A newly surfaced video shows Alexander Vindman, the former National Security Council official now running for U.S. Senate in Florida, describing both President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “enemies” of America. The comments, made during an appearance on the podcast “Rick Wilson’s The Enemies List,” are drawing fresh scrutiny just days before the state’s Republican primary.
“Which enemy are we talking about here? Are we talking about Russia and Putin? Are we talking about Trump and Trumpism?” Vindman says in the clip. “Striking similarities actually.”
The remarks are the latest in a long pattern of inflammatory rhetoric from Vindman, who has built his campaign in Florida around fierce opposition to President Trump and his supporters. He has previously compared Trump and Republicans to Nazis, called the president “a Russian asset,” and described MAGA Republicans as a “nihilistic cult bent on establishing dictatorship.”
Family History of Controversy
Vindman’s family has become a fixture in conservative criticism. His brother, Virginia Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman, serves in Congress, and his wife, Rachel Vindman, has drawn backlash for mocking assassination attempts against President Trump.
In 2024, Rachel Vindman faced widespread condemnation after posting on X, following an apparent assassination attempt at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, “No ears were harmed. Carry on with your Sunday afternoon.” The post appeared to mock the injury Trump suffered in July 2024 when a gunman opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounding two others.
The Associated Press reported that a Secret Service agent spotted an AK-style rifle muzzle in shrubbery about 400 yards from where Trump was golfing, fired, and the suspect fled. Ryan Routh was later apprehended, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison in September 2025.
Campaign Millions and Electoral Math
Since launching his Senate bid, Vindman has raised over $16 million, with a significant portion coming from out-of-state donors in California, New York, and Massachusetts. He is running in a state that Trump has carried three times, where registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats by roughly 1.5 million.
Vindman moved to Florida in 2023 and is seeking the Democratic nomination in the August 18 primary against Angela Nixon. The winner will face incumbent Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, a former two-term Florida attorney general, in November.
RNC Spokeswoman Emma Hall responded sharply to the resurfaced comments. “Alex Vindman has one of the worst cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome we’ve ever seen,” she said in a statement. “You have to be seriously deranged to compare President Trump to Vladimir Putin and smear millions of Americans as pro-Putin Nazis, but that’s just Vindman.”
The podcast appearance appears to contradict Vindman’s own words in April, following a third assassination attempt against Trump, when he wrote: “We must lower the temperature on our politics.”
Vindman came to national prominence in 2019 when he testified during House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into Trump. He was removed from his National Security Council post after Trump’s Senate acquittal.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/11/alexander-vindman-says-president-trump-vladimir-putin-both-enemies-of-america-in-florida-senate-campaign/