Democracy experts flag Trump’s 'most disgusting statement' from CPAC speech

Donald Trump said something at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday that stood out to experts on democracy and authoritarianism.

The former president has consistently cast himself as the victim of Joe Biden, even going as far as to compare himself to the man who was purportedly killed by Putin because he stood up to the leader politically.

But Trump took that even further at the CPAC event, referring to himself as a "political dissident" being persecuted by Biden's regime.

"I stand before you today not only as your past and future president, but also as a proud political dissident," he said on Saturday, adding, "I am a dissident."

This didn't go unnoticed by Trygve Olson, the author of the Lincoln Democracy Institute's research project, the "Democracy Index." He said the comment "might be the most disgusting statement of Donald Trump this week which is saying something."

"Nelson Mandela was a dissident. Alexander Navalny was a dissident. My friends who are imprisoned in Belarus are dissidents," he wrote. "You sir, are not a dissident by any stretch of the definition."

The democracy expert then continued:

"The fact you even claim to be insults those around the world who are (or have been) persecuted for political reasons."

Trump's "dissident" line was also highlighted by New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert in authoritarians, fascism, and propaganda. She compared the comments to something Benito Mussolini might say.

"Going strong since Mussolini: the tyrant as victim," she wrote. "Now Trump is a dissident persecuted by the 'Biden regime.'"

Political analyst Sarah Reese had this to say on social media.

"Trump claims that he is a political dissident. I don't think he knows what those words mean."