Donald Trump and some of his allies continue to compare his legal problems to the plight of Alexei Navalny, while the former president has yet to condemn the Friday death of the imprisoned Russian dissident who was President Vladimir Putin\u2019s strongest critic.<\/p>\n
In the four days since Navalny\u2019s death, the Republican presidential front-runner has commented on it only to blast the state of this country, including his court cases, saying in a social media post Monday that the \u201csudden death\u201d of Navalny has \u201cmade me more and more aware of what is happening in\u201d the United States.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s handling of the situation served as a reminder of the soft rhetoric he\u2019s long employed toward Russia and drew bipartisan criticism as he prepares for an expected general-election rematch against President Biden. His defenders \u2014 including potential running mates \u2014 have sidestepped questions about his response and leaned into the comparison in some cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatch the Biden Administration speak out against Putin and his jailing of his leading political opponent while Democrats in four different jurisdictions try to turn President Trump into an American Navalny,\u201d former House speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday on X, formerly Twitter. \u201cThe hypocrisy and corruption of the left is astonishing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Washington, the fallout from Navalny\u2019s death is not receding. The White House announced that it will unveil a \u201cmajor sanctions package\u201d aimed at Russia on Friday in response to the death, which happened at an Arctic penal colony where Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence.<\/p>\n
Biden has blamed Putin for Navalny\u2019s death and used it to redouble his push for more U.S. aid to Ukraine as it fights Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n
Emma Ashford, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center \u2014 a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank \u2014 said she was \u201cnot surprised at all\u201d at how Trump has responded to Navalny\u2019s death, including the comparisons to himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure for him, this is a politically convenient message, but it just rings completely false,\u201d Ashford said.<\/p>\n
Trump has long fueled concerns that he is too cozy with Putin, but the latest episode is part of an especially stark chapter. Earlier this month, he alarmed U.S. allies anew after saying he would encourage Russia to invade a NATO country that was not spending enough on defense.<\/p>\n
Those comments \u2014 as well as Trump\u2019s handling of Navalny\u2019s death \u2014 have given his last serious presidential primary rival, Nikki Haley, a new opening to criticize Trump and highlight her foreign policy experience as his onetime U.N. ambassador. Polls show Haley trailing Trump by wide margins ahead of the Saturday primary in South Carolina, her home state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only comment [Trump is] going to make about Navalny is not hitting Putin for murdering him, not praising Navalny for fighting the corruption that was happening in Russia, but instead he\u2019s going to compare himself to Navalny and the victim that he is in his court cases?\u201d Haley said in a Fox News interview Tuesday. \u201cHe is so distracted, he is so focused on himself, and America can\u2019t go through this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s comparisons come as he faces 91 counts tied to four criminal indictments during his White House comeback campaign. In a separate civil case in New York, a judge ordered him Friday to pay more than $350 million in penalties for using \u201cblatantly false financial data\u201d on financial statements.<\/p>\n
Republicans who have been discussed as possible running mates for Trump have avoided criticizing him over his handling of Navalny\u2019s death. In a Sunday interview on CNN \u2014 before Trump said anything about the death \u2014 Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) called Putin a \u201cmurderous dictator\u201d but declined to say whether Trump should speak out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need strong leadership coming from America that actually pushes back against Russia and other dictators,\u201d Scott said. \u201cUnfortunately, Joe Biden is not up for that charge and Donald Trump is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another potential running mate, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), took a similar tack in a statement given to a local news outlet Monday. A spokesperson for the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference said Stefanik had \u201cone of the toughest records\u201d on Russia and looked forward to returning to the \u201cpeace through strength policies of President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renewed discussion about Trump\u2019s attitude toward Russia is a lifeline for Republicans working against him in the primary contest.<\/p>\n
Katon Dawson, a former South Carolina GOP chair who backs Haley, said Trump\u2019s unwillingness to condemn Navalny\u2019s death \u201ccertainly does not hurt our efforts\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything from our military presence with bases and nuclear subs and everything we\u2019ve grown up with here was in opposition to Russia,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cThere isn\u2019t any warm and fuzzy feelings in South Carolina for anyone who\u2019s wrapping their arms around [Russia].\u201d<\/p>\n
Alex Conant, an unaffiliated Republican strategist, said global affairs are a vulnerability for Trump in the primary race, but he also acknowledged that the issue has done little to diminish the former president\u2019s front-runner status.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t cost him in 2016, and so far it hasn\u2019t cost him in 2024,\u201d Conant said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to win the nomination despite his weak rhetoric on Russia, not because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump and some of his allies continue to compare his legal problems to the plight of Alexei Navalny, while the former president has yet to condemn the Friday death of the imprisoned Russian dissident who was President Vladimir Putin\u2019s strongest critic. In the four days since Navalny\u2019s death, the Republican presidential front-runner has commented […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}