Trump Lauds Vladimir Putin's 'Iron Fist' As Kremlin Bans Ben Stiller, Sean Penn From Russia

During a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, former U.S. President Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “iron fist,” as Russia moves to ban multiple Hollywood celebrities from entering the country.

The rally in Pennsylvania found Trump complaining about the recent Mar-a-Lago raid by the FBI and U.S. President Joe Biden, but he also focused on praising world leaders like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping for the “fierce” and “smart” way they run their countries, according to Business Insider.

“I've got to know a lot of the foreign leaders, and let me tell you, unlike our leader, they're at the top of their game,” he said.

“A lot of times, I'll call somebody smart, and the ‘Fake News’ will go, ‘he called President Xi smart,’” Trump continued. “He rules with an iron fist, 1.5 billion people, yeah I'd say he's smart. Wouldn't you say he's smart?”

In related news, Kremlin officials announced that over 25 prominent Americans have been banned from ever entering Russia. Among the figures included in this list are Hollywood actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, as well as political figures like Senators Rick Scott and Mark Kelly, the Daily Beast reported.

Sean Penn and Ben Stiller have been known critics of the Russia-Ukraine war, and have been depicted by the media to have met up with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to show support to Ukraine’s side of the war.

While Penn has been working on a documentary about the war, Stiller has worked as the goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, with one of his recent acts being the visit to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

Putin himself has been accused of authoritarian measures in Russia, among which are imprisoning political opponents, oppressive anti-LGBTQ laws across the country, and potentially committing war crimes for the unprovoked war against Ukraine.

Xi’s government, meanwhile, is being accused of potentially committing “crimes against humanity” due to their treatment of Muslim ethnic minorities like the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang province in China.