Is Trump America's Putin?

As a former Moscow correspondent, I've seen how dictators operate, up close. Now, seeing Donald Trump criminally prosecute his political enemies, threaten free speech and TV broadcast licenses, try to rig elections, move the military into U.S cities, and deploy masked agents to mount dragnets for immigrants, I feel as if I were watching Putin in the Kremlin.

Perhaps not so surprising. Trump has long admired and pursued Putin, not just for a whopping business deal, but as a political model. Trump is awed by Putin. As Trump said a decade ago to his long-time attorney and fixer Michael Cohen. “Putin isn’t president of Russia, he’s the RULER. He is THE DICTATOR, THE CZAR.. He can do whatever he wants. He’s going to be leader for the duration of his life.” ...In short, Putin epitomized Trump's personal dream.

And now that Trump is back in the White House, the parallels between Trump and Putin-have emerged: Their hunger for infinite power, their aim to change the world and impose their own reality, their subverting the rule of law, their brutality toward their enemies, their itch to use military force and use the Big Lie to justify their aggressions against others...and much more. Take a close look.