When you look at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, there is an eerie sense that we’ve seen this all before. First, there is the false justification. Then there is the need for a scapegoat. Next there is a need to control the messaging. And finally, there is the accusations of wrongdoing on the other side to justify their own atrocities.
If it all sounds too familiar, it’s because it comes out of the same playbook Donald Trump has been using for years, starting with his first announcement that he was running for president in 2016.
2016
First, he used the justification that he was going to Make America Great Again, intuiting that America had somehow become diminished in the eyes of the world and that so-called “radicals” were out to destroy our once great nation by instilling Socialist policies into our Democracy. As a solution, he proposed a new sense of nationalism with his America First agenda where we would somehow punish businesses who operated outside of the country, yet were largely recognized as American corporations.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin was enjoying his own political renaissance. He had consolidated his power and, despite international outrage, including sanctions, over his annexation of Crimea, he flexed his military muscle in the Middle East by meddling in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries.
Then, there was Trump's scapegoating of immigrants who were flooding our country with illegal drugs, promoting human trafficking, including pedophiles, taking away our jobs and causing the “browning of America” by allowing people of color to overwhelm White America. He proposed a great Wall along our Southern border that would stretch “from sea to shining sea” as a means of preventing illegal entry into America. Trump viewed this wall as both a deterrent and a monument to his perceived greatness.
Putin’s enemies were not so fortunate. Instead of engaging in a war of words with those who opposed him, he regularly had those who spoke out against him murdered, or they mysteriously disappeared even when they fled to another country. So, his need to create a scapegoat was unnecessary.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump committed several gaffes that would have doomed any other candidate. He trashed a Gold Star family, admitted to sexually assaulting an unnamed woman in the infamous Access Hollywood video, and he asked Russia to help his campaign by releasing emails of his rival Hillary Clinton among other things. Yet, he was able to control the messaging with the assistance of his propaganda network, Fox News.
Putin had no such issues with a negative press. He effectively controlled Russian media and regularly quashed any unfavorable coverage. With this impediment removed, Putin was able to turn his attention towards meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton repeatedly stood up to Putin, creating conflicts in Russia that he saw as a threat to his authority. As a result, he sought to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump.
When it came to justifying his actions, Trump first accused his opponents of the very acts he was about to commit. “Lying Ted”, “Crooked Hillary” and “Little Marco” were childish nicknames he gave to others to explain why he himself regularly lied, committed questionable actions or refused to “act presidential”. By claiming they did it first, he reasoned that he was only following the procedures of others.
Present Day
While their aims were quite different in the past, present circumstances have Putin and Trump making moves that are practically identical. Whether it’s creating a justification for illegal actions, blaming another group for their misdeeds, vilifying the media, or manufacturing an excuse for illegal actions, both Trump and Putin were making the same moves.
When it came to the Big Lie, Trump repeatedly has claimed that the 2020 election was rigged. He and fellow Republicans are using this to push voter suppression laws in multiple states while attempting to position those who support him in key posts where they can determine the outcome regardless of voter wishes. He openly declared that whoever counts the votes is more important than who votes. Trump never fails to mention the Big Lie at any of the multiple rallies he has held since the 2020 election, including the January 6th insurrection.
Putin’s version of the Big Lie was that he was forced to engage in “military action” in Ukraine to protect Russian speaking citizens in two break-away republics. He is pushing the falsehood that Ukraine was the aggressor, forcing Russia to enter the sovereign nation to protect those who claimed Russian allegiance. Like Trump, Putin also held a rally where he promoted his own Big Lie. Other than the Russian flags and absence of MAGA hats, it could have easily been mistaken for a Trump rally, leading Trump sycophant Sean Hannity to remark that Putin was channeling his “inner Trump”.
When it comes to scapegoats, should he choose to run in 2024, Trump has no shortage of targets. While illegal immigrants took the brunt of his ire in 2016, and in his losing effort in 2020, he has also aimed his blame at the “radical left”, the Deep State, RINOs, Antifa and Black Lives Matter. He has been continuing his denial-fest as he demands fealty to him over the Constitution in an effort to once again return to Washington.
Similarly, Putin has his share of where he can spread the blame for the war in Ukraine. He has accused Ukraine of being the aggressors, claimed he is protecting the rights of those who want to remain part of Russia, asserted that Ukraine has always been a part of Russia, cited security reasons such as the threat posed by the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, and even that he was forcing the denazification of the Ukrainian government despite the fact that Ukraine’s president is Jewish. Putin is depending on the backing of Russians who remember World War II to support this reasoning, however that segment of the population is dwindling to a select few.
Controlling the media is vital to any propaganda effort, and both Trump and Putin have excelled in this area. With Trump, he has brainwashed his followers into believing his right wing outlets are telling the truth and any media that is critical of him is Fake News. Meanwhile, Putin has signed a law that threatens to imprison anyone who reports the actual facts of the war in Ukraine.
There are many similarities between how Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are handling the difficult events facing them. And while both are using the same playbook, it’s not an original one. Instead, they are depending on the blind loyalty of their followers as well as their ignorance of history. That’s because the playbook they are using is something that has been successfully used in the past.
It’s the playbook of Adolf Hitler.