Captain Obvious here, but the amount of defenestrations (or generally mysterious "suicides" of people not agreeing enough with the government) is much higher in Russia than in the US.

In the US you might get your funds cancelled, in Russia you'll get your life cancelled instead - and not in the metaphorical sense.

Also as incompetent as the current US government is, the incompetency of the Russian government is on a whole different level (the "3 days to Kyiv" special operation is now taking longer than Russia's involvement in WW2).

USA has had 3 different presidents from opposing parties just in the last 15 years. Putin hasn't allowed a challenger in nearly 30 years and he actively bans them, imprisons them, or kills them. It's a big difference.

> I'm not sure what difference there is between them.

Good hyperbole

One big difference is that the US has been led by four different people since 2000 instead of one. Another big difference is that it's legal for Americans to insult political leaders, wish bad things upon them, or demand an end to their stupid wars.

If you weren't aware of these differences, I'd encourage you to radically change your media diet; there are unfortunately many outlets which find it advantageous to exaggerate how bad the US is and deemphasize how bad dictatorships are. (Some are paid Russian propaganda, I've seen a shocking number of people send me RT links as though they're a legitimate news source.)