President Rodrigo Duterte has extended his warm congratulations to US President-elect Donald Trump on his recent electoral victory, saying he’s looking forward to working with the incoming administration.
The usually combative Duterte said he doesn’t want to pick a fight with the next US president. At a gathering of Filipinos in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November 9, Duterte said, “I don’t want to fight because Trump is already there.”
Duterte, who himself was nicknamed the “Trump of the East”, acknowledged similarities between him and the incoming US president.
He said, “We both curse. For any small reason, we curse. We are kind of similar.”
Even before the real estate tycoon secured his way to the White House, his often controversial statements made analysts and critics draw parallels between him and Duterte.
But where do the parallelisms between them lie. The Filipino Times lists them down:
Unlikely winners
The two leaders survived their respective, but both grueling, election campaigns after hurdling a slew of controversies. They both used headline-grabbing rhetorics during their campaigns.
Speaking their minds
Both of them are populists. And this common ground with words have met a large number of voters happy to hear them in both countries.Trump has triumphantly declared he would build a great wall and create a ‘deportation force’ to expel millions of illegal immigrants. Pit that against Duterte who earlier this year boasted on television that he had killed in the past.
The web as secret weapons
On their respective paths to the presidency, Trump and Duterte shared this secret weapon. No election in Philippine history harnessed the power of social media more than in the May 2016 presidential elections. In the US, it was also in play again in this year’s polls, says analysts.
Walking the talk
Americans still don’t know as to what extent president Trump would actually try to implement the things that he’s been talking about in the past elections. But the tough-talking man like Duterte is said to represent people’s sentiments, even edging towards spite over the country’s difficulties.
