Taking On Issues - Political Issues and Government Policies

A Hot Discussion Forum on Government Policies and Political Issues

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Election 2016
  • Big Government
  • Healthcare
  • The Other Side
  • What’s New
  • Your Freedom
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

On the heels of Duterte, confirmation that Trump will host Erdogan at the White House

May 1, 2017 By Takingonissues

posted at 2:41 pm on May 1, 2017 by Jazz Shaw

I realize it’s important to fill up your dance card, but this is looking rather grim. Only yesterday Allahpundit was left scratching his head over the fact that President Trump had extended an invitation to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to come visit the White House. Given that the guy has openly admitted to committing murder and is looking forward to more of the same, it’s cast a bit of a pall over things. But for the record, Duterte hasn’t actually accepted the invite yet, saying he might be busy on those dates with some other international travel.

Perhaps as a distraction from that social interaction, a few outlets this morning are confirming a story which was first floating around a week ago which indicated that Trump would also be hosting the tyrant of Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a couple of weeks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will meet his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, at the White House in an upcoming visit in mid-May, Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Monday.

The invitation came from Trump, Kalin said, adding the two would discuss Syria, Iraq and the potential extradition of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed coup last year.

To call this a questionable gambit is a stretch. Sure, you might think of Duterte as the worse authoritarian of the two, what with all of the Murdery McMurderface activity, but Erdogan’s recent track record is worse in some ways. Keep in mind that it was only a few days ago when he locked up thousands more police officers on top of the tens of thousands of law enforcement officials, journalists and doctors he had already tossed in the dungeons. If you want a long list of our stories about the destruction of democracy in Turkey just browse through the list.

I get the fact that you can’t completely ignore other world leaders, even when their behavior crosses well over the line of being “questionable” in some cases. We have a long relationship with the Philippines and until not all that long ago they were home to one of our biggest naval bases in that part of the world. We still have a significant presence in the region, though the relationship has been evolving for a while now. But there’s a difference between maintaining something which at least resembles stable relations and having their leader over for high tea in the Rose Garden.

Same thing goes for Erdogan. He’s been holding an American pastor captive there for going on half a year and one of his most recent air strikes threatened to take out some American advisors in the area who were working with the Kurds. Add to that the rest of the tyranny activity and it makes for a particularly unsavory visit. I certainly hope that the President knows what he’s doing here. If he’s got some plan to bring Turkey back in line with democratic values and tone down the violence in the Philippines and thinks these meetings are part of that process then I will prepare to be pleasantly surprised. But does anyone else really see that as a likely scenario? I certainly don’t.

Now I’m just waiting to see if the President of Venezuela gets a free night in the Lincoln bedroom. Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but some of these meetings just seem over the line.

Related Posts:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Email, RSS Follow

Related

Subscribe to Taking on Issues

Enter your email address to subscribe to our site and receive notifications of new posts by email.

RSS Political News

  • Report: Trump's Ukraine Extortion Scheme Was Financed by Russia December 15, 2019
  • Man Accused of Smacking Reporter's Rear on Live TV Is Charged December 15, 2019
  • Trump supporter grabs spotlight at Sanders rally with a message for the president December 15, 2019
  • Hallmark Pulls Commercial of Brides Kissing December 15, 2019
  • What's Changed Since Sandy Hook? December 15, 2019
  • Buttigieg releases list of campaign fundraisers after criticism from Warren December 14, 2019
  • Trump may be the Least Macho President December 14, 2019
  • Anti-impeachment Democrat Jeff Van Drew meets with Trump to discuss party switch December 14, 2019
  • Possible Bribery Charges in Investigation of Rudy's Friends December 14, 2019

Archives

New Featured Articles

  • Disease risk that comes out of thin air
    August 20, 2019

    Want to know something really scary about type 2 diabetes? You likely assume you don’t need to be worried as long as you eating right and exercise daily, but when it comes to the rise in type 2 diabetes, there’s something in the air… Pollution. There is a link between the increasing levels of toxins […]

    Email, RSS Follow
  • Bolton: The State Department “needs a cultural revolution”
    December 1, 2016
    posted at 2:01 pm on December 1, 2016 by Ed Morrissey […]
  • Why the Syrian Kurds Aren’t Necessarily Our Friends
    October 10, 2019
    Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has […]
  • Exodus at Chez Mueller: Looks like it’s all over but the shouting
    March 14, 2019
    To paraphrase an old song, those final-report bells […]
  • What You Want|What Democrats Want For You
    November 2, 2010
    What do Americans want from government?   Betcha what […]
  • Politico: Delaney proves the adage — there’s no such thing as bad publicity
    July 31, 2019
    If you missed last night’s first round of the […]
  • Prime Minister Blackface: It’s time to ban assault rifles
    September 20, 2019
    A Twitter pal reminds me that scapegoating gun-rights […]
  • Lindsey Graham sends letter to Comey demanding information on any wiretapping of Trump and aides
    March 8, 2017
    posted at 9:01 pm on March 8, 2017 by Allahpundit Is […]
  • Twitter freaks out over cultural appropriation…of a prom dress
    April 29, 2018
    A high school student posted pictures of herself in […]
  • Health Insurance Is Not Insurance
    May 17, 2017
    Is health insurance a plan to help healthy people […]
  • Shoes still dropping: MSU president resigns as Nassar scandal raises questions for Congress
    January 25, 2018
    Six days ago, the board of trustees for Michigan State […]
  • After the Protests, Iranian Anger Still Simmers
    February 14, 2018
    The demonstrations that convulsed more than 100 cities […]
  • Your Political Mental Map
    November 7, 2018
    As a rule, I don’t post images of my family […]
  • SCOTUS: California county can regulate gun stores out of existence
    May 16, 2018
    This actually happened on Monday evening but we […]
  • Was Hillary’s “deplorables” comment a strategic play?
    September 10, 2016
    posted at 4:01 pm on September 10, 2016 by Allahpundit […]
Copyright © 2019 TakingOnIssues.com

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Advertise | About Us