An omen for November? John Oliver’s filleting of Philippines presidential “Trump of the East” backfired — or had no effect. Rodrigo Duterte was elected Monday anyway.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in 2009. Photo by Keith Bacongco via Wikimedia Commons
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in 2009. Photo by Keith Bacongco via Wikimedia Commons
On Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight,” the British comedian decried what he called a “total f-ing monster” who “tested the limits of basic human decency.”

As the Daily Beast noted: “For those believing the U.S. has become the laughingstock of the world, however, Oliver offered an olive branch: Rodrigo Duterte. Yes, the current mayor of Davao City and frontrunner for president of the Philippines … is perhaps the only person on the political stage even more outspoken than Trump and, according to Oliver, is ‘a colorful character, to say the least.’

“At a mass wedding recently, Duterte — taking a page out of Braveheart —offered himself up to the brides as a wedding gift, announcing from the stage, ‘I don’t have money to give, but I could give your wives something else—and this is for the wives only. Men, I’m sorry but you don’t get anything because I’m not a queer.’”

With 79 percent of precincts reporting, Duterte had 14.0 million votes — well ahead of rivals with 8.4 million and 7.9 million votes.

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