Look, there are a few rhetorical flourishes you generally can’t get away with as a world leader in 2016. One of the big ones which tends to land you in a bit of hot water is comparing yourself to Adolf Hitler. It’s especially a bit off when you’ve been accused of running death squads and calling for the mass killings of drug dealers and users in your country.
That’s Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines and generally a dude you do not want to fuck with. Duterte was elected in June on the promise of dealing with the country’s drug problem, and he’s basically applied the solution he embraced while mayor of Davao City: slaughter ’em.
During a press conference, Duterte dismissed critics who likened him to Adolf Hitler, before appearing to basically agree with that comparison.
“If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have…” he reportedly said, before pausing and pointing to himself. “There are three million drug addicts [in the Philippines]. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
“You know my victims. I would like [them] to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.”
Yeesh. His remarks immediately copped condemnation by Jewish groups across the globe. “The comparison of drug users and dealers to Holocaust victims is inappropriate and deeply offensive,” said Todd Gutnick, from the Anti-Defamation League. “It is baffling why any leader would want to model himself after such a monster.”
Welp. A promise to kill millions of drug dealers sounds absurd – but he’s being blamed for the deaths of thousands of people already, and he doesn’t have a problem with vigilantism from citizens and the police.
Source: Reuters.
Photo: Getty Images.
