While it’s easy to roll our eyes at Trump’s ridiculous and narcissistic claim that his legal troubles make him like assassinated Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, do not overlook the fact that it’s also part of Trump’s dangerous effort to destroy our democracy.
After I wrote my previous post, in which Trump described his legal troubles as a “modern form of Navalny” during his Fox News town hall last night, I realized that like with a lot of things Trump does, there is a reason behind his madness that should not be dismissed as merely nuts.
What Trump is trying to do is paint Biden, not Putin, as an autocratic threat to the U.S. He made that more explicit elsewhere in the town hall, which I did not include in my last post.
From The Guardian:
Despite prompts from host Laura Ingraham, Trump did not mention Putin when asked about Navalny.
“He was a very brave guy because he went back. He could have stayed away, and frankly, probably would have been a lot better off staying away and talking from outside of the country.”
Trump added: “It’s happening in our country, too. We are turning into a communist country in many ways. I have eight or nine trials all because of the fact that ... I’m in politics.”
It’s no coincidence that Fox is also promoting this "persecuted by authoritarian Biden" messaging. When the network is not painting Biden as senile, it’s demonizing the Biden administration as corruptly persecuting Trump, one stop short of murdering him. Host Jesse Watters even hosted a former mafioso assassin who argued that President Biden is like a corrupt mobster who deserves the death penalty. And, of course, the MAGA Republicans in Congress are following along like lemmings.
You know who else is using this rhetoric? Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this month, NPR reported that “Trump’s persecution resonates with Christian supporters.”
Turning Trump into a victim is a neat way to distract from his stated desire to be a dictator. But worse than that, it lays the groundwork to frame his authoritarianism as noble corruption-busting, standing up to and fighting back against “woke” enemies.
I’m not saying that comparing himself to Navalny is a winning strategy for Trump. But it’s of a piece with the rest of his, Fox News’ and MAGA Republicans’ strategy to get himself installed as dictator on Day One of the next presidential term.
(Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey, via Flickr and Creative Commons License)