Dear Donald Trump,
To all of us, no matter if we’re radical left or right, no matter what political party we consider ourselves apart of, you’re wrong.
You’re wrong to work with Russia. You’re wrong to say you can respect Putin despite the fact you know he’s a murderer.
If you didn’t already know, it is indisputable that the United States offers rights to man that Russia doesn’t. It’s indisputable that Russia’s moral framework is not nearly equivalent to ours.
“You think our countries so innocent?” No, Donald, the American people have never claimed that. But Putin has claimed to run a country hat “does not infringe on anyone’s interests,” that “does not force it patronage on anyone, or try to teach anyone how to live,” Yes, Putin claimed all of this in 2013 at his annual state of the nation address.
But unlike Russia, we aren’t founded on punishing political dissent and punishing people for their religions.We don’t lawfully murder homosexuals, transgenders, or anyone that defies heteronormativity. Russia is not founded on human rights and democracy. It’s the simple fact that they stand for the conservative and immoral values that they have continued to enforce and celebrate. These values that directly contrast with ours.
Several Republican leaders are even tweeting about the topic, making it clear after this interview that there is no equivalence.
.@POTUS statement suggesting moral equivalence between Putin’s Russia and the United States of America is deeply troubling and wrong.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) February 5, 2017
When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin. MR
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 5, 2017
America has been a beacon of light and freedom. There is no equivalence with the brutal regime of Vladimir Putin.
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) February 5, 2017
There is no moral equivalence between the two countries. Whether or not you work with Vladimir Putin is ultimately your decision. But please, I hope that you do not ever pretend or tell the American people that Russia and the United States are ever morally equivalent.
