Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Wednesday, April 24, 2024 72° Today's Paper


Top News

Duterte says Trump wished his drug crackdown ‘success’

1/1
Swipe or click to see more

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers a speech at the Philippine Economic Forum in Tokyo.

MANILA, Philippines >> President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday Donald Trump wished his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs would succeed during a telephone call, and he assured the U.S. president-elect the Philippines would maintain its ties with America — a departure from Duterte’s hostility toward the Obama administration.

Duterte called to congratulate Trump late Friday in their first talk that was described by an aide of the Philippine president as “very engaging, animated conversation” in which both leaders invited each other to visit his country.

In a video released by Duterte’s close aide, Bong Go, the Philippine leader is seen smiling while talking to Trump and saying: “We will maintain … and enhance the bilateral ties between our two countries.”

The other parts of the conversation were not aired in the video but in a statement released by his aides, Duterte said “he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem.”

“He understood the way we are handling it and I said that there’s nothing wrong in protecting a country,” Duterte said. “It was a bit very encouraging in the sense that I supposed that what he really wanted to say was that we would be the last to interfere in the affairs of your own country.”

“He said that … well, we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way,” Duterte said in his statement. It was unclear whether he or Trump remarked that the widely criticized crackdown was being carried out properly.

Duterte has lashed out at President Barack Obama, the State Department, EU and U.N. officials and human rights groups for raising concerns over the crackdown, which has left more than 4,000 suspected drug dealers and user dead, including many who are feared to have been gunned down in gangland-style killings.

While being antagonistic to the U.S., his country’s treaty ally, Duterte has reached out to China and Russia.

Obama canceled what could have been their first formal meeting in an Asian summit in Laos in September after Duterte unleashed an expletive-laden warning for the U.S. leader not to lecture him on human rights. In one speech, Duterte asked Obama to “go to hell.”

Duterte has repeatedly threatened to scale back the presence of visiting U.S. troops and joint combat exercises with the Americans, but he and his defense officials have walked back on most of those threats. In one speech while visiting Beijing, Duterte announced he would separate from the U.S. but later clarified that he meant he would chart a foreign policy that does not lean toward America.

During their talk, Trump invited Duterte to visit the White House next year and Duterte asked the incoming U.S. leader to attend an East Asian summit to be hosted by the Philippines next year, according to Go.

“He said that he will try his best to be here. He wants to attend the summit and that would be great for our country,” Duterte said.

18 responses to “Duterte says Trump wished his drug crackdown ‘success’”

  1. Waterman2 says:

    Got a feeling the buttercups aren’t going to like this much. Let’s see how much contrived rhetoric gets added.

    1……….2………3…………Go !

    • TigerEye says:

      I take it your plan is to set the opening bar so low that no one else will be able to squeeze under it…?

    • thos says:

      HUZZAH for Duterte and Trump.

      Help is on the way.

      Decency is about to make a grand come back.

      This is the ultimate rebuke to the dope smoking, sexually promiscuous, flag burning, draft dodging, veteran cursing Cry Baby Boom elite.

      America would do well to emulate Duterte’s “no prisoners” approach to dope eradication, BEGINNING with a war on USERS.

      • saywhatyouthink says:

        Yea, that sounds real “constitutional”. A better approach would be to decriminalize and provide drug treatment. Prohibition doesn’t work, even when the penalty is death. The Philippines is living proof.

        • jusris says:

          So is Duterte saying that Trump supports this unconstitutional way of addressing the drug problem in the Phillipines? So what stops Trump saying that this “maybe” a way to deal with Americas drug problems?

        • thos says:

          Please see my response at the end of this string.

        • thos says:

          jusris asks:

          An “unconstitutional way” of exterminating dope users?

          Nothing ‘unconstitutional’ about eliminating a clear and present danger to our Republic.

          The idea is to ERADICATE the “drug problem”, not merely “address it”. That can mean only one thing: a war on USERS until the last of these feral sub humans has been eliminated.

  2. krusha says:

    As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together, but there is no honor among thieves.

  3. okmaluna says:

    It’s called Man to Man. The geldings are gone.

  4. iwanaknow says:

    Death to all drug dealer after due process

  5. youngblood says:

    There goes Duterte showing the length of his peepee again.

  6. wrightj says:

    In the meantime, America is legalizing marijuana.

  7. klastri says:

    Nothing is too low for Mr. Trump. Nothing. He will embrace anyone – even dictatorial murderers – who even minimally feeds is outsized psychotic ego. Trump is obviously profoundly mentally ill. He must have constant ego feeding.

    • jusris says:

      What if the human condition IS to always seek ego feeding? That would make people like you the special and elite since you don’t seek these it. You are correct in his ego feeding, my only contention is that it doesn’t necessarily translate to mental illness.

    • thos says:

      Say there, Skippy.

      Aren’t you the poor sap who for MONTHS talked stink to others while announcing that PRESIDENT ELECT TRUMP had zero chance of winning the election . . . the very election he so decisively won?

      Hmmmmm?

      You like eat all that humble pie now stacked up in front of you, eh wot, Chum?

      I’d give worlds to know.

  8. thos says:

    Saywhatyouthink the war on USERS most assuredly DOES work.

    Mao Tse Tung demonstrated that almost seventy years ago. When his forces defeated the Kuomintang and took charge of what became the PRC, Mao inherited arguably THE most opium addicted citizenry on earth (thanks in large measure to the 19th century fantastically wealth creating trade policies – – rice, gold, dope global maritime transport – – of the Brits).

    Three years later, no more PRC dope addicts.

    How did Mao do it?

    Same way we should do it.

    He declared a six month amnesty for any addict that would came forth. They were given rehabilitation – – cold turkey behind the wire – – and released, their debt to society paid in full.

    Thereafter ANYONE caught importing, transporting, selling, producing, promoting, using ANY kind of dope was given a military tribunal and if found guilty sentenced to death which sentence was carried out on the spot.

    You can well believe the population of PRC dope addicts decayed exponentially.

Leave a Reply