Agitprop, The Red One, and Pinning the Tail on the Pepe

".. When he arrived in the U.S., Atbashian was puzzled by the "level of delusional affection for all things Left among the liberal intellectual elites who take America's exclusive well-being for granted. At the time Oleg dismissed this "delusional affection" as silly and of little consequence.

[So what change the "little consequences"?]
"I'm still haunted by the horror I came to be a witness of [9/11, ed.]," says Atbashian. "The subsequent blame-America attitude among the intellectual trend-setters enraged me; 'liberalism' no longer seemed laughable. It was dangerous suicidal madness that had to be confronted. I took up political activism."

Finally, a nod to the Le Pewian persona...
"Curiously, and I should have known this instinctually, Oleg spoke about sycophants, too-eager campaign staff and over the top yes-men and seekers. "We lived through all that in Soviet Union. There are derogatory names to call them, but brown-noser is the most polite".