By Brigitte L. Nacos
President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines is a despicable human rights violator whose anti-drug campaign has resulted in the death of thousands of alleged drug dealers and addicts who are killed without being arrested and tried. While human rights organizations have condemned Duterte, the Philippine’s ruler has a fan in the White House. As the New York Times reports today, in late April President Trump called his counterpart in Manila to congratulate him for the excellent job he does in solving his country’s drug problem.
According to the transcript of the exchange Trump told his idol, “I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”
I wished I could say that I was shocked when reading this latest revelation. I was not. After all, Trump has made no secret of his admiration for the most autocratic rulers of our time—most of all, of course, Vladimir Putin. During last year’s campaign, Trump expressed his admiration for the Russian strongman repeatedly.
On one occasion, Trump stated, “I've already said he is very much of a leader. The man has very strong control over his country. You can say, 'Oh, isn’t that a terrible thing,' I mean, the man has very strong control over his country. Now it's a very different system, and I don't happen to like the system, but certainly in that system he's been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader."
Once in the White House, Trump did not shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand after their meeting. But he surely showed his high regard when welcoming Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Sisi. As Joshua Hammer wrote in the New York Review of Books, “Human rights groups in Egypt estimate that between 40,000 and 60,000 political prisoners, including both Muslim Brotherhood members and secular pro-democracy activists, now languish in the country’s jails. Twenty prisons have been built since Sisi took power.”
But human rights violations do not bother Mr. Trump. “We agree on so many things,” the President told Sisi when they met in the White House. Sisi, Trump told him, has done “a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt…You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me!”
And then there is Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan whose ever more dictatorial regime has arrested, prosecuted, fired, and persecuted tens of thousands of members of the military and civil servants; it has closed opposition media and arrested journalists. Yet, in April, after Erdogan won the vote on a referendum that consolidates his power, President Trump lost no time to place a congratulatory call to Erdogan.
While Trump’s admiration for these strongmen is troubling, it is not all that surprising. After all, the revelations concerning Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election attest to the 45th president’s lack of understanding of or respect for the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the rules of the game in a liberal democracy.
In the Philippines, in Russia, Egypt, and Turkey this “Russia thing” that so troubles and annoys President Trump would not be a problem—and if it were, it would go away quicker than it arose.
Someone ought to explain this to our president. But with neophytes and/or yes-men and –women around him, the would-be strongman in the White House piles up on himself.
Open responsibility is inborn to America's sacred framework, yet that doesn't mean Trump won't attempt to escape it. It's not as though he doesn't have good examples for this kind of operation. In Russia, Putin has won a progression of decisions and holds high endorsement evaluations, to a great extent since he has wiped out, threatened, or minimized any individual who may challenge his control while sustaining the Russian individuals a relentless eating routine of star Kremlin purposeful publicity
Posted by: best essay writing service | June 14, 2017 at 01:09 PM