Leadership Quote by Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Zhirinovsky’s line is less sociology than a political feint: a jab designed to turn America’s own moral branding into an indictment. The key move is the contrast between performance and reality. “Try to talk” frames “positive family values” as PR, a talking point exported through speeches, movies, and culture-war rhetoric. Then he drops the hammer: “the actual state of things is disastrous.” It’s deliberately unspecific, which is the point. Vagueness lets the listener pour in whatever anxieties they already carry - divorce, crime, consumerism, “degeneracy,” hypocrisy - and walk away feeling confirmed.

The intent is twofold. First, it punctures American soft power by reframing U.S. moral confidence as sanctimony. Second, it offers his domestic audience a comforting inversion: if the West is collapsing at home, then Russian messiness can be recast as normal, even virtuous. That’s a classic Zhirinovsky maneuver, pitched as common sense but built for maximum political utility.

The subtext reads: stop taking lectures from people who can’t manage their own household. It’s an argument for sovereign cynicism - morality as an arena of propaganda rather than principle.

Context matters. Coming from a Russian nationalist known for theatrical provocation, the quote isn’t a careful claim to be audited; it’s a culture-war missile. It works because “family values” has always been a convenient battleground where private life becomes public proof of national legitimacy. Zhirinovsky exploits that, turning America’s self-image into a mirror that flatters his own side.