On of the most powerful political movers and shakers in American politics in the last presidential campaign — and likely in the incoming administration and in the Republican Party in the next few years — has a message for Democrats: You lost to Donald Trump, so get over it.

So says Russian President Vladimir Putin:

Russian President Vladi­mir Putin has a message for the White House and Democratic leaders who accuse him of stealing their candidate’s victory: Don’t be sore losers.

That was how Putin answered a question Friday at his nationally televised annual news conference about whether Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.

The Democrats “are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame,” he told the nearly 1,400 journalists packed into a Moscow convention hall for the nearly four-hour event. “In my view, this, how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity. You have to know how to lose with dignity.”

The Kremlin leader — who also sent an upbeat letter to Trump last week that the president-elect revealed Friday — pointed out that Republicans had won the House and Senate, as well.

“Did we do that, too?” he asked with a slight grin.
To chide the Democratic leadership, Putin invoked the U.S. president he occasionally mentions as someone he admires. He appears to seek favorable comparison to Franklin D. Roosevelt, America’s longest-serving head of state, because of his own efforts to help Russia prosper after the ruinous depression that followed the Soviet Union’s demise.

“Outstanding figures in American history from the ranks of the Democratic Party would likely be turning in their graves. Roosevelt certainly would be,” Putin told the journalists.

And here’s the kicker:

“Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him,” Putin said, adding with another wry smile, “except for you and me.”

Indeed.

(If you hear a rumbling sound it’s of THIS GUY turning over in his grave.)

photo credit: frenzy Bloodymir Putin via photopin (license)

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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