Rodrigo Duterte’s Invitation to the White House
What does the invitation of this controversial leader mean for U.S.-Philippines relations?
By Katelyn Weese
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
ON SATURDAY, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP INVITED RODRIGO DUTERTE, the President of the Philippines, to the White House. This invitation has been met with a lot of opposition, as Duterte is a highly controversial leader.
In the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte has launched a war on drugs that has been condemned by U.N. experts and human rights organizations. His crackdown on drugs has caused over 7,000 deaths and his vow to kill many more was his main campaign promise. Duterte stated “If you are still into drugs, I am going to kill you. Don’t take this as a joke. I’m not trying to make you laugh. Sons of b-tches, I’ll really kill you” and that he “doesn’t care about human rights.” Drug “watch lists” of suspected users and dealers have been released, and the people on these lists have been targeted by so-called vigilantes. These killings have been rebuked by Agnes Callamard, the U.N. investigator on extrajudicial executions, Cristof Haynes, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on summary executions, and David Kaye, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of expression. The then-president of the United States, Barack Obama, has also criticized Duterte’s drug policies, saying he needs to handle the drug problem “the right way.” The Filipino president replied by calling Obama “a son of a wh — re” and saying he should “go to hell.”
Duterte’s blunt and often offensive speech has caused controversy and drawn a comparison between him and Donald Trump. In 2016, he made a comment about a missionary that had been gang-raped, saying that she was “so beautiful” and that he was angry that she was raped, but it was a waste because he “should have been first” to rape her. The Filipino president also compared himself to Hitler, saying that he would be happy to kill three million drug users and dealers, and cursed the Pope, calling him a “son of a wh — re” and telling him to not visit the Philippines again, because he had caused traffic.
According to Rodrigo Duterte, in a call between him and Donald Trump in December of 2016, Trump told him that he was going about the fight against drugs “in the right way” and wished him luck in his anti-drug campaign. In a “very friendly” call between the two presidents on Saturday, Trump and Duterte discussed concerns about North Korea and Trump invited the President of the Philippines to the White House. Although Duterte said that he may be too busy to come, Trump’s invitation still left many concerned.
The White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, defended the invitation of the Filipino president, saying “The issue on the table is North Korea, and there is nothing right now facing this country and facing the region that is a bigger threat than what’s happening in North Korea.” Priebus emphasized that the need for allies in Southeast Asia is more important than the type of person that Duterte is, saying “Whether they’re good folks, bad folks, people that we wish would do better in their country, doesn’t matter, we have got to be on the same page.” This defense doesn’t explain Trump’s previous comment in his last phone call with Duterte, where he complimented the president’s tactics.
Trump’s decision to invite Duterte directly contradicts decisions made by other parts of the U.S. Government. The U.S. State Department stopped the sale of 26,000 rifles to the Philippines and the U.S. embassy in Manila chose to not renew a major aid package that was previously sent to the Philippines, both of these decisions made over concerns of human rights violations under Rodrigo Duterte’s rule. The wider U.S. Government seems to be generally against Duterte, differing from President Trump’s views on the leader.
Trump’s support for authoritarian-like leaders, such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and now, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, is highly concerning. The outcome of this support on foreign relations is still yet to be seen, and will be something important to watch out for as time goes on.
