Donald Trump echoes Vladimir Putin's attack on 'rottenness' of America's democracy

Former President Donald Trump quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin during a campaign rally, after the Russian leader earlier this year alleged the former president's criminal indictments show "the rottenness of the American political system."

Trump during a Saturday campaign stop in New Hampshire alleged that President Joe Biden is a "threat to democracy" before adding “Even Vladimir Putin … says that Biden’s, and this is a quote, politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”

Putin made the comments at an economic forum in Russia in September.

Trump has long alleged without evidence that the four sets of criminal charges he faces are campaign interference from Biden's administration and other state and federal prosecutors.

The former president has been indicted in Washington and Georgia in connection with efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. His two other criminal cases involve hush money payments in New York and the alleged mishandling of classified information in Florida.

Earlier this month, Trump set off alarms when he mocked questions about authoritarianism and said he would be a dictator only on "day one," of a second term in office.

During a Sunday rally in Reno, Nevada, Trump mentioned Putin only in passing during a discussion of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Trump criticized his indictments and the Biden administration at length, but did not cite Putin's criticism of those issues.

He spent most of his time on border security, pledging a mass deportation program. Nevada is holding both a primary on Feb 6 and a caucus on Feb. 8, but only the caucuses will be used to pick convention delegates.

Chris Christie hits Donald Trump over Vladimir Putin quote

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, one of Trump's opponents for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, on Sunday called out Trump's comments about Putin in an interview with CNN. He said Trump is now "citing Vladimir Putin as a character witness, a guy who is a murderous thug all around the world."

Putin, who authorized Russia's invasion of Ukraine, "is a guy who doesn't even know what democracy is and, quite frankly, spent most of his life trying to undercut democracy all over the world," Christie said on CNN's "State of the Union." "And Donald Trump citing him as his expert witness that he's being persecuted."

Christie and other opponents have also noted the escalation of Trump's rhetoric in recent weeks.

While praising authoritarian leaders like Putin and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Trump has proposed plans to increase political control of the civil service and threatened to prosecute his political opponents.

The former president has also employed rhetoric that echoes fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, historians say. Trump has described political opponents as "vermin," and, during his New Hampshire event this weekend, said immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country."

Trump has praised Putin throughout his political career. There is evidence that Russian intelligence officials and social media operations helped Trump during his election victory in 2016. Russian election interference was also the subject of an investigation during the former president's term in office.

Barb McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and author of a forthcoming book on disinformation, alleged Trump was trying to make American citizens skeptical of Biden and his wider administration.

"The goal is to make people cynical, then numb, and finally indifferent to such claims," she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump quotes Vladimir Putin: 'Rottenness' of American democracy