In recent years, several laws have been passed in Russia, which make it harder for foreign organizations to influence Russian politics. The critics of those laws regard them as undemocratic.
Their proponents claim that they cannot be undemocratic because
- most of these laws were copied from American ones,
- the United States is the most democratic country in the world,
- hence, by doing the same thing the US does, Russia gets closer to the American democratic ideal.
If item 1 of this logic is correct, it must be illegal for non-American individuals and organizations to exert influence on American politics. The probably most important way to do so is to give donations to politicians.
Therefore my question: Is an American politician allowed to receive donations from a non-American citizen living outside the US?
In other words: If I as a Russian citizen wanted to make a donation to, say, Donald Trump, could he legally accept it?