Duterte as Trump

Duterte as Trump (Trump as Duterte)

In recent news Donald Trump is reported to be be planning a trip to China taking 400 leaders from the business world with him to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He says make money, not war. This after rebuffing President Obama's overtures to strengthen alliances between the Philippines and the United States that were to be a response to Chinese assertion of property rights over the South China Sea. OK. You probably realized that this wasn't making much sense because Donald Trump doesn't have anything to do with the Philippines or China as far as we know. He might. We just don't know. Check the National Enquirer.

Rodrigo Duterte is the President of the Philippines and an avowed hater, well, maybe just a severe disliker, of the United States due to some CIA incident that happened while he was governor of Mindanao. I just noticed that the resemblance to our own Donald Trump was remarkable. Duterte has browbeat his way into the Filipino equivalent of the White House using tactics very much like what Trump has campaigned on. He has launched a campaign of terror against drug users and traffickers with thousands of them reportedly having been killed. In response to criticism he barked that he “didn't give a s**t about human rights which puts him squarely in line with Trump's pronouncements of what law enforcement would look like after his election. Also, he has called President Obama some derogatory names that can get your butt kicked in these parts if used. But, even at that they are short of what Trump's supporters are calling him.

As a part of the pivot toward Asia that President Obama has desired the strengthening of alliances with many of the Pacific Rim countries was central to its accomplishment. Part of the reason is to act as a deterrent to imperialistic aims of the Chinese to assert dominance over the South China Sea which abuts American allies Japan, Korea, The Philippines and Vietnam and some other smaller nations including Taiwan which China regards as a renegade province. If superiority of the seas is accomplished in the South China Sea it leaves all of those countries subject to Chinese domination and military adventurism. Especially Taiwan with which we are treaty bound to render aid. Of course, with Trump as President he would probably insist that the United States get a check before rendering aid.

The Philippine Islands have been central to American operations in the South Pacific since the Spanish-American war rendered them subject to the United States. Even after WWII the Philippines hosted our armed forces with Naval bases and facilities for conducting surveillance flights over China. It has been the aim of the United States to reopen some bases that were closed and to project power to a greater extent in the South China Sea and other waters around Southeast Asia. Duterte has thrown a pipe wrench into those plans but the United States asserts that the people of the Philippines have a long standing relationship with the United States and will not allow that to happen. Duterte thinks otherwise and seeks to form alliances with the elephant in the region by sticking a finger in the eye of the nation that he has a serious dislike for. I know, you thought everyone loved us and wanted to be us but that may not always be true. After all, we did prop up a dictator in the country for decades before he was toppled by a democratic movement and people have a way of not forgetting stuff like that. Just ask the Iranians.

So, here we are in the most developed nation in the world, envied by all and enduring a campaign that has as a major party candidate a person that can be favorably compared to a butt kicking President of what we refer to as a third world country. The only thing keeping us from tumbling into a similar stew is the couple of centuries of adherence to the rule of law and not of men however appealing that might be so some. In less than a month we will begin the peaceful transition of power from one person to another just as we have done dozens of times. We can count on that but it does not have to be true. Words do matter and irresponsible allegations of rigged elections and massive voter fraud do little to preserve that peace and instead encourage violent extremism if the vote doesn't go as desired. That, in and of itself, is enough to disqualify one from any opportunity to wield power in the name of the United States of America. If that were the only fault one could possibly excuse Trump. No. One couldn't. That is enough.

Less than 3 weeks to go. Hang on. We can do it.