He makes outrageous, offensive statements. He praised a brutal dictator. He told his supporters to turn to violence.
Two of those three statements describe President Duterte and the American political figure to whom he has been compared, Donald Trump.
The third statement applies to Duterte, but isnât quite a perfect fit for Trump, the Republican nominee for U.S. president. At least not yet.
In making the false accusation that Hillary Clinton wants to take away the right of Americans to own guns, he warned that âif she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I donât know.â
Many interpreted the remark as a subtle endorsement of violence against the Democratic nominee. The Trump camp has vehemently denied this.
Still, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called it an âambiguous wink winkâ to Trumpâs most extremist supporters.
âWhat he said was ambiguous â slightly menacing, but with just enough plausible deniability that, of course, he was not suggesting an assassination.â
Duterte, as Filipinos and the rest of the world already know, couldnât care less about plausible deniability.
âIf you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful,â .
The U.S. media calls Duterte the . Itâs becoming clearer that they got it backwards. Itâs Trump who must be called the Duterte of the West.
It is Duterte who is setting the standard for obnoxious, dangerous leadership.
It is he who morphed from a popular and controversial presidential candidate notorious for saying outrageous things to a chief executive who, less than two months after taking power, is quickly surpassing some of the biggest fears about his rule.
Weâre just six weeks into the Duterte era.
But itâs clear he will now be known for two tragedies.
He instigated an anti-illegal drugs campaign that has degenerated into a bloodbath.
What many others have said is worth repeating here: Duterteâs war on drugs is a war on the poor. How many Filipinos have been killed? More than 500? 600? 700? Many of us have probably lost count.
And Duterte will also be remembered for saying that itâs okay to give one of the most ruthless rulers in history a heroâs burial. Duterte also doesnât seem to be bothered that Ferdinand Marcos is .
Now, Trump hasnât gone that far. But he has offered some words of praise for another dictator, Saddam Hussein and his tactics for dealing with opponents.
âSaddam Hussein throws a little gas, everyone goes crazy, âOh heâs using gas!'â .
He also approved of Saddam Husseinâs lack of respect for due process and the rule of law.
âYou know what he used to do to terrorists?â . âA one day trial and shoot himâŚand the one day trial usually lasted five minutes, right? There was no terrorism then.â
Sounds familiar?
Trump has called the Philippines a âterrorist nation.â But itâs not unthinkable he would also approve of and maybe even be awed by Duterteâs purported campaign against the terrorism of illegal drugs.
After all, the Philippine leader to whom he should be compared doesnât even bother with five-minute trials.
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