>>2413142That's funny. You mentioned bad faith, and I think it's because anti-Russian rightoids figure that depicting Putin as a communist is useful because they want to convince other rightoids to support Ukraine. If you're a lib and you're talking to other libs, you want to emphasize Putin's conservative aspects.
>>2413155I've also seen these types pull up Yuri Bezmenov-type texts from the 1980s. There were other Russian emigres who'd give talks to right-wing audiences here in the U.S. back then emphasizing that Gorbachev's reforms were ackshually all part of a plot to trick America into letting our guard down. Lyndon LaRouche also did this I think (although he became pro-Russia later on). And then some claim (badly out-of-context Lenin quote) that all this conservative stuff you think you're seeing is Bolshevik trickery.