Mar-a-Lago is a luxury Florida country club at which temperatures hovered in the mid-70s on Friday. Russia’s Polar Wolf gulag was a little colder on Friday, hovering around minus-6.
The U.S. federal and state court system is imperfect but is supported by protocols such as discovery rights and a comprehensive appeals process that are designed to provide fair justice. It is far superior to the Russian criminal court system, as the latter is defined by rulings born of rampant corruption and political direction. Alexei Navalny, a top critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the tip of a vast largely unseen iceberg, with only a few such as American journalist Evan Gershkovich in the public eye.
Former President Donald Trump has a very good chance of beating the criminal cases he now confronts in court. After a long struggle against the Kremlin and having previously been poisoned with a highly concentrated nerve agent, Navalny is dead.
Put simply, the situations of Trump and Navalny are utterly divergent. To suggest otherwise is to offer a most pathetic appeal to the most idiotic partisanship.
Others evidently disagree. Former Rep. Lee Zeldin claims that, “As the world reflects on the murder of Alexei Navalny at the hands of Putin, it’s worth remembering that Democrats are actively doing Biden’s bidding as they also try to imprison his chief political opponent, Donald Trump, remove him from the ballot, and ensure he dies in prison.” Conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza added that “there is no real difference between the two cases.”
Give me a break.
Yes, there are good arguments to be made that Trump is suffering a double standard of justice as compared to President Joe Biden. Yes, special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case against Trump cuts very close against concerns of free speech. Yes, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are obvious political hacks. But also, yes, Trump has capable defense teams, appears to be receiving a fair hearing from judges presiding over his trials, and deserves to have been charged for withholding classified documents.
In contrast, Navalny’s adult life has been an exercise in the struggle against unjust political repression. Navalny was in prison not because of evidence but because of Putin’s perception that he was a threat to the Kremlin’s system of corruption. Whether by deliberate action or sustained neglect, Navalny died because he shined a light on the central element of Putin’s power. Namely, his misuse of vast energy reserves to enrich himself and his cronies and wage war on any who dared question whether such enrichment was compatible with the better interests of a still impoverished Russia.
Even Trump’s most fastidious supporters would be hard-pressed to suggest that he is being persecuted because of some valiant struggle for democracy. The political establishment detests Trump for his unwillingness to accept norms of policy and politics, but as of now, he remains free to speak and run for president.
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Indeed, that reality cuts to the heart of the divergence between these two men. The polls suggest Trump is likely to accomplish in November something that Navalny can never do: win his nation’s presidency.
Trump is loud. Navalny is silent.
