In a Friday interview with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, P*ssy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova walked through the many disturbing ways in which President Donald Trump is remarkably similar to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
O'Donnell welcomed Tolokonnikova by quoting her previous declaration that "democracy is being eroded by pro-authoritarian leaders like Putin and Donald Trump."
"I would like to send them both to the moon," she said of Trump and Putin. "But I'm really concerned with the way how moon will feel like. I wouldn't do that just because I have compassion for the moon. You know, they're both are eroding our institutions and our job here is to protect these institutions. I think they make us forget that citizenship is not just using things that your government is giving to you but giving back to your government and protecting those institutions like democracy."
Her example was that Putin and Trump have similar feelings about the media.
"I've seen how badly it can turn. I've seen it, in front of my eyes, for the last 17 years, and I hear it from Donald Trump, the same words about media that Putin was using for 17 years," she continued. "That it's fake news, that are paid by foreign governments and whoever."
She went on to say that Donald Trump doesn't have any real political beliefs, while other world leaders do. It's for that reason she believes Putin is more comfortable with Trump than those other leaders.
"That's why he doesn't like people who really do believe in democracy and really believe in freedom of speech and human rights," she said. "Donald Trump doesn't have any real political beliefs. He really concerned with himself, with his fame and his wealth. And that's perfectly understandable for Putin as a KGB agent. He knows how to deal with people who are easy to understand or easy to bribe."
O'Donnell went on to play a clip of Trump attacking the media, which Tolokonnikova said that it was how things began in Russia. What comes next are arrests, occupations of leading independent media outlets and ultimately arrests of political activists. She then described the Russian TV propaganda channel, which is taxpayer funded but essentially does nothing but promote pro-Putin propaganda.
"We pay for them to tell us bullsh*t," she explained.
Watch the two part interview below:
Part 1:
Part 2:
