Hush money trial: Trump’s attacks on the justice system could weaken US global influence

After his historic Guilty verdict in his hush money case, Donald Trump attacked the US criminal justice systemand made unfounded claims about a “rigged” trial that were reminiscent of statements from the Kremlin.

“If they can do it to me, they can do it to anyone,” Trump said Friday from his namesake tower in New York. Thousands of miles away, Russian President Vladimir Putin was probably “rubbing his hands with glee,” said Fiona Hill, a former senior White House national security adviser to three U.S. presidents, including Trump.

Hill and other analysts say Trump’s attacks could benefit Putin and other autocrats as they seek to boost their standing with their own citizens, potentially influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election, in which Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee, and undermine U.S. global influence.

Some autocratic countries reacted quickly and supported Trump.

Moscow shared Trump’s assessment of Thursday’s ruling, calling it “the elimination of political rivals by all possible legal or illegal means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. In September, Putin said the prosecution of Trump was political revenge that “shows the depravity of the American political system.”

Following the verdict, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Trump a “man of honor” and urged him to “keep fighting.”

China’s state-run newspaper Global Times said Trump’s conviction added to the “ridiculous nature” of this year’s US presidential election, adding that it would exacerbate political extremism and lead to “even more chaos and social unrest.”

Putin, in particular, is likely to see the recent unrest as an opportunity, analysts say. He has long sought to deepen the divisions in Western societies in order to impose a Russian worldview. Since the invasion of Ukraine and in the run-up to major elections across the West this year, Russia has been accused of several sabotage attacks and from Attacks on dissidents abroad to stir up fear and sow discord.

Moscow was accused of interfering in the 2016 US election, which Trump won by using a Troll Factory, Hacking Hillary Clinton’s election campaigndistribution False reports and tries to influence Officials associated with Trump.

“What kind of mischief can he get up to when there are people within the American system who are denigrating and destroying it?” Hill said of Putin.

Political chaos can benefit autocratic leaders by distracting Washington from important issues, including the war in Ukraine. Russia’s goal is to bring voices from the “fringes of the political debate into the mainstream,” said David Salvo, executive director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund in Washington, DC.

One way the Kremlin does this is by disguising Russian views in news and social media posts, making them appear to originate from the West.

Salvo noted that disagreements in Congress that Aid package to Ukraine followed a Russian social media campaign targeting Americans. This led to Russia gains the upper hand on the battlefield.

The attacks on the US justice system from Trump and his allies are “perfect fodder” for another “major propaganda and influence operation,” Hill told the Associated Press, suggesting that Russia could target swing voters in swing states ahead of the November elections.

For generations, U.S. presidents have portrayed America as a bastion of democracy, free speech and human rights and encouraged other nations to adopt those ideals. Trump, on the other hand, suggests that the justice system is being used to persecute him – something that has happened in some autocratic countries.

Politicians, including Putin, “must love” that Trump is criticizing “central institutions of democracy” in a way that autocratic states have done for years, because it legitimizes them in the eyes of their own people, says Graeme Robertson, professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Trump sees himself as a “strong ruler” and takes inspiration from Putin, Hill said. His attacks encourage every country – from those that are only mildly complaining to those that are openly hostile – to “seize their moment to topple the colossus,” Hill said.

The message to Chinese and Russian citizens watching the drama in the United States is that they are better off at home. The message to countries courting Russia and China as they seek to expand their influence in Africa, Asia and Latin America is that Moscow and Beijing can offer more reliable partnerships.

The threat posed by the “new axis of authoritarian regimes” that includes Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is “disheartening” as these states work ever more closely together on overlapping interests, says Matthew Kroenig, a former defense official and vice president of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Moscow in particular is likely to try to use the political turmoil in the US to split the NATO security alliance, Kroenig said. It may try to turn public opinion in NATO countries against the US by encouraging them to question whether they have “common values” with the Americans, he said. If successful, it could lead to a fundamental reshaping of the global security architecture – a goal Russia and China have pursued since the end of the Cold War.

Some Western governments are now caught in a delicate dance: they do not want to exclude Trump as a possible next US president, but at the same time they have to respect the US legal system. Others, such as EU member Hungary, are openly courting Trump.

“It has to be perfect for Putin because it creates chaos that he can try to take advantage of,” Hill said.

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Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Hong Kong contributed to this report.