Trump Quotes Putin to 'Prove' Why U.S. Democracy Is 'Rotten'
One is the law, and the other fails to understand it. Yet another reason Trump is wholly unfit for office
It is not like we needed more proof to show why Donald Trump is “unfit for office.” Nevertheless, a whopping 35 percent of our nation still regards him as the best chance for preserving our democracy.
There is something, however, we need to keep in mind when considering their opinion: These people need to be more knowledgeable as to how our system works. They regard January 6th as a national holiday and believe wholeheartedly that there was a way to discard the votes of their fellow citizens in 2020 legally. So, as you see, these people have rocks in their heads.
Donald Trump, at a campaign stop last night, quoted his mentor and an expert on democracy, Vladimir Putin:
“Even Vladimir Putin says that Biden’s — and this is a quote — politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,” Mr. Trump said as he railed against the 91 criminal charges he is facing, citing Mr. Putin speaking in September.
Mr. Trump added: “So, you know, we talk about democracy, but the whole world is watching the persecution of a political opponent that’s kicking his ass. It’s an amazing thing. And they’re all laughing at us (Trump Quoting Putin).”
Vladimir Putin is, indeed, an expert on democracy. I write this without the slightest bit of exaggeration. Putin studied at the KGB school, which required its agents to be well-versed in the culture and ideologies of the enemy. Since the vanquishing of Nazi Germany, the United States has been, and remains, Russia’s number one enemy. We are the scapegoat for all of Russia’s domestic rot and the reason Russia is constantly interfering in the affairs of countless second and third-world countries around the world.
Putin pushes a brand of “democracy” that is, in theory, a textbook one. He then proceeds to make his people not just believe in that ideal democracy but willingly send their sons and husbands off to die for it without even the slightest peep of resistance. If you ask the Russians in the “periphery” whether or not they thought Russian “democracy” was real, the majority would say it was as real as that which exists in America. The thing is, and this I say more to Americans who doubt that we are a free people, there is zero freedom of choice in Russia.
Not only is there no choice, but most importantly, there is no accountability. Politicians, so long as they always rubber stamp the ideas and caprice of Putin, are permitted free reign to rule as they see fit without the chance they might ever be punished. Only the unpleasant and probably personally disliked politician would ever find himself punished for corruption in Russia. Putin fears that if the cat gets let out of the bag and one person is punished for something everyone is doing, then it could bring the system down.
Democracy in Russia, therefore, politicians in power are neither ever held accountable before nor are they ever publically punished. As we have seen, anyone who strays too far from the fold usually falls from a window or has an unexpected heart attack. The simple fact that Donald Trump would actually quote Putin’s interpretation of democracy to prove how “corrupt” Biden is shows us just how little Trump understands about our system.
Trump’s expectation when he became president was that he would be all-powerful and above the laws of the land. For a person who had been breaking the law his whole adult life, the presidency was Christmas morning every day. The funny thing is that Putin knows what he is saying when he makes such a comment. Putin is having fun with us and mocking the world’s more-or-less democratic countries. He fully understands that a leader who breaks the law should be held accountable — this is most the reason he wants to die in office. He fears being sent to prison.
The sad thing is, though, that Trump and his followers don’t understand the simple premise that a president is not above the law. This is why our nation is so dangerously close to becoming a fascist, authoritarian regime. The rule of law is being usurped by stupidity, and there really is nothing we can do about it. No 60 Minutes expose, or public service announcement will help them see the light suddenly.
In the same way that Trump felt so justified when he heard Putin’s words about how “rotten U.S. democracy” was because the legal system was prosecuting Trump, millions of Americans yet again found themselves thinking, “Man, that Putin is not so bad, after all.”
In bringing Mr. Putin’s words to his defense, Mr. Trump referred to one of Mr. Biden’s top adversaries as a credible observer of the U.S. political system. The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Russian officials interfered in the 2016 election and have repeatedly tried to destabilize U.S. elections.
But suggesting that the United States is not much better than authoritarian countries, and positively invoking Mr. Putin, has been a recurring theme for Mr. Trump since he took office in 2017 (Trump Quoting Putin).
It doesn’t get much crazier than this, folks.