President Trump’s jaw-dropping defence of Vladimir Putin
DONALD Trump’s latest jaw-dropping defence of Russian president Vladimir Putin has stunned Americans and been condemned across the political spectrum.
In an interview with Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, set to air in full before the Super Bowl later today, Mr Trump excuses Mr Putin’s reputation for ruthlessly disposing of people who oppose his dictatorial rule.
Here’s the exchange, which has been promoted ahead of the interview airing. O’Reilly: “Do you respect Putin?” Trump: “I do respect him, but ...” O’Reilly: “Do you? Why?” Trump: “Well I respect a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get along with him. He’s a leader of his country. I say it’s better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world, that’s a good thing. Will I get along with him? I have no idea.” O’Reilly: “But he’s a killer though. Putin’s a killer.” Trump: “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?”
Several of Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans have condemned his remarks, saying there is no moral equivalence between the United States and a regime known for killing its political opponents.
“I don’t think there’s any equivalency between the way that the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“When has a Democratic political activist been poisoned by the Republicans, or vice versa? We are not the same as Putin,” Senator Marco Rubio added on Twitter.
The strongest repudiation came from Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, who was scathing during an interview with ABC.
“Has the US ever made any mistakes? Of course. Is the US at all like Putin’s regime? Not at all,” Mr Sasse said.
“The US affirms freedom of speech. Putin is no friend of freedom of speech. Putin is an enemy of freedom of religion. The US celebrates freedom of religion. Putin is an enemy of the free press. The US celebrates free press. Putin is an enemy of political dissent. The US celebrates political dissent and the right for people to argue, free from violence, about places where our ideas are in conflict.
“There is no equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom-loving nation in the history of the world, and the murderous thugs that are in Putin’s defence of his cronyism. I don’t understand what the president’s position is on Russia.
“Putin is a mess. He’s committed all sorts of murderous thuggery, and I am opposed to the way Putin conducts himself in world affairs, and I hope that the president also wants to show moral leadership about this issue.
Mr Trump’s eyebrow-raising comments come after a major critic of Mr Putin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was hospitalised with “multiple organ failure”. Mr Kara-Murza had previously claimed to be poisoned in 2015. “None of the medical staff can explain the reason for his current condition. Both last time and once again now,” his lawyer said in a statement.
Mr Kara-Murza is an anti-Putin activist calling for free and open elections.
That follows the high-profile killing of defecting spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died from radiation poisoning in London in 2006.
The Fox News previews also show Mr Trump repeating his assertion that the US election was distorted by voter fraud.
“Let me just tell you — when you see illegals — people that are not citizens and they are on the registration rolls. Look Bill, we can be babies, but you take a look at the registration, you have illegals, you have dead people, you have this, it’s really a bad situation, it’s really bad.
Mr Trump is yet to present any evidence of any widespread fraud, however, and his own lawyers argued against the claims when Democrats called for recounts in some counties.
