Such handwringing is also being reflected in a parallel trend online: memes ridiculing both state propagandists’ vilification of Obama and their obsession with Trump. As control over the @POTUS Twitter account was being transferred, another symbolic exchange was happening online. A Russian-language spoof account, @DonaldTrumpRF, tweeted a picture of a Trump-Obama handshake with a key ring Photoshopped onto it. It held the keys to all of Russia communal entrance halls—a reference to a running joke about state propagandists’ attempt to pin all of Russia’s ills on Obama. (According to the joke, propagandists are so shameless they might as well claim the smell of pee in Moscow is Obama’s fault.)

And so, while Russia treated the US elections as an 18-month-long party, it appears the celebratory mood is fading fast. Dealing with Trump’s actual presidency is already starting to look like an embarrassing attempt to explain last night’s booze-fueled social media posts to your coworkers in the morning.

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