Muse’s Matt Bellamy has claimed that Donald Trump’s reign of division in the US allowed Vladimir Putin to “cause chaos” in the West.

The frontman was talking to NME for this week’s Big Read cover story, ahead of the Devon rockers’ new album, ‘Will Of The People’, being released in August.

Discussing a lyric in the record’s title track that declares, “We need a revolution so long as we stay free”, Bellamy began: “It’s a worrying time because there is a chance here. There’s a window for a lovely new kind of political model or socio-economic structure that could be really good. A good change is possible, but the problem is you have these authoritarians that are realising that they can capitalise on disruption.”

Confirming “these authoritarians” was a reference to Trump, the musician described the former US president as “represent[ing] the worst of the worst”. “What he did was destroy the country by creating massive division,” he explained.

“By any measure, a great leader is somebody who can unify their own people against external threats, and he’s done the exact opposite of that. He made them all turn against each other, and that’s what actually caused the whole of the West to become vulnerable enough where Putin can do what he’s doing now… It’s his complete lack of knowledge about the forces that unify the West like NATO and liberal democracy that has caused this chaos.”

Asked whether he thought Putin had been pulling Trump’s strings while he was in power, Bellamy replied: “I’d say it’s more a case of Putin [thinking], ‘Let’s encourage the chaos – the division’. And the more he could create this dismantling of the West, the more likely he was to be able to get away with what he’s been wanting to do for a long time, which is reclaim the old Soviet states.”

Check out the full Big Read cover interview with Muse here. In it, Bellamy also talks about investing in technology that is hoped will solve the energy crisis, his hopes for “a new type of politics” and the impending “end of a certain cycle of civilisation”.

Meanwhile, Muse kicked off their summer tour last weekend (June 4) at Rock Am Ring 2022, dusting off rarities and performing the unreleased track ‘Kill Or Be Killed’ and recent single ‘Will Of The People’ for the first time. The set also included a live debut for Bellamy’s solo track ‘Behold, The Glove’.

The band’s summer dates will see them perform at festivals across Europe, including Firenze Rocks, Isle Of Wight Festival, Mallorca Live and more.