‘Very similar to Russia’: Filmmaker issues chilling warning about authoritarian 'slide'

Documentary filmmaker and producer Alex Gibney issued a chilling warning Saturday over what he described as the United States’ “slow slide” into authoritarianism, drawing a telling comparison between Trump administration policies and those of the Russian government under President Vladimir Putin.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” Gibney was promoting his new film, “Orwell: 2+2=5,” which follows the life of English novelist George Orwell, and draws comparisons to his warnings of authoritarianism with the American government under President Donald Trump.

Gibney was asked what “feels different” in the United States when compared with other governments that have seen a rise in authoritarianism, to which he said that “the similarities are maybe more important than the differences.”

“I think what you see is a slow slide. In other words, things begin to change,” Gibney said. “People say 'well, is it that bad, it'll probably be okay,' until you realize you've begun to accept things that you never would have accepted three, four months earlier.”

To illustrate his point, Gibney recalled a protest he observed while in Russia in 2018, a protest led by the late Alexei Navalny, a Russian lawyer and opposition leader who died while serving a 19-year prison sentence, with human rights activists labeling him as a political prisoner of the Russian government.

“What's going on in the United States is very similar to what I experienced in Russia when I went there in 2018,” Gibney said.

“I remember photographing a protest that was led by Navalny, but all the protesters were forced to [be in compliance by] security officers, and the security officers had their badges taped over and they were wearing face masks so that they couldn't be identified. I thought to myself at that time 'wow, that's something that could never happen in the United States!' Yet, here we are.”

Gibney’s anecdote of the Russian protest draws clear comparisons to federal law enforcement agency policies under the Trump administration, who have been frequently spotted operating in unmarked vehicles, wearing masks and sometimes in plain clothes, many of whom have frequently refused to identify themselves while making arrests.

Some states have tried to push back against federal officers performing their duties anonymously, such as in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a ban on federal officers wearing masks and concealing their identities, a law the Trump administration has outright rejected and instructed federal officers to ignore.