Alexander Vindman (l) leaves Capitol Hill as they conclude a public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump in November 2019. (Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman suggested Friday that President Trump has “every intention” to undo American democracy if reelected, as concerns rise over whether the former president would launch a revenge campaign in a second term.
“We might have only one more vote left that really matters,” Vindman said in an interview on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with anchor Ali Velshi. “If Trump comes to office, he’s already declared that he intends to be a dictator. The President and the chief executive is invested with broad powers.”
“And it’s not easy to undo American democracy that’s been around for nearly 250 years, but a lot of damage has been done,” he added. “And, President Trump has every intention to do that.”
Vindman, who was a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment inquiry, suggested Trump would try to run the White House the same way Russian President Vladimir Putin runs the Kremlin. He urged voters to make sure they vote in order to avoid the “challenges and oppression that the Russians are facing.”
His comments come after he criticized Trump for his rhetoric around NATO in the wake of the recent death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death.
“Donald Trump invited Vladimir Putin to attack NATO,” Vindman told MSNBC’s Michael Steele a little over a week ago. “I would say that that probably was a contributing factor in the calculus around the assassination of Navalny.” (Read more: AOL News, 3/02/2024) (Archive)