MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sanctioned a bloody drug war that features extrajudicial killing. He called Barack Obama a “son of a whore.” This week, he boasted that he murdered a man with his own hands.
All that went unmentioned in public by President Donald Trump when the leaders held talks Monday in the Philippines.
Reporters saw the beginning of the leaders’ bilateral meeting in during which Trump praised Duterte’s hospitality, the organization of the summit he was hosting and even Manila’s weather. Trump said nothing about human rights and both leaders ignored shouted questions about the violent drug crackdown.
Breaking with his presidential predecessors, Trump has largely abandoned publicly pressing foreign leaders on human rights, instead showing a willingness to embrace international strongmen for strategic gain. He has cozied up to autocrats such as Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And earlier in this trip to Asia he made no mention of human rights during multiple appearances in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Trump seems very comfortable with strongmen. It’s not just that he won’t criticize Duterte. I wouldn’t be surprised if he patted him on the back,” said Mike Chinoy, senior fellow at U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California, before the meeting.