Mikheil Saakashvili in his presidential heyday, Tbilisi, 2008. (c) David Khizanishvili / RIA Novosti. All rights reserved.Last Friday, as Americans gathered at the National Mall to watch president Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia and maverick mayor of Odessa, gave a rousing speech of his own.
Addressing the crowd of 7,000 delegates at the United National Movement’s (UNM) party convention in Tbilisi, Georgia by conference call from Washington D.C., Saakashvili spoke at length on Georgian “exceptionalism” and “the beginning of a new great era.” He berated the “pseudo-liberals” and “elite groups” just hours before Trump would disparage the “establishment” and lay out his “new vision” for “making America great again”. The speeches echoed each other; slogans for a new right-populist era.
Since the primaries, Saakashvili, knowing which way the wind blows, started boasting of his “20 years of friendship” with the president. He decorated Trump with the Order of Excellence during his visit to Georgia in 2012. “New America was built by [Trump]” declared Saakashvili in 2012, during the meeting. “You’re a big man outside this area, believe me”, responded The Donald.
