There are a few that just fall all over themselves when they meet a strong man type, almost like a cult reaction, perhaps it is Putin’s determined homoerotic campaign where he poses both shirtless and in various costumes, as the hero of all kinds of posed photos from space to hunting and horse riding, and heroism, etc.
When you see a large collection of them and the absurdity of them, it isn’t difficult to know what kind of men he was trying to win to devote themselves to him, very impressionable men, hungry for a man to follow.
Yup, it seems so. I can maybe see why that might be popular in Russia since they have no real history of democratic governance and have gravitated to the "strong man" type in the past. Perhaps it is all they really know and feels reassuring to them - a macho man type to restore their national pride. It is kinda amusing that Putin has this publicly strong stance against the homo agenda, yet is featured in endless photos that look like he's trying to appeal to the Village People.
For educated American conservatives to fall for this sort of thing is just bizarre.