OPINION | This article contains opinion. This site is licensed to publish this content.
Hillary Clinton expressed concerns about Donald Trump’s praise of authoritarian leaders and what it could portend if he were to win reelection in 2024.
She noted his admiration for how Putin kills opponents and drives out journalists in Russia, implying Trump would like to act similarly.
“We haven’t talked much about the international arena, but, you know, his bromance with Putin. It was actually called that I think by the former prime minister of Australia, who said he saw Trump with Putin and Trump was like, you know, just gaga over Putin because Putin does what he [Trump] would like to do: kill his opposition, imprison his opposition, drive, you know, journalists and others into exile, rule without any check or balance,” Clinton said.
“That’s what Trump really wants.”
Clinton warned that Trump models himself after strongmen like Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong-un and that the country should not go down the road of authoritarianism again.
“He sees Putin, he sees Xi, he sees Kim Jong-un in North Korea. Those are the people he is modeling himself after, and we’ve been down this road in our, you know, world history,” Clinton said.
“We sure don’t want to go down that again.”
Her comments came amid the introduction of legislation that could remove Trump’s secret service protection if convicted and as Clinton has long implied collaboration between Trump and Putin.
