Trump Faces Backlash After Inviting Controversial Philippine Leader To The White House
- 7 years ago
President Trump is facing backlash after inviting the Philippines’ controversial leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House.
President Trump is facing backlash after inviting the Philippines’ controversial leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House.
One set of criticisms may come from inside the administration, with the New York Times reporting that “two senior officials said they expected the State Department and the National Security Council, both of which were caught off guard by the invitation, to raise objections internally.”
Meanwhile, human rights groups have already spoken out; John Sifton with Human Rights Watch told the Times, “By essentially endorsing Duterte’s murderous war on drugs, Trump is now morally complicit in future killings.”
The White House invitation was reportedly extended on Saturday during a telephone conversation in which Trump and Duterte talked about North Korea, southeast Asian security, and the Philippine government’s battle against drugs.
The latter issue, in fact, has been lightning rod of criticisms against Duterte, with one human rights group estimating that his drug crackdown has resulted in the deaths of around 7,000 people.
The liberal group ThinkProgress argues in a recent piece that Trump’s friendliness towards the Philippine president may have been influenced by a lucrative licensing deal of the Trump name on a new development in the capital city of Manila.
However, Reuters notes that the White House has defended the invitation as another way to combat against the threat of North Korea.
President Trump is facing backlash after inviting the Philippines’ controversial leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House.
One set of criticisms may come from inside the administration, with the New York Times reporting that “two senior officials said they expected the State Department and the National Security Council, both of which were caught off guard by the invitation, to raise objections internally.”
Meanwhile, human rights groups have already spoken out; John Sifton with Human Rights Watch told the Times, “By essentially endorsing Duterte’s murderous war on drugs, Trump is now morally complicit in future killings.”
The White House invitation was reportedly extended on Saturday during a telephone conversation in which Trump and Duterte talked about North Korea, southeast Asian security, and the Philippine government’s battle against drugs.
The latter issue, in fact, has been lightning rod of criticisms against Duterte, with one human rights group estimating that his drug crackdown has resulted in the deaths of around 7,000 people.
The liberal group ThinkProgress argues in a recent piece that Trump’s friendliness towards the Philippine president may have been influenced by a lucrative licensing deal of the Trump name on a new development in the capital city of Manila.
However, Reuters notes that the White House has defended the invitation as another way to combat against the threat of North Korea.