America’s far right shares a common enemy with Putin and Russia: the West’s liberal values and the cabal of elites they say controls the economy and the media.

“It helped for Russian purposes to act like all of these other people agree with them,” Weiss said. “It was a way of creating an echo chamber where there isn’t one.”

Like Putin, former president Donald Trump who frequently professed his personal admiration for the Russian president and capitalized on the disdain for western liberal values among some conservatives, said Jared Holt, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab who researches extremism…

“Some of these far-right cliques within the broader pro-Trump movement came to view Trump as an avatar, fighting against the ills of society they perceive,” he said. “I think they view Putin, also, as an avatar standing up against similar forces.”