Due To Donald Trump, Nearly Half Of Military Now Believes Russia Is An ‘Ally,’ Reagan Foundation Survey Finds

Though generally seen by national security experts as one of America’s leading adversaries, Russia is now viewed as an American ally by nearly half of United States military households. This is a trend that has caused deep concern inside the Pentagon, according to a report by Voice of America, the U.S. government-funded international media outlet.

According to the report, based on polling conducted by the Ronald Reagan Foundation, the belief that Russia is a U.S. ally has also risen among the general public. Last year, in the same survey, only 19 percent of Americans said that they viewed Russia as an ally. In 2019, that number is up to 28 percent.

The rise in friendly views toward Russia has been driven largely by Republicans who take “positive cues” from Donald Trump, according to the Reagan Foundation. Trump has frequently praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, and even called for Russia to be reinstated into the G7 global economic group. Russia was expelled from what was then the G8 in 2014, following the country’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

“Many Republicans can slavishly follow Trump’s lead on most matters, including the rhetorical line on Russia,” former CIA officer Paul Pillar told VOA.

But the high rate of military members who view Russia as an ally, should “sound the alarm” for “national security reasons,” according to a Washington Monthly analysis of the survey results. The magazine’s commentary said that it is “clearly dangerous” for the military to take a far more favorable view of “our fiercest geopolitical foe” than does the public at-large.

The Pentagon, in a study released earlier this year, is already worried about the military’s readiness to fight a war with Russia, should one ever take place.

According to the study, carried out by the RAND Corporation think tank, the U.S. military would get “its a** handed to it” by Russia or China in an all-out shooting war. The study was based on computer simulations of numerous possible military conflicts between America and the two adversaries.

“We lose a lot of people. We lose a lot of equipment,” said RAND analyst David Ochmanek. “We usually fail to achieve our objective of preventing aggression by the adversary.”

Pentagon officials told Voice of America that Russia has specifically targeted U.S. military personnel with a “disinformation campaign” at least since 2017, which may also account in part for the disproportionately high number of military members who think of Russia as an ally.

“There is an effort, on the part of Russia, to flood the media with disinformation to sow doubt and confusion,” Pentagon spokesperson Carla Gleason told VOA.

“We are actively working to expose and counter Russian disinformation whenever possible.”