American politics a la Pilipinas

As I was following the US election unfold — from the campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump to the incredible victory of Trump — a film unspooled before my eyes, a mashup of the surprising triumph of Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 and the painful defeat of Leni Robredo in 2022. What happened to the Philippines in two separate elections, in a span of six years, compressed into one consequential election in America. 

Wow. I’m letting that sink in, with a heavy intake of breath. 

How did it happen that a developing country like ours is able to export its politics to the richest country in the world? I know, the contexts are different. But the similarities are so stunning that they jump out at you.

Filipinos gave Rodrigo Duterte, an autocrat, an unassailable mandate despite his violent rhetoric and misogynistic remarks, giving us a déjà vu as we listened to Trump on the campaign trail. We’ve been there.

But this was democracy at work: Duterte came to power via the ballot. Then he unleashed a killing spree cloaked as a war on drugs, covered the country in a blanket of fear, punished his political opponents, trammeled the media, and shattered the rule of law. All these — in six long years.

Trump showed his venomous fangs during the campaign, a preview of things to come. These were some of them:

• He sued CBS over Harris’ interview with “60 Minutes” saying it was misleading. Trump is demanding around $10 billion in damages. 
• He wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take away the broadcast license of CBS. But the FCC does not license networks.
• He threatened to use the military against his political enemies, calling them the “enemy from within” which include “radical left lunatics.”
• He said that Representative Liz Cheney, one of the former president’s Republican critics, should have rifles “shooting at her” to see how she feels about sending troops to fight.

If there’s any consolation for America, Trump’s rule will be two years shorter — and this will be his last term. 

The other thing that struck me was Elon Musk giving away $1-million checks to “randomly selected people who sign a petition pledging support for free speech and gun rights.” Musk gave the first $1 million during a campaign rally in a battleground state. 

However way the donation was worded, for someone like me immersed in Filipino political culture, it smacked of buying votes. Consider the context in which the check was given away — and by a foremost supporter of Trump at that.

‘People Power’

As for Harris, her rallies reminded me so much of Robredo’s campaign, the crowds that showed up, the thousands who trooped to the stadiums, the pulsing energy, and the joy. Many were young, just like Robredo’s supporters. 

Harris’ campaign used the phrase “people power” to describe what seemed like a movement, infused with spontaneity. This resonates with Robredo’s followers and Filipinos, in general, who wowed the world in 1986 when we ejected a dictator.

In the last weeks of Robredo’s campaign, her supporters initiated a door-to-door campaign, although this was not as extensive as Harris’. Robredo did not have the resources that Harris had.

Indonesia, too

It’s not just in the US where we see our kind of politics play out. Earlier, something similar to Philippine politics was on display in Indonesia, the world’s third largest democracy. 

Last February, Prabowo Subianto, then the defense minister, won the presidency despite his dark past. In the 1990s, he was “feared as a top lieutenant of Indonesia’s late strongman ruler Suharto.” He was once banned from the US because of alleged human rights abuses. 

Prabowo reminds us of the Martial Law era under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. His run for the presidency was like that of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022, whitewashing the excesses of the authoritarian regime of his father. For Prabowo, it was a campaign based on a makeover, his image turned into a cuddly grandfather.

Prabowo’s running mate was the millennial son of then-president Joko Widodo: 36-year-old Gibran Rakabuming Raka. It was a move to gain the support base of the widely popular Jokowi.

Similarly, Marcos Jr. ran with Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president, to win the votes of the Duterte base. The elder Duterte left office as the most popular president in the post-Marcos era. 

This early, we’re reading reports of a rift between Prabowo and Jokowi — which both sides are downplaying. “…any attempt from Prabowo to wind down the Vice President’s power could result in a rift between Jokowi and Prabowo, just like the one now splitting the Duterte-Marcos alliance in Philippines,” wrote the Indonesia at Melbourne website.

We will not be surprised if we see the Prabowo-Jokowi alliance collapse. Some Indonesians call this the “Philippinization” of Indonesian politics.”

Let me know what you think. You can email me at marites.vitug@rappler.com.