DONALD TRUMP & THE LEADER OF THE PHIPIPPINES: “BROTHERS FROM ANOTHER MOTHER?”

…The foul-talking leader of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte

 

You know the old saying:  “Birds of a feather…….”

 

I am really surprised that so many people and national publications are so surprised that President Trump has invited the Philippine leader, Rodrigo Duterte to meet at the White House.

 

When you compare the two and their personal traits when dealing in public, as Dana Milbank of The Post wrote, “…the two men are brothers from another mother.”

 

If you were to draw a line down the middle of a yellow legal pad, then put Trump’s name on the top of one column and Duterte’s on the other, and then you were to write a comment about Trump on one side, you could put the same comment under Duterte’s name.

 

Here’s an example:

 

Donald J. Trump                               I             Rodrigo Duterte

 

Foul language in public                                    Foul language in public

 

Boast about sexual performance                      Boast about sexual performance

 

Vulgar comments assaulting women                 Vulgar comments assaulting women

 

Has threatened the Free Press                              Has threatened the Free Press

 

Challenged the Judiciary                                  Challenged the Judiciary

 

Falsely called opponents corrupt                      Falsely called opponents corrupt

 

Insulted Catholic Pope                                     Insulted Catholic Pope

 

And this is only the main areas that are so easily compared.

 

I will admit that Duterte goes further with his boasting because even our president hasn’t boasted like Duterte that he personally killed people and that his government has killed thousands of alleged drug dealers.

 

However, Trump did boast that “I could shoot somebody in the middle of Times Square and I wouldn’t lose voters,” and fortunately he hasn’t tested that concept.

 

I, and most of this country are starting to ask, is President Trump’s admiration for powerful dictators something we should be concerned about?

 

Is this idolizing of these “strongmen leaders” Trump's real desire to turn the American Presidency into a similar leadership role?

If that’s not the case, why then does this president seem to have unbridled respect for thuggish leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, Moammar Gaddafi and that “smart cookie” Kim Jong Un.

 

Trump’s everyday language and Duterte’s are in different languages, but when they are translated, they are strikingly similar.

 

As Milbank also wrote, “Is this a case of imitation? Or are they both using the same authoritarian leader’s handbook?”

 

As you may recall, Trump called the judges that have ruled against his travel ban “so-called Judges”, and he called the Indiana Judge of Hispanic descent that over-saw his Trump University case a “hater” and he called him a “Mexican”, like it was a dirty word.  Trump has also proposed that the people “blame the US court system for future terrorist attacks”.  A top aide has stated that “Trump’s authority on national security will not be questioned by the judicial system.”

Now, this man that President Trump has invited to the White House, he has attacked Philippine judges as “drug addicts”, and he told the Philippine Chief Justice not to “order me around” unless she would “rather that I declare martial law.”

 

Most everyone in the US has seen the video from Access Hollywood where Donald Trump talked about his womanizing and his touching of a woman’s “private parts”.

 

Well, Duterte, when he was mayor of a city in the Philippines, he joked about the prison rape of an Australian missionary, saying: “she was so beautiful, the mayor [Duterte] should have been first, what a waste.” Duterte also proclaimed: “I’m not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up.”

 

And you will also recall, Trump, during a presidential debate, spoke of the size of his genitalia: “He [Senator Rubio] referred to my hands...if they’re small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there’s no problem. I guarantee you.”

 

Both men have publicly said as their defense, “That is just how men talk.”  

 

Well, not this man.

 

On the issue of the Pope, Duterte, after Pope Francis’ car tied up traffic in the Philippines, said he wanted to tell him, “Pope, you son of a whore, go home.”

 

But then Trump called it “disgraceful” of the Pope to question Trump’s Christianity. He said Francis was “very political” and “a pawn” of Mexico.

 

On top of all this, Duterte called President Barack Obama a “son of a whore,” and Trump had questioned Obama’s American birth for over 5 years while he called Obama a “threat to our country” and “the founder of ISIS.”

There are other similarities such as Duterte said, “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself.” Duterte said he wouldn’t “stop because of the human rights,” then he dared opponents to assassinate him.

While Trump once suggested that “Second Amendment people, gun owners, could stop judicial nominees.”  Trump has been accused in court of inciting violence at his rallies. He has proposed paying legal fees of those who “knock the crap out of his protesters”.

 

Duterte said “f--- you” to leaders of the European Union (EU). Trump spoke of bombing the “s---” out of ISIS and said China was “ripping the s--- out of the sea.”

 

Duterte told drug pushers to “forget the laws on human rights,” saying, “I’ll kill you and dump all of you into Manila Bay to fatten all the fish.”

 

Trump had said that he would restore waterboarding and “much worse” for terrorists, and that the military would obey him, even if it was against the law.

 

Duterte made a Christmas video telling criminals “it would be your last Merry Christmas.”  Trump had a New Year’s tweet for “my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly.”

 

Duterte has attacked newspaper owners and told journalists “you are not exempted from assassination.” Trump routinely blasts legitimate new organizations as “fake news” and he talks of restricting press freedoms.  Fortunately, he stops short of offering assassinations.

 

A report just last March from Trump’s State Department said Duterte’s attacks on “those who have criticized his policies and it had a chilling effect on free speech and expression.”

 

And President Trump has invited this same man for a “very friendly talk in the White House”.

 

We’ll I guess, this is where you say: “Birds of a feather……..do hang together!”

Copyright G.Ater  2017