MSNBC analyst: Trump's war on detractors beginning to mirror Putin's murderous attacks on critics

MSNBC's Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle recounted Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin's pattern of murdering critics, following the Helsinki Summit.

Velshi recounted what had happened to Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko, Oleg Zhukovsky, Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Natalia Estemirova, Sergei Magnitsky and Boris Nemtsov.

"Ali went through the list, that did not include attempted killings," noted Ruhle.

"Why do so many Russians critical of Vladimir Putin seem to end up dead?" Ruhle asked Dan Fried, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council.

"Putin's system is a system based on fear and it is fear designed to silence people so he can get on with his business of looting the country and providing wealth for his immediate associates," Fried answered. "Putinism is a kleptocracy, it relies on keeping democracy on the defensive and weak if he can do it. on intimidating his neighbors and spiced up with the occasional murder."

"We know what Putin is," Fried continued. "And we need to base our policies accordingly and stop romanticizing the man or trying to rub against him for God's sake."

"I want to talk about how President Trump emulates Putin, especially when it comes to the press," Ruhle said. "Give us perspective on what affect it has on the United States when the president continues to call out legitimate news organizations as fake news when the free press is something we're founded on."

"President Trump seems to regard America's democratic institutions at home with the same contempt he regards the institutions of the free world abroad," Fried explained. "He seems interested in the philosophy 'might makes right' and a kind of nationalism."

"That's bad for our country, I think we need to take this seriously, and stand up to it on those terms," he concluded.

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