‘Putin’s puppet’: Critics blast Trump for comparing Navalny death to his own legal crisis

Donald Trump made no mention of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first acknowledgment of Friday's death of Alexei Navalny, but the ex-U.S. president likened the political prisoner's fate to his own legal challenges, and to America itself.

Trump has been under fire for not even mentioning the death – some say assassination – of Navalny, until now. The ex-president has a long history of refusing to openly criticize Vladimir Putin. As president, Trump in a 2018 press conference infamously said he had no reason to believe Russia attacked the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which put him in the White House.

"I don't see any reason why it would be," Trump said in Helsinki. "President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."

And in 2020, when Navalny was poisoned, Trump refused to blame Putin.

Trump on Monday continued his refusal to criticize the Russian president, who is widely believed responsible for the death of Navalny, his political prisoner and top opponent.

READ MORE: Chiefs Fan Falsely ID’d by GOP Congressman as Parade Shooter Getting Death Threats: Report

"The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Monday morning. "It is a slow, steady progression, with crooked, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are destroying America. We are a nation in decline, a failing nation!" [Many of those words were posted in all-caps.]

Bill Kristol, veteran neoconservative political commentator, observed, "Trump refuses to condemn Putin for the murder of Navalny. During the Cold War, many fellow travelers at least pretended to condemn the 'excesses' of the Soviet Union. But Trump isn't equivocating. He's all in for Putin."

Journalist and SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile wrote, "Trump, in his first comment on this brutal death, refuses to condemn Putin and instead compares himself to ... Navalny to attack the US. Classic, and more evidence of his being Putin’s puppet."

READ MORE: ‘But He’s Qualified to Be President?’: Trump Fraud Ruling’s Revelations Stun Experts

Political commentator and writer Victor Shi says, "So, THREE days after Alexei Navalny’s death, Donald Trump finally says something. But he doesn’t condemn Putin. Instead, he trashes America & Democrats. Because Donald Trump is pro-Putin & anti-American. This is who he is. This is *exactly* what Putin wants. What a sick traitor."

The Biden campaign commented, writing: "After days of silence, Trump finally responds to Aleksey Navalny’s death by comparing Navalny to himself in deranged social media post."