In war of words, Biden calls Putin a ‘crazy SOB,’ Kremlin slams ‘Hollywood cowboy’
US president also calls out opponent Donald Trump, who compared himself to deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, says MAGA crowds ‘have very little moral compass’
SAN FRANCISCO, California — During a fundraiser for his reelection campaign Wednesday night, US President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” and took aim at former president Donald Trump’s comments comparing himself to the Russian opposition leader who died last week in an Arctic prison.
Russia responded angrily, saying that Biden was a “disgrace” and trying to act like a “Hollywood cowboy.”
Biden was talking about climate change when he said, “We have a crazy SOB like Putin and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate.”
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Biden’s remarks, saying that “the use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin, but it debases those who use such vocabulary.”
Peskov added that the remark was “probably some kind of attempt to look like a Hollywood cowboy. But honestly, I don’t think it’s possible.”
“Has Mr Putin ever used one crude word to address you? This has never happened. Therefore, I think that such vocabulary debases America itself,” Peskov said, addressing Biden directly.
He later added in comments to a state television reporter: “This is a disgrace for the country itself, I mean the United States.”
Speaking to donors at a private San Francisco home Wednesday as part of a three-day California swing to raise money for his 2024 reelection campaign, Biden also said he was astounded by recent comments made by his likely Republican challenger.
Trump compared the suspicious prison death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to his own legal troubles in the US. Trump was fined $350 million after a New York judge found he lied for years about his wealth on financial statements in his companies. Trump said the ruling was a form of “communism or fascism.”
“Some of the things that this fellow’s been saying, like he’s comparing himself to Navalny and saying that – because our country’s become a communist country, he was persecuted, just like Navalny was persecuted. I don’t know where the hell this comes from,” Biden said.
“I mean, if I stood here 10, 15 years ago and said any of this, you’d all think I should be committed,” he said. “It astounds me.”
“I’ve been around a long time and I’ve never quite seen a crowd like this MAGA Republican crowd,” Biden added, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. “They seem to have very little moral compass on what is important to people.”
