Trump quotes Putin condemning American democracy during N.H. campaign
speech, praises autocrat Orban
By Isaac Arnsdorf The Washington Post,Updated December 17, 2023, 7:35 a.m.

DURHAM, N.H. - Feeble old Republican polling leader Donald Trump
approvingly quoted autocrats Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of
Hungary, part of an ongoing effort to deflect from his criminal
prosecutions and spin alarms about eroding democracy against President
Biden.

His speech at a presidential campaign rally here on Saturday also reprised
dehumanizing language targeting immigrants that historians have likened to
past authoritarians, including a reference that some civil rights advocates
and experts in extremism have compared to Adolf Hitler's fixation on blood
purity.

And he used the term "hostages" to describe people charged with violent
crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.

The comments came as experts, historians and political opponents have
voiced growing alarm about Trump's rhetoric, ideas and emerging plans for a
second term, pointing to parallels to past and present authoritarian
leaders.

"Donald Trump sees American democracy as a sham and he wants to convince
his followers to see it that way too," said Jennifer Mercieca, a professor
at Texas A&M University who researches democracy and rhetoric. "Putin hates
western values like democracy and the rule of law, so does Trump."

Trump quoted Putin, the dictatorial Russia president who invaded
neighboring Ukraine, criticizing the criminal charges against Trump, who is
accused in four separate cases of falsifying business records in a hush
money scheme, mishandling classified documents, and trying to overturn the
2020 election results. In the quotation, Putin agreed with Trump's own
attempts to portray the prosecutions as politically motivated.

"It shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot
pretend to teach others about democracy," Trump quoted Putin saying in the
speech. Trump added: "They're all laughing at us."

He went on to align himself with Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who
has amassed functionally autocratic power through controlling the media and
changing the country's constitution. Orban has presented his leadership as
a model of an "illiberal" state and has opposed immigration for leading to
"mixed race" Europeans. Democratic world leaders have sought to isolate
Orban for eroding civil liberties and bolstering ties with Putin.
But Trump called him "highly respected" and welcomed his praise as "the man
who can save the Western world."

In the speech, Trump also repeated his own inflammatory language against
undocumented immigrants, by accusing them of "poisoning the blood of our
country" - a phrase that immigrant groups and civil rights advocates have
condemned as reminiscent as Hitler in his book "Mein Kampf," in which he
told Germans to "care for the purity of their own blood" by eliminating
Jews.

The crowd of thousands in a college arena cheered Trump's recitation of an
anti-immigrant poem called "The Snake" that he has repeated on the campaign
trail and popularized since the 2016 campaign.

And approaching the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection,
Trump came to the defense of alleged violent offenders who have been
detained awaiting trial on the order of judges.

"I don't call them prisoners, I call them hostages," he said. "They're
hostages."

The speech drew renewed criticism from Democrats. "Donald Trump is
campaigning on an extreme MAGA agenda that would rip away hard-won freedoms
from Americans - it's as simple as that," Democratic National Committee
press secretary Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. "If he takes power,
Trump will waste no time implementing his dangerous vision for America."

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Trump's speech began with an economic focus, with a new tagline of "Better
off with Trump" and a recitation of statistics comparing affordability
under his presidency to now. But Trump became more animated as he returned
to his material on immigration and the charges against him.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said that Trump "gave a great speech and
knocked it out of the park" in front of a large crowd.

In a move that experts said could have the effect of confusing voters about
the true dangers to democracy, Trump has begun deflecting from reports that
he would seek revenge on his critics in a second term, accusing Biden of
acting like a dictator because of the prosecutions against Trump. Two of
the cases were brought by local prosecutors, and the two federal cases are
being handled by a special counsel acting independently of the White House
in accordance with Justice Department rules.

Without evidence, Trump is portrayed all four cases as a coordinated
persecution against him because of his lead in primary and general-election
polls. As he pushed that theme on Saturday, the slogan "BIDEN ATTACKS
DEMOCRACY" flashed across the screen above him.

The speech ended with an instrumental track that Trump has continued using
at rallies despite becoming associated with the QAnon online extremist
movement.

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland police officer who was shot and killed in the line
of duty early Thursday morning has been identified as 27-year-old Jamieson
Ritter, who worked with the department for the past four years while
assigned to the Third District.

"Today is a sad day for our city," said Cleveland Police Chief Annie Todd in
a statement. "Ironically, on this day designated for freedom, we are
reminded of the evil that tries to impose on our community. However, despite
our pain and hurt, we take in the immense sacrifice Officer Ritter gave, and
we will honor his memory and compassion. We will continue to carry his
legacy in our hearts."

Ritter graduated from Syracuse University in 2019 and was commissioned as a
2nd Lieutenant in the Army National Guard. As a member of the Ohio Army
National Guard, he served with the 134th Field Artillery Regiment. After
joining the Cleveland Division of Police in November 2020, Ritter deployed
to Syria in 2022 with his unit and returned to continue his service with the
city of Cleveland in 2023.

Ritter was a native of Webster, New York, graduating from McQuaid Jesuit
High School in 2015. In a release, the Cleveland Division of Police said
that "Ritter grew up with profound desire to serve his country and his
community. His family confirms that 'from an early age, Jamieson possessed
an innate understanding of selfless service to the nation and a strong
desire to serve his community.'"

According to NBC affiliate WHEC in Rochester, New York, Ritter's father Jon
was a police officer in Greece, New York. The elder Ritter was credited with
saving lives on Christmas Eve 2012 when a suspect named William Spengler set
a fire and shot and killed responding firefighters. Ritter was on his way to
work and used to his car to prevent others from being struck by the gunfire.

Jon Ritter retired from the Greece Police Department in 2013.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/cleveland-police-officer-
killed-overnight-shooting-jamieson-ritter/95-8ef90181-cd0b-4a73-b09b-
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