"Easterners, who had lived under a communist satellite regime since the Soviet Army occupation after WWII, "
I'm sure they'll thrive under the gentle guidance of Trumnp's America (as long as you ignore the sharp rise in racism - particularly Antisemitism)
people need to remember that "free Russia" is, as well as being the most unequal State in Europe, now the greatest threat to world peace on the planet since WW2
During the existence of the DDR, the US spent fourteen years pouring burning pertol on Vietnamese peasants, bobbing Cambodia, forcing the North Korean people back to living in caves, backing despotic mass murderers like Pinochet, Papa Doc,.... and assasinating any progressive leader who got in the way of "Making America Great" - anything East Germany did was matched by the US a hundred times over
This 'Holier than though attitude doesn't beat up too well to close examination
Jim