Trump Invites Foreign Leader Who Bashed Obama To The White House
"... very engaging ..."
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte received an invitation to visit President-elect Donald Trump in the White House sometime next year, according to a report from Reuters.
Duterte is best known in the United States for lashing out at President Obama earlier this year and calling him a “son of a whore.”
Trump spoke with Duterte over the telephone Friday in what an aide to the Philippines president called a “very engaging, animated” conversation.
A Duterte adviser said the call lasted just over seven minutes.
According to the Associated Press, the adviser released a video in which the Philippine leader is seen smiling during the conversation with Trump and saying, “We will maintain … and enhance the bilateral ties between our two countries.”
Duterte was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate Trump on his election victory. The two have often been compared because of their outspokenness.
“Long live Mr. Trump!” Duterte declared when Trump won the presidency. “I don’t want to quarrel anymore, because Trump has won.”
Tension between the United States and the Philippines has been brewing for some time, primarily revolving around the Obama administration’s criticism of Duterte’s drug war.
“Mr. Obama, you can go to hell. … The EU better choose purgatory,” Duterte said in October, adding that he wouldn’t stop his anti-drug crackdown “until the last pusher is taken out of the street.”
“In this venue, I announce my separation from the United States both in the military … not social, but economics also,” Duterte announced later that month. “America has lost. I have separated from them so I will be dependent on you [China] for a long time, but don’t worry, we will also help.”
According to Reuters, a source who advised Trump on security policy said the president-elect wanted to approach the relationship with the Philippines as a “clean slate.”
“He’s not invested in a policy of the past,” the source said about Trump.
“He is perfectly capable of talking to Duterte in an open way without being wedded to previous policy failures,” the source said. “If anyone is going to be able to right the ship, it’s someone with Mr. Trump’s profile.”
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