For those unconvinced by the racial argument [as the basis for contemporary acceptance of Russia], there is the matter of religious orthodoxy: after the fall of the Soviet Union, many Christian conservative leaders in the U.S. awoke to the reality that they had more in common with their anti-gay, anti-feminist Russian analogs than they had previously realized.
That promise of a U.S.-Russian alliance formerly relegated to dark corners of the far right has resisted mainstream acceptance in U.S. foreign policy—until now. Since Trump took office, the percentage of Republicans expressing “somewhat favorable” or “very favorable” views of Putin has skyrocketed.
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