Does Donald Trump have a new favorite strongman? Trump, who as a candidate basked in the approval of the authoritarian Vladimir Putin, has used his time in office to embrace tough guys around the globe, praising the growing power of an autocrat in Turkey, respecting the survival instincts of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and recently calling China’s unelected leader, Xi Xinping, “a very good man.” Now it’s the Philippines turn. In another spontaneous foreign policy initiative, Trump used a Saturday phone call to invite the country’s controversial president, Rodrigo Duterte, for an official White House visit. Duterte played coy, sending a message back that he might be too busy to meet with the American president, and Trump’s naive diplomacy is likely to boomerang back against America.
Calling Duterte controversial is like calling the Titanic wet. Duterte relishes making transgressive comments to inflame his opponents and rally supporters. He has vowed to personally kill drug addicts, called them zombies unable to rejoin society, and once offered to eat the liver of a terrorist, if it was served with salt and pepper.
Patrick Symmes.
Full story at
Yahoo News.
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