President Obama said Thursday that Donald Trump’s controversial public statements confirm his belief that the GOP nominee is unfit to sit in the Oval Office.
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President Barack Obama has commented publicly on meeting his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte, with whom he “exchanged pleasantries” in Laos this week after canceling a one-on-one meeting over Duterte calling Obama a “son of a whore”.
“We want to partner with the Philippines on the particular issue of narco-traffickers, which is a serious problem”.
On a visit to the Indonesian capital on Friday, Duterte told a group of Filipinos that the slur was not directed at the USA president and that he had told him so.
Mr Duterte caused outrage earlier in the week for saying the slur against the US President after Mr Obama pledged to ask about alleged extrajudicial killings by Filipino government forces in their war on drugs. He further confirmed that his team will be meeting with Durterte soon to discuss how the can move forward with varying issues. “In our relations with the world, the Philippines will pursue an independent foreign policy”, Duterte said in a news conference in Davao City, reports the Global Times.
Trump had raised eyebrows on Wednesday by saying that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, was “far more” of a leader than Obama and criticized the USA military, saying its generals “have been reduced to rubble”.
The whole room was silent and he waited for Obama to respond but he remained quiet, Duterte said.
On being asked if he interacted with the Philippine President in Laos, he said, “I did shake hands with President Duterte last night”.
While speaking at the ASEAN Summit in Laos, Obama also said the US will not abandon its position on cooperation in various areas with the Philippines.
But acid-tongued Duterte on Friday said the Philippine expression “putangina” should not be taken at face value, and it was “an ordinary expression (used) by everyone”.
“I think it’s just a habit, a way of speaking for him”, Obama concluded.
Obama’s call came shortly after Duterte gave what diplomats said was a “fiery” address to leaders of the 18-nation East Asia group, including Obama.
“I do not care about him”.
Relations between long time allies the U.S. and the Philippines saw a spectacular setback this week after firebrand politician Duterte branded Obama a “son of a whore”.
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Duterte, who assumed the presidency in June, has had an uneasy relationship with the USA, his country’s longtime treaty ally.
