Russian Anti-Semitic Political Leader Praises Donald Trump As ‘Strongest President’ In U.S. History
The ultranationalist and anti-Semitic leader of Russia’s opposition Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has offered to fly every member of his party from Moscow to Miami to “raise glass” to Donald Trump, in celebration of his acquittal on two articles of impeachment by the United States senate.
The senate voted on Wednesday to acquit Trump on the charges of abuse of power, and obstruction of congress. Both votes fell along party lines, with the exception of one Republican — Utah’s Mitt Romney —who voted to convict Trump on the abuse of power charge.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Zhirinovsky condemned Romney as “treacherous” for voting against Trump, as quoted by The Independent newspaper.
The 73-year-old Zhirinovsky has campaigned for the president of Russia on a platform of anti-Semitism, anti-westernism, and the rebuilding of the Russian empire — even if it means using nuclear weapons.
According to The Jewish Weekly, Zhirinovsky has said, “you will always find Jews where the war is raging because they realize that money flows where blood is spilled.” He has also blamed the outbreak of World War II on “too many Jews.”
Though he leads one of the prominent opposition parties, Zhirinovsky supports Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to The Independent.
In his Friday Twitter thread, the Russian political leader congratulated Trump on his acquittal and praised him as “a brave man” and “the model leader of a huge modern state and the strongest president the US have ever had.”
Zhirinovsky’s affinity for Trump may not be surprising, because in similar to fashion to Trump the pro-Putin politician is known for his often outrageous political theatrics and aggressive behavior. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Zhirinovsky once poured fruit juice on Putin critic Boris Nemstov during a candidates’ debate, used profanity toward another rival politician on live television, and “ordered a security guard to rape a pregnant journalist.”
Also like Trump, who maintains his son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump as senior White House advisers, Zhirinovsky has turned the Liberal Democratic Party into a “family affair,” according to the OCCRP report. Zhirinovsky’s own son leads his party’s faction in the Russian Duma, or parliament, and also serves as deputy chair of the State Duma.
Zhirinovsky’s family is also sitting on millions in hidden wealth, with at least $135 million in secretly held real estate properties distributed among various family members, according to OCCRP.
In his Twitter posts praising and congratulating Trump, Zhirinovsky also lashed out at Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying that he and his party members were “outraged” by her actions, presumably a reference to how the House speaker ripped the text of Trump’s State of the Union speech in half as soon as he concluded delivering the address on Tuesday.
