“There appears to be this alignment pushed by Moscow, doubled down on with Trump, to align all of these autocracies”… Which would create this entire axis of autocracies to a certain extent,” Malcolm Nance said Sunday on MSNBC’s AM Joy.
Nance is a retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer and expert in international terrorism and intelligence, so he knows of what he speaks.
Watch here via MSNBC:
.@MalcolmNance on #Trump congratulating #Turkey's president for "breaking democracy" #AMJoy #reiders #sundaymorning https://t.co/KAYKpWYsG0
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— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) April 23, 2017
“Let me put it into a broader perspective of what’s happening between Russia, the United States, France, and all of these nations. There appears to be this alignment pushed by Moscow, doubled down on with Trump, to align all of these autocracies, whether it’s the general the carried out the coup in Egypt and is now a strongman, Turkey with ErdoÄŸan, pushing for Le Pen in France which would create this entire axis of autocracies to a certain extent, that are all strongmen who want to upset and break the world order.”
“And France, if Le Pen wins in France in the second round of the elections you can see the break up of the European Union and France withdraw from NATO the way de Gaulle did for 43 years. It puts it into perspective why Trump would call ErdoÄŸan and congratulate him on essentially breaking democracy in that country.”
Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders discussed Trump’s phone call with Turkey’s President ErdoÄŸan in a gaggle with reporters on April 18th, who wondered if he might regret having congratulated him on his victory in that referendum.
Sanders replied that Trump did not regret it and claimed Trump was building relationships with our allies, according to a pool report sent to PoliticusUSA.
While Sanders tried to claim that Trump was building alliances as a part of an appreciation for NATO, NBC News pointed out, “Accusations of voter fraud, alleged human rights abuses, and concerns about a slide toward authoritarianism — none of this stopped President Donald Trump congratulating Turkey’s leader on his controversial referendum victory this week.
Trump’s warm words were a stark contrast to the criticism from European leaders and independent election monitors, who are concerned the vote may have been unfair.”
Sanders was called out on Trump basically congratulating an attack on democracy and supports the expansion of ErdoÄŸan’s powers in the gaggle:
Q Is the President concerned about the future of democracy in Turkey as a result of this vote?
MS. SANDERS: I mean, we want to encourage democracy. And again, the purpose of the President’s call yesterday was not to discourage that but simply to talk about some of the things, like Syria, where they can work together.
Q But doesn’t it send a message that he supports the fact that President Erdogan expanded his power with this very controversial vote?
MS. SANDERS: I don’t think that — again, that wasn’t the purpose of the call. And that’s certainly not the position of the President, and of course supports democracy and would hope for that. But at the same time, the President’s number-one priority is protecting Americans, keeping Americans safe, and sometimes we’re going to have to work with other countries and some of our NATO partners in order to do that.
Q Should that be viewed as an acceptance of the results? I mean, the opposition party is —
MS. SANDERS: I’m sorry?
Q The opposition party is questioning the results, calling for a recount. Should President Trump’s phone call be viewed as an acceptance that those are the official results of the referendum?
And on it went to nowhere, with Sanders citing Trump’s support for democracy as the reason why he congratulated ErdoÄŸan on his attack on democracy.
Donald Trump might have his own reasons for supporting attacks on Democracy, but doing so follows Moscow’s act of war on the west and the concept of freedom that is the foundation of a democracy. Putin’s goal in working to get Donald Trump elected is to undermine democracy. Putin saw Trump as the best avenue to undermine western democracy, and this action of Trump’s, especially when taken in context with all of his other actions and rhetoric, suggests that Putin was right.
In supporting acts of aggression against democracy, Trump signals to the world that he is supporting autocracy over democracy.
That’s a mighty bizarre and troubling stance for the president of the land of the free. This is like Bush’s axis of evil, only this time the Republican is actually pushing for it instead of against it.
Image: Malcolm Nance, MSNBC AMJoy screen cap
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