𝗡𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗟 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗭𝗘-𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗝𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗦𝗨𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗦 𝗪𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣'𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗦 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗟𝗬

Trump and Duterte

If the most frightening thing about a Trump second term is his worshipful fascination with dictators, "strongmen," like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Viktor Orban and Xi Jinping, a Nobel Prize-winning journalist, Maria Ressa of the Philippines, can add another name to Trump's list of heroes; Rodrigo Duterte, ruthless dictator of the Philippines, 2016-2022.

According to Maria Ressa, also winner of the Press Freedom Award, Duterte did Trump things before Trump, referring to journalists as the "enemy of the people," weaponizing his country's justice department, taking away the franchise of one of the country's leading media outlets and, not only threatening to shoot journalists, but actually doing it.

Maria Ressa

Ressa, who chose to write openly about an oppressive regime, was initially sentenced to six years in prison for libel, but Duterte added five additional counts of tax evasion, meaning time served, if convicted on all counts, would have totaled one hundred years. 

Duterte called her and other like journalists "fake news, vultures, spies."

"Just because you're a journalist, you're not exempt from assassination if you're a son of a bitch," stated Duterte.

Ressa was eventually acquitted after a five year legal fight and now joins those who say that when Trump says he'll do something, believe him.

About Duterte, she says:  "We didn't believe him when he said he was going to kill people, but then he did."

Ressa also adds:  "Big tech has designed social media so that it literally pulls us apart.  The Philippines were actually ahead of the United States in that way."

Duterte, whose controversial methods are now being investigated by the International Criminal Court, admits he told officers to "encourage" suspects to fight back so he could justify the killings. 

The Philippine government estimates that more than 6,252 people were gunned down by Duterte's "death squads" in his "war on drugs," although rights groups say it was much more than that.

Like Duterte, Trump has threatened to have the licenses pulled for the major networks if they continue reporting not to his liking.  

Like Duterte, Trump has suggested that he wouldn't mind at all being shot if the bullets first had to go through "fake news."

While many of us have waved off Trump's wild pronouncements, feeling he's merely kidding or exaggerating, Maria Ressa suggests that when he tells us who he is, we should believe him.