may not come as a surprise that several prominent MAGA figures appeared this week at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an event some have called Russia’s answer to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. But it marks yet another data point in the conservative movement’s love affair with Russia’s repressive government. It’s also striking to see MAGA activists providing a public relations victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin despite Russia’s efforts to aid Iran in the war Trump initiated and that he has framed as an existential battle.
Among the right-wing figures attending the conference was Rodney Mims Cook Jr., the chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, The Independent reported. Cook is the official Trump tapped to oversee his ballroom boondoggle, a project opposed by a majority of Americans.