Trump just respected them because they stole their country blind
In meeting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines, President Trump referred to his “highly respected” family — a family Trump knew back in the 1980s. He made no reference to the fact that President Marcos’s father was forced out of office in a people’s revolution, and that during the Reagan administration was told it was time to go. The elder Marcos was an authoritarian, ruthless to his enemies; his son has become a close American ally, in part because of China’s encroachments on territory that both countries claim.
As Trump attacks his political opponents, Marcos keeps returning to the countries’ military relationship, and Washington’s help to the “self-reliance defense program.” But the fact is that the Philippines has no chance against China’s powerful military — and the Chinese coast guard ships that have been at the core at the conflict — without its treaty ally.
And don’t forget that Imelda Maarcos was a role model for Trump:
“How’s Imelda?” Trump asked the Philippine leader when they first spoke in November, according to an official familiar with the call, sending his regards to the onetime first lady of the Philippines and a fellow cultural figurehead of the 1980s and 90s.
Trump has long placed a premium on family ties and genetics as a measure of people’s value, including for foreign leaders and members of his staff. He appeared to be impressed in the lead-up to Tuesday’s meeting with Marcos Jr.’s connections to an infamous period in Philippine history, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“A great family, great family legacy and highly respected in this country. I know that because I have many friends in the Philippines,” Trump said as Tuesday’s meeting was getting underway.
Trump and Imelda Marcos first crossed paths decades ago as members of the international jet set — he as a New York businessman and she as the wife of strongman leader Ferdinand Marcos, famous for her extravagant taste financed by public funds and amassing a massive collection of shoes while her husband imposed martial law.
The two attended parties together in New York, including during the period when Imelda Marcos and her husband were forced into exile in Hawaii after being unseated by a popular uprising. They fled the country with crates of gold and pesos.
Images show Trump seated alongside his second wife Marla Maples and the glamorous Imelda Marcos at a birthday party in New York in 1991 — ten months before she returned to the Philippines after six years to face graft charges.