"Learning From Duterte? Donald Trump Supports Death Penalty for Drug Dealers"

Since the start of the Duterte presidency, numerous criticisms have been thrown by many.

The western media outlets have not been that cooperative in a sense that they have highlighted only those would make a nice sales pitch for their respective sales volume. Add the fact that politicians from the other side of the fence have been very active sending out negative news about the country, that has been slowly being used as a barometer ( or the  lack of it ) in portraying what is the true status of the country.

The most controversial policy of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is his war on illegal drugs, this has been criticized by foreign governments continuously most specially coming from those in the west. Currently, The International Criminal Court has started its preliminary investigations regarding President Duterte’s alleged state sponsored extra judicial killings.  *

US President Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during the ASEAN hosting of the country last year (photo credit to owner)
 

After almost two years in the office, it seems the tides are slowly changing- is the United States of America would also do a “Duterte”?

Foreign writer Adam Garrie in his column with the news and opinion website “Eurasia Future” titled “Learning From Duterte? Donald Trump Supports Death Penalty for Drug Dealers” dated March 11, 2018 cites reasons why he thinks United States President Donald Trump is copying one policy from the Duterte playbook.

For purposes of full understanding and clarity ,we have quoted in full the whole article written by Mr. Garrie for the convenience and knowledge of our reading public.

For decades, drug dealers and abusers have held The Philippines hostage. A culture of violence, degeneracy, public filth and social decay sprung up around a dark narcotics trade that spread like a virus. Countless politicians spoke about the problem, but only one took a militarised approach to a problem which effected the country as much if not more than terrorist insurgencies. That man, Rodrigo Duterte pioneered a tough zero-tolerance policy to drugs which give everyone in society a stake in helping to curtail the problem.

Between 2001 and 2010 and again from 2013 to 2016, Rodrigo Duterte as Mayor of Davao, did something in one of the poorest major cities in The Philippines, what the wealthy politicians in Manila could not do. He stopped the drug trade by eliminating the problem from its roots. When Duterte ran for President, even those who admired his achievements in Davao remained sceptical of his ability to do the same at a national level. Those sceptics were proved wrong as Duterte’s ongoing war on drugs continues to take effect. As a result, the streets throughout the country are safer and Duterte remains popular for achieving this reduction of violence and anti-social behaviour. *

While the US Congress and intelligence agencies remain deeply hostile to President Duterte, Donald Trump has declared his admiration for Duterte’s war on drugs. A leaked transcript from the first conversation that Duterte and Trump conducted reveals the extent to which Trump found Duterte’s drug war inspirational. According to the transcript, Trump told Duterte,

“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”.

Yesterday, Trump announced that he seeks to impose the death penalty on drugs dealers. He made an analogy that a murderer who kills a single individual can receive the death penalty, but drug dealers whose narcotics kill thousands are often in and out of jail quite rapidly, only to return to their dark ways.

Trump may well be following in Duterte’s footsteps, even at a time when many in Washington consider Duterte an enemy.

 

Report from EurasiaFuture