A member of the president in exile’s cabinet was on TV this morning:
He just needed four more years …
As for the human rights record, even aside from being an apologist for the authoritarian thugs Vladimir Putin and Jair Bolsonaro, I am reminded of this disgusting exchange from the beginning of his reign:
President-elect Donald Trump told Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte that he is going about his controversial fight against drugs “the right way,” Duterte said.
Duterte says he was greatly pleased with the “rapport” he had with the newly elected U.S. president..
Duterte made the comments to reporters in Davao City on Saturday after a brief phone call last night with President-elect Donald Trump. Government officials earlier passed along snippets of their conversation.
“He was quite sensitive to our war on drugs and he wishes me well in my campaign and said that we are doing, as he so put it, ‘the right way,’ ” the President said.
Washington has been critical of the Philippines handling of drug dealers, including extrajudical killings – government executions without the benefit of judicial proceedings.
Duterte’s verbal tirades and tilt away from Washington have raised many eyebrows since he took office in May.
While on a trip to China in October, Duterte said that “America has lost,” and that he has realigned himself with China’s “ideological flow.” He later clarified his comments about relations with the United States saying he was rather pursuing a “separation of foreign policy” from the US.
But Duterte was pleased over the exchange with Trump.
He described Trump as “animated” and said they talked about “a lot of things.” Duterte said he told Trump Filipinos “are tight with America” and wished Trump success.
“He was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem. He understood the way we are handling it and he said there is nothing wrong with protecting your country. It was very encouraging in the sense that I suppose that what he wanted to say was that he would be the last to interfere in the affairs of our own country. “
I don’t think we’ve ever ha a president in history who was so openly disdainful of human rights, at least in the last century or so. (Trump’s fave president Andrew Jackson — once Steve Bannon explained that he was the guy on the $20 — was a notorious exterminationist.)
Mike Pompeo is a monster almost as bad as Trump. But he is missing that level of malevolent charisma that the right wing radicals love so much (Gingrich, Trump, Tucker Carlson.) I doubt he’s going anywhere. But you never know…