'Heartless dictator-sympathizer': Fox News guest turns on Trump over 'murderous' Putin

National Review reporter Caroline Downey faulted Donald Trump after the former president declined to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

During a Sunday Fox News panel discussion about Trump's remarks, Downey said Trump made a mistake by omitting Putin's role in Navalny's death. Instead, Trump compared himself to the dead opposition leader.

"That was a significant blind spot in his statement," she explained. "Trump likes to invoke his own circumstances whenever possible, but in this case, many people felt it came off as tone-deaf."

"And the fact is Trump's treatment and Navalny's treatment in Russia are night and day, even if Trump is facing political persecution by lawfare in the U.S.," she continued. "Russia without question is an authoritarian surveillance state run by a maniacal, murderous dictator, and so this gave the press a really prime opportunity to jump on this and portray Trump like a heartless dictator-sympathizer, and it was easy to avoid."

Democratic pundit Lucy Caldwell condemned Trump in even stronger terms.

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"Yeah, I mean respectfully, when we refer to something like this as a blind spot, this isn't a blind spot of Trump's," Caldwell asserted. "This is a feature, not a bug. Donald Trump has enjoyed being cozy with Vladimir Putin."

"He has enjoyed being cozy with other dictators, and so what we see here is Donald Trump refusing to come out and condemn something that is really heartbreaking, heartbreaking, appalling, and really reflective of the rise of authoritarianism globally, and that he is not going to be part of the solution," she added. "He is going to continue to be part of the problem, not only through his own self-involvement and self-aggrandizement, but also in comparing himself to Navalny, but also in his refusal to condemn the murder of Navalny at the hands of Vladimir Putin."

Watch the video below from Fox News or at the link.