Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a prominent political figure in Russia, said that if the United States does not elect Trump, war will be the next step, as he assured that U.S.-Russia relations “can’t get any worse.”
Zhirinovsky is seen as a fiery politician with little discrepancy on his speeches, just like Donald Trump before the last stretch of the presidential race. He is known to launch radical opinions to test the waters on behalf of Vladimir Putin, who considers him a close ally.
Russia’s Trump wants to nuke the White House
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDRP), is an ultra-nationalist anti-Western politician, and even if his party is supposed to be against Putin’s rule, he is seen as a servant of Kremlin policy.
In an interview, Zhirinovsky stated that the only way U.S.-Russia relations get worse is through a war, and if Americans voted for Trump they would be voting for peace, but if they instead chose Hillary, they would be voting for war.
As of late, Washington has pushed sanctions against Russia and its presence in Syria, and many politicians including Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton blame Russia for staging acts of cyberterrorism to the Democratic National Headquarters.
Putin denied any involvement in the incidents, but it would not be in his position to deliberately claim himself as the U.S.’s main adversary in influence and power in the world, and particularly, in the Middle East.
Trump and Zhirinovsky are both aged 70 and oftentimes resort to misogynistic rhetoric coupled with a concerning nationalism. The main difference with Trump and Zhirinovsky is that the latter is not a millionaire businessman, but rather a politician with decades of experience.
Similar to Trump, Zhirinovsky proposed on 2013 to block the North Caucasus with barbed wire. His statements went unpunished and even tried to promote birth control for mothers living in the regions adjacent to the Caucasus, arguing that if these women have more than two children per family, terrorism would be impossible to eradicate.
“He is a an actor on Kremlin’s payroll, a multi-millionaire defending the poor, but he plays an important role and the Kremlin adores him for that: Zhirinovsky collects all the radical social layer under his wing criticizing Putin, then comes to Putin for the paycheck,” stated Dmitry Oreshkin, a Russian political scientist.
Zhirinovsky has already announced his desire to nuke the White House, which brings him to a similar but not equivalent scenario to that of Trump. The latter has no experience in politics other than supporting presidential candidates and changing his party of allegiance.
On the other hand, Zhirinovsky is part of the Russian totalitarian regime, where every political figure must respond to Vladimir Putin’s strongman tactics. In Zhirinovsky’s case, his role is simple, but it does not bring him to Trump’s level since the latter launched himself to a presidential campaign against all odds.
Source: Reuters