Trump compares himself to Navalni and says that the judicial offensive against him “is a form of communism or fascism”

The death of Alexei Navalny has been used by Donald Trump as an excuse to play the martyr, comparing the death in prison of the Russian opponent with his judicial ordeal and the political persecution of which he claims to be the subject of his Democratic rivals.

As he did the day before in a publication on his social network, Truth Social, in which he alluded to the death of the dissident without making a single allusion to the Kremlin, the Republican candidate best placed in his party's primaries has taken advantage of a meeting with voters in the City Council of Greenville (South Carolina) to repeat this Tuesday his argument that the four criminal charges he faces, in addition to several civil lawsuits, are the product of the attempt to derail his candidacy by the Administration of President Joe Biden.

The question and answer session, a very common format in the campaign, has been moderated, recorded and later broadcast in prime time on Fox News, the conservative network that serves as a loudspeaker for the Republicans.

During the meeting, Trump, who on Friday was sentenced by a New York judge to pay $355 million for corporate fraud, lamented the death of Navalni, attributed by President Biden and other Western leaders to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin. .

Even some Republicans from the old guard, the majority in the party before being colonized by Trump, blamed the Kremlin for the opponent's disappearance.

“Navalni is a very sad situation and he is very brave, he was a very brave guy,” Trump responded to a question from the Fox journalist. “He returned [to Russia in 2021 after recovering in Berlin from an attempted poisoning with

he could have stayed out, and the truth is, it probably would have been much better to stay out and talk from outside the country instead of having to go back in, because people thought that [his death] could happen, and it did." .

“And it's a horrible thing, but it's also happening in our country,” Trump declared, suggesting that his indictments – two of them for trying to reverse his defeat at the polls in 2020 – are proof that the United States is “becoming a communist country in many ways.”

"They have accused me four times (...) all for the simple reason that I am in politics (...) They have accused me of things that are so ridiculous...", he complained.

The other two charges are for the payment of a bribe to a porn film actress to prevent their relationship, if revealed, from affecting his campaign in 2016 and the retention of classified documents that he improperly took from the White House when he left the presidency. .

But what seems to hurt Trump the most, right now, is the considerable sanction that Judge Arthur Engoron imposed on him on Friday for being responsible for corporate fraud for inflating the value of his properties to obtain advantageous credits: $355 million, which he once Added the interest becomes 450 and leaves him practically without liquidity (he will have to pay the deposit within 30 days, a requirement to appeal the ruling).

“It's a form of Navalny,” Trump said with his usual disdain for Faulkner's language.

“It is a form of communism, of fascism.”

After scandalizing NATO and the United States' main European partners by promising that he would let Putin do whatever he wants with those allies that do not pay their contribution to the Alliance, Trump did not make any reference to Putin this Tuesday, but this does not mean either. It is a novelty: during his presidency he was more complimentary than critical of the Kremlin's strongman.

The context, however, is different: Ukraine has just suffered a considerable setback, the loss of the city of Andiivka, which has passed under Russian control, while the promised aid to Kiev hangs by a thread in the House of Representatives due to the opposition. of the Republicans.

He did refer to Putin last week, when he said he took as a compliment a statement from him stating that he prefers Biden in the White House because he is more predictable than Trump.

Both Biden and Trump will likely compete for the presidency - that is, re-election - in November.

Even if the Republican were convicted in one of the pending trials - the first starts on March 25 in New York - that would not prevent him from running for office.

Asked if his victimhood made him a potential political prisoner like Navalni - another question served on a plate by the Fox moderator - the Republican candidate avoided answering.

“If I was losing in the polls, they wouldn't even be talking about me and I wouldn't have had legal fees,” he responded.

Last year, his campaign allocated $50 million for this purpose.

"If I was out, I think - even though they hate me so much, I think if I got out [of the race] they would keep [attacking him], 'let's go after this guy, we can't stand this guy.'"

The debate comes four days before Trump competes against Nikki Haley in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary.

The Fox journalist opened the session by offering Trump an opportunity to explain or clarify the only reference he had made so far to Navalni's death, the aforementioned post in Truth Social published this Monday.

Without mentioning Putin or the family of the Russian dissident, Trump wrote: “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me increasingly aware of what is happening in our country,” he wrote before attacking “the politicians, prosecutors and radical left judges who are leading us down the path of destruction” and repeat their false claims that the US elections are rife with fraud.

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