You're reading: Washington Post: Trump helps Putin – and all dictators – when he calls US elections ‘rigged’

Donald Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership, suggested that he would recognize Putin’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, and questioned the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia hacked the computers of the Democratic National Committee.

Such statements break sharply from U.S. policy and Republican practice. But Trump helps Putin most by depicting the U.S. electoral system as “rigged.” In doing so, he reinforces Putin’s message to the Russian public and the rest of the world: The U.S. system is as fraudulent as any other.

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