Bully and coward are the same person. Donald Trump, in office for only a brief time, is already proving that one point that ought to make even Trump voters uncomfortable. Their leading man mimics an upstart Asian leader, the new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who assumed his office last summer.
Trump shares Duterte's loud mouth, delight in insults and post-truth utterances. And Duterte, just like Trump now, presented himself as the quintessential hard driving, no-nonsense tough guy, wielding power in the interests of the downtrodden and disadvantaged — in his case not against "Washington," but against Manila elites, criminals and corruption. He regularly intones that he would defend the integrity of the nation against external and internal threats.
In another amazing parallel between the United States and the Philippines, the main external threat of the Philippines is quite clearly China.
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