During an appearance on "Meet the Press" Sunday, President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani explained that truth has versions. Ex-Russian writer, speaker and activist Garry Kasparov argued in a series of tweets Sunday that this line of thinking is straight out of Vladimir Putin's playbook.
"Destroying the concept of objective truth is both a general principle for autocrats and a legal defense strategy. Trump needs both," Kasparov wrote.
Kasparov is a chess grandmaster and former world chess champion, who has written and spoken extensively on the ways in which Russia uses propaganda to control people globally and nationally.
"It's vital for someone like Trump to develop a cult of personality to keep a loyal base despite betraying everything and everyone. They follow him, not principles or policies," Kasparov continued. Trump has used loyalty to manipulate his supporters and friends while refusing to reciprocate.
"I've been writing about this for years regarding Putin's 'improvements' on these old propaganda techniques," Kasparov continued. "It's no surprise others have adopted them, intentionally or instinctively. They work."
The comments came as a follower of Kasparov retweeted a 2016 tweet in which the exiled Russian said, "The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth."