If we didn't already have a sense of what Donald Trump's America would look like, now we know it would look a lot like Vladimir Putin's Russia. Trump, basking in the glow of a Putin compliment, flat-out endorsed Putin's iron-fist methods of control during a Friday morning interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
"Sure, when people call you 'brilliant' it's always good. Especially when the person heads up Russia," Trump told cohost Mika Brzezinski when asked about Putin praising him as "very talented" the day before.
Scarborough pointed to Putin's status as a notorious strongman.
"Well, I mean, it's also a person who kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries. Obviously that would be a concern, would it not?" Scarborough asked.
"He's running his country, and at least he's a leader," Trump replied. "Unlike what we have in this country."
So that's the type of “leadership” Trump's aspiring to. Kudos, Trump. At least you said it. Killing citizens you disagree with and dismantling the First Amendment—that's all fair game, as long as you're “a leader."
"But again: He kills journalists that don't agree with him," Scarborough said.
The Republican presidential front-runner said there was "a lot of killing going on" around the world and then suggested that Scarborough had asked him a different question.
"I think our country does plenty of killing, also, Joe, so, you know," Trump replied. "There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on. A lot of stupidity. And that's the way it is.”
Yep, a lot of stupidity going on, Donald. On that we can agree.
Trump finally conceded that all was not right with Putin when Scarborough backed him into a corner, saying, "you obviously condemn Vladimir Putin killing journalists and political opponents, right?"
"Oh sure, absolutely," Trump said.
Oh sure, Donald, absolutely. This guy's a maniac and he's the GOP frontrunner.
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