MSNBC anchor and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki compared Donald Trump’s tactic of “projecting” wrongdoing onto others to the Kremlin’s regular intimidation campaigns.
Psaki kicked off her MSNBC show Monday discussing “a world leader who has a history of projecting onto his opponents what he himself is actually doing,” referencing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The former White House press secretary under President Joe Biden invoked her experience combatting the misinformation coming from the Kremlin as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
“While we aggressively called out the invasion — landing me, by the way, on the list of favorite Kremlin targets — we were often on our back heels, because the Russians had no shame,” Psaki said. “They took no shame in lying and blurring the lines to create such confusion that it was hard to tell what was fact and what was fiction.”
“This pattern of accusing others of what you are in fact doing yourself is a classic Kremlin tactic,” Psaki continued. “But if this pattern of projecting onto your opponents what you’re actually doing sounds familiar, it’s because one of Putin’s greatest admirers is using the same tactic right here in the United States.”
Of course, Psaki was referring to Trump, who she said has enacted a strategic deflection campaign, which seems to be relatively successful according to polling.
“The man who accuses Democrats of vote rigging when he is the one who has been criminally charged with defrauding American voters,” Psaki said, describing Trump. “Now Trump’s projection is an obvious attempt to muddy the waters…to confuse voters about the actual threat and to mess with their ability to recognize what is real.”
“If everyone is corrupt, then no one is corrupt, right?” the MSNBC anchor continued.
Psaki compared the deflection to a child on a playground saying “I know you are but what am I?”
The anchor then invoked Trump’s nickname for Hillary Clinton, “Crooked Hillary,” and said “Unfortunately, it kind of worked then, and it might be working now.”
“A recent NBC News poll showed 60% of voters have major or moderate concerns about Biden’s possible awareness or involvement in the business dealings of his son,” Psaki noted. “Despite the fact that even Republican members of Congress admit there is no evidence to suggest the president did anything wrong.”
“Compare that to 62% of voters who have those concerns about Trump facing his criminal and civil lawsuits,” she added. “And remember, the guy faces a total of 91 charges across four cases.”
“That’s only a 2% difference in perception, despite an enormous difference in reality,” Psaki said.
