In the US, Donald Trump won not only the electoral college votes but also the popular votes.
Believe it or not, the public’s judgment of US President Biden’s performance on core issues—like inflation, immigration, abortion, and transgenders —was harshly negative, and Democrat Presidential candidate Kamala Harris “inherited“ this disapproval.
The Republican’s sweeping victory is unprecedented in the history of the United States.
When Rodrigo Duterte ran for the Philippine presidency in 2016, the international media labelled him as the ‘Donald Trump of Southeast Asia’.
While it was hoped that Trump, the real-estate-mogul-turned-politician, would turn his business acumen into a governing strategy, it was realized later that instead, he was actually reading from the ‘Duterte playbook’ with a bit of the Dictator Marcos sprinkled in it, when Trump supposedly commended Duterte that he was doing a good job fighting an illegal drug epidemic in the country — an effort that has led to thousands of deaths, drawing international condemnation from human rights groups.
An award-winning Tokyo-based columnist, William Pesek, said that one can joke about the similarities between the American and Philippine Presidents, but the likeness goes deeper than their crude statements; Trump’s embrace of strongman politics also puts the whole world on edge.
Now that former President Duterte is under congressional investigation regarding the extrajudicial killings, it is important to remember that he is still extremely popular domestically, that observers worry the public has effectively sanctioned EJKs in the name of combating the drug problem.
For his second term which begins on Jan. 20, 2025, President-elect Trump has promised to deport millions of non-documented residents so that immigrants, their employers, and groups that work with them are beginning to take action.
Trump allies are discussing deportation and detention options, with tackling the issue on the US-Mexico border seen as the priority from Day 1.
Many analysts note that Trump shares Duterte’s loud mouth, his delight in spewing insults, and post-truth utterances.
And Duterte, just like Trump now, has presented himself as the quintessential hard driving, no-nonsense tough guy, wielding power in the interests of the “down-trodden and disadvantaged against criminals and corruption”.
In another amazing parallel between the United States and the Philippines, the main external threat of the Philippines is quite clearly, China. The new power challenging the US is also China, and nowhere more so than in East Asia.
In efforts to “Make America Great Again,” China should be first on Trump’s list of international concerns.
In the past, Trump for good measure had cast doubts on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. However, no increase in U.S. global power can be achieved without friends and allies. And that includes the Asia-Pacific, as the access that the U.S. military has at key points, including Singapore and Subic Bay in the Philippines.
Plans for a much bigger Navy, for example, make no sense in the absence of alliances fortified by commerce, as well as hardware.
Analysts say that Trump, the self-styled master of the deal, should consider and comprehend that international politics is more complicated and multi-faceted, as he strategizes foreign policy about China, Russia, Israel, Iran, the European extreme left and racist right, and North Korea.
Good Luck , America!
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