We have known for a while now about Donald Trump's admiration for Vladimir Putin of Russia, but that doesn't seem to be the only authoritarian leader he envies. This week, he congratulated Rodrigo Duterte, the strongman ruling the Philippines, on his recent election victory (in an election that almost no one thinks was fairly conducted) and invited him to the White House. And while Trump has sounded belligerent toward North Korea, he also recently called Kim Jong-un a "smart cookie" and said he would be "honored" to meet with him.
Meanwhile, Trump has not been so complimentary of some of our allies from countries with democratically-elected leaders. He has argued with leaders from Mexico, Australia, and Germany -- and been very critical of the French leaders.
This begs the question -- why does Trump seem to admire authoritarian leaders more than democratically-elected leaders? Is he jealous of the ability of the authoritarians to do whatever they want (regardless of what the people of their countries need or want)? Does he wish he had that kind of power?
I think so. Trump doesn't seem to understand how a democratic government works. He is frustrated because Congress, the Courts, and the general public haven't liked his proposals or executive orders -- and he doesn't seem to have the skills necessary to negotiate or compromise. He seems to have had the idea before being elected that he could just march in and command the government to do whatever he wanted. But democracies don't work that way -- and our Constitution was written in such a way as to prevent a president from doing that.
Trump is envious of authoritarian leaders because he covets the kind of power they are able to wield. He wants that kind of power for himself -- and that makes him a very dangerous man.
NOTE -- There is a fourth tyrant that Trump likes -- the authoritarian ruler of Turkey (Recep Erdogan).It looks like the United States will abandon it's fight against tyranny while Trump is president -- because our wannabe dictator admires authoritarianism.
