Rodrigo Duterte Likes Donald Trump, In Stark Contrast To His Loathing For Barack Obama

According to a leaked transcript of a phone call that took place between President Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on April 29, 2017, it has emerged that the latter prefers Trump over Obama.

The originally confidential transcript was compiled by the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs on May 2, which revealed that Trump had congratulated Duterte on “the unbelievable job he did on the drug problem.” “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem but what a great job you are doing,” Trump was quoted in a New York Daily News report.

Although the White House mentioned that Trump and Duterte talked about getting rid of the drug situation in the Philippines in the official readout of the phone call, it had glossed over the fact that the president had praised Duterte's extrajudicial executions.

After discussing how Duterte does not get much sleep, just like Trump, the two presidents moved on to talking about North Korean President Kim Jong Un's mental instability.

Calling Kim “mad,” Duterte told Trump: “He is not stable as he keeps on smiling when he explodes a rocket.” Agreeing completely with Duterte, Trump said that they could not let North Korea expand its nuclear program as its leader was a “madman.”

Both Duterte and Trump agreed on the fact that while there was one way - nuclear blast - to stop the North Korean supremo, it would not be a feasible option for the rest of the world.

Trump ended the conversation by casually inviting Duterte to Washington, much like one would invite a friend. "Come see me before November, you are invited anytime,” Trump said.

The conversation between the two world leaders indicated growing diplomatic friendship, something that was missing in the kind of relationship that the Philippine president shared with Obama in the past.

Obama was always a tough critic of the brutal methods used by Duterte to counter the drug problem in his country. In response, Duterte had remarked that the U.S. had a long history of colonization.

The Philippine president went as far as calling Obama "son of a whore" in one of his speeches, Business Insider reported.

The situation worsened when Duterte made it clear during Obama’s presidency that he did not want to carry on the U.S.-Philippines joint military exercises any longer.

“I serve notice to you now that this will be the last joint military exercise with the U.S.," Duterte said in a speech in October 2016, CNN reported. Duterte added that he valued respect and expected the same from Obama. "Eventually I might, in my time, I will break up with America. I'd rather go to Russia and to China," Duterte said.

In contrast to his attitude towards Obama, Duterte mentioned in a press conference held during his visit to Myanmar in March, that he thinks Donald Trump is “a realist” and man who “knows what is real, what is not, and he does not engage in theories,” according to transcript of the media interview reported by a Philippines-based news outlet, Minda News.