5 Alarming Parallels Between The USA And Putin's Russia

5

The President Is Bolstered By Bizarre Conspiracy Theories

When you're a fringe movement with no political power, conspiracy theories are your proverbial bucket of ice cream to tearfully binge on. "We'd totally win, were it not for the massively powerful forces arrayed against us!"

But suppose one day such a movement becomes mainstream enough to actually win political power, even the highest position in the country. And suppose the man who won that position did so by making all kinds of Santa-Claus-esque promises that he can't keep because they are either outside his power as president or he's too bogged down in a legal investigation that keeps dogging all his political associates.

That's where you get new, dumber conspiracy theories about the "deep state," like the insanely idiotic "QAnon." See? Your hero would totally build that wall and make Mexico pay for it, were he not engaged in a secret running battle with rogue intelligence agents and Satanic child traffickers. But guess what? Russia did all of this first.

4

There's Constant Paranoia About Influence From Abroad

You may have already spotted the irony of Russians fearing secret American influence around every corner. After all, if you search Twitter for the words "Russian bots," you'll see that this has become a meme. When some right-wing hashtag is trending, the assumption is that it all originates with Russian trolls and swarms of dummy accounts. Don't get me wrong, there is good reason to be concerned about Russian interference in American politics. The disinformation machine is real. But ultimately, the fundamental mistrust of any information we disagree with may be more damaging in the long term. It becomes one more way in which the well gets poisoned.

In Russia, said poison comes directly from the top. In 2014, Putin, having just annexed the Crimean peninsula, gave a speech about that "fifth column" of national traitors threatening Russia at the behest of Western politicians. These labels are applied to those who protest his war in Ukraine or other issues (like, say, his unusually long reign).

3

The Law Is Applied Selectively

The phrase "rule of law" in America is a lot like "freedom," "democracy," or "all you can eat" -- you're constantly told that it's good, but rarely does anyone understand its boundaries. The idea is that nobody is above the law, no matter who they are. Lately, however, our 45th president has voiced his disagreement.

Usually presidents drop a ton of pardons on their way out of the White House, but Trump has been infamously pardoning a number of people who happen to align with him politically. There's former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza, and even two guys who were convicted of arson in an attempt to commit fraud. And once again, Russia was way ahead of the trend.

If you're one of Putin's friends, you can pretty much get away with robbing the state of millions of dollars, and if you're not, well, you could find yourself getting arrested just for ... investigating people who are robbing the state for millions of dollars. All it takes is being selective about who gets punished -- and just as importantly, who doesn't.

2

The Cult Of Personality Is Creepy, And Carefully Crafted

Look closely at a Trump rally, and you'll note how many of his followers seem to have adopted his style -- if not the white polo shirt and khakis, then the ubiquitous MAGA old man hat. Then there are pro-Trump political cartoonists whose portrayals of the man seriously make you question whether they've ever seen a real photo of him. Trump has swollen pecs and biceps, right?

Ben Garrison

1

One Man Is The Culmination Of Years Of Building Tensions

Considering that you hear his name about once every four seconds in America, it's easy to assume that all of the bullshit starts and ends with Trump. Flip a few states in the Electoral College, and we'd be living in an alternate, normal America. People get so occupied with what happened after the 2016 election that they forget what Trump was saying just before he won it: Namely, that if he lost, it would mean the election was rigged. Does anyone seriously think his supporters would have taken that lying down? Do you think they'll throw their hands up and admit defeat if he loses in 2020?

We can't forget that Trump isn't the source of all of these tensions; he's the result.

Putin, as you may have noticed, doesn't seem to worry too much about elections (in fact, he doesn't even debate opponents). But what he and everyone else in Russia are very concerned about is what comes after him. That's because he, like Trump, is the product of massive cultural, economic, and political changes that go back decades. In the USA we talk about globalization and the financial collapse of 2008. In Russia, the shifts were both more abrupt and dramatic -- the fucking flag changed, after all. Putin managed to capitalize on people's demands for stability after years of economic collapse, war, and rampant organized crime, to name a few of the problems plaguing the former Soviet Union at the time.