Trump, you’re no Alexei Navalny

On Feb. 16, Alexei Navalny, a courageous outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin died in a Siberian gulag.  

Immediately, President Joe Biden stated, “there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.” The garrulous Donald Trump stayed on Navalny’s death until three days later.   

On Feb. 19, a pathetic Trump, posting on Truth Social, appallingly compared himself to Navalny. “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” he wrote. As usual, Trump cast himself as a victim by implying he is persecuted in America like Navalny was persecuted in Russia. 

Trump repeated the same words used by Kremlin propaganda, calling Navalny’s likely murder a “sudden death,” notwithstanding the fact that Navalny survived a 2020 poisoning attempt. A long list of Putin dissenters have mysteriously died, either from poisoning, a plane crash, gunshots and even defenestration.   

Trump’s depravity has no bottom. He is a political cannibal who, like a scavenger, will gluttonously devour any opportunity, even this tragedy, to sustain his delusional existence.  

Trump and Navalny have nothing in common, in fact they are polar opposites. Trump is a self-centered political chameleon who cozies up to the world’s strongmen, whereas Navalny was a righteous and fearless Putin opponent willing to sacrifice his life by undauntedly standing up to a powerful and murderous regime against insurmountable odds in the hopes of bringing democracy and human rights to Russia knowing he would likely be murdered.  

Navalny was the personification of bravery and incorruptibility and in death he remains a symbol of hope for Russians. Whereas Trump is a demagogue and a symbol of hate and division that has left an indelible stain on America. 

Marc Bullaro