Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s increasingly unhinged former president and deputy chair of the Security Council, claims it is a “distinct possibility” that several American states may soon secede—and he sees a potential ally in an independent Texas. “California and the ‘Lone Star State,’ Texas, are already asking to go their own way, and it seems that, just recently, such a scenario would have been viewed as absurd or, at least, very strange,” he told the audience at an educational event in Moscow on Tuesday. “I don’t know how you all feel, but personally I would be rooting for Texas, and we would see what interesting solutions they might come up with,” he said, according to the TASS news agency.

He went on to claim that the “celebrated” Twitter CEO Elon Musk has a real shot at becoming the next U.S. president in 2024. “Elon Musk is being hyped today as the new face of the new United States,” he said, adding that: “The next U.S. presidential election may end up being won by a person who enjoys greater authority than, say, [former President Donald] Trump himself, never mind [incumbent President Joe] Biden.”