by Emil Amok Guillermo
Donald Trump is turning Filipino and he doesn’t even know it.
But I can see it.
He’s building his big ballroom, as he transforms the White House into his Malacanang Palace.
It’s part of the process that I’ve been telling you about—how the U.S. under Trump is becoming more and more like the Philippines under Marcos Sr. and Duterte.
It’s getting closer and closer to reality.
And so quickly after No Kings Weekend.
We saw how Trump reacted to that. He reposted a video of himself as a fighter pilot dumping fecal bombs on the protesters. Doesn’t matter if it was AI feces. It was still a disgusting response from a president.
But not for a king.
Then, before anyone could respond to that, Trump showed everyone how he can do anything he pleases. He tore down the East Wing.
I’ve always considered it a special privilege to have been based in Washington as a journalist and for a time to cover the White House. That press credential I held during the G.W. Bush years was my passport to the grounds, where history was made. So you can imagine my shock last week, when no press pass was needed. The cameras caught it all. And seeing is believing. The East Wing of the White House is gone.
Think of all the special history made there like the signing of the Civil Rights Act with Rev. Martin Luther King witnessing. All of it, gone in a cloud of dust.
The wrecking ball did more than attack the facade as the president implied when he originally said any construction wasn’t going to “interfere with the current building.”
The president assured the construction would be “near it but not touching it.”
Trump lied.
What’s new?
The East Wing demolition was more like “total and complete” obliteration, Trump’s favorite word after last summer’s big surprise when the U.S. bombed Iran.
Remember that? That was just a few months ago, and now just a faded distraction in the first year of Trump parade of hits (which includes his birthday military parade).
We still don’t know how effective that Iran mission was by the way.
But as far as the East Wing, it’s gone.
Trump touched it.
And like everything he touches, it turns into the metaphor of what he’s doing to our country and our democracy for real.
He’s destroying us, and all that we thought we stood for.
Ethics? Integrity? Rule of Law?
Nope, it’s the de facto rule of one man.
He’s the tenant President, not forever resident
Mind you, Trump doesn’t own the White House. He’s just a renter, a tenant, just as he is an elected steward of our country.
But he’s not acting like a renter. He sure doesn’t seem to care about his security deposit.
Not when he’s fashioning the country and our government to his autocratic tastes, which are very Filipino circa Marcos and Duterte.
Those Filipino leaders went after political enemies. Trump does too. (John Bolton, James Comey, Letitia James).
The Filipinos had their crony capitalists. Trump does too, rewarding cronies like the tech AI billionaires who recently asked him to call off the border patrol and the national guard’s descent into San Francisco.
The corruption is so thick, the best thing you can say is, at least it’s transparent.
Last week, Trump openly pardoned the imprisoned head of Binanace, Changpeng Zhao, whose businesses have ties to the Trump family’s multi-million dollar crypto business.
Conflict of interest? Oh, that’s OK now if he allows it, I guess.
It leads to a legal plundering, just like Marcos plundered the Philippine government coffers. Trump justifies his plundering as business as usual.
Trump’s now asking the country to pay him a quarter of a billion dollars for costs incurred when the U.S. prosecuted him. Remember all those secret documents in bathrooms at Mar-a-Lago? Trump wants to be compensated for the trouble. He’s set it up by appointing his unqualified personal attorney and lackeys to head the Justice Department, who are at the ready to approve the request. Trump has institutionalized corruption.
With Halloween coming up, who will say boo to Trump?
Masked Republicans who will display a spine?
Meanwhile, Trump continues to send the National Guard to cities that don’t need it. His ICE agents are terrorizing communities, but also using perfidy to lure well-intended undocumented residents into meetings, only to find it was just a trap leading to deportation.
Trump is already a de facto U.S. autocrat.
Republicans in Congress are under his thumb, and willing to do whatever he wants. And if anyone wants to litigate, six members of the Supreme Court are ready to be his black robed rubber stamp.
And just when you think it can’t get more Filipino-like, last week, Trump announced he’s not going to bother to seek approval for more military attacks on suspected drug boats from Venezuela.
Where’s the due process? It’s an extrajudicial act, using the drug war/law and order excuse as cover. It’s unbecoming of a great democracy. But so fitting of the likes of the Philippines of Marcos and Duterte.
It’s UST. The United States of Trump.
Off to Asia
So it just feels right as Trump is his most Filipino, that he’s not sticking around the U.S., but instead heading to Asia.
The tour that includes stops in Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and a meeting with 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that includes a meeting with China’s Xi Jinpeng.
Oddly, the Philippines finds itself needing America’s help more against China these days. The RP is not playing strong It’s playing weak and letting Trump do his thing.
The others seem to be also playing nice, placating Trump, talking about how he deserves the Nobel prize. Thailand and Cambodia apparently are willing to settle their differences with Trump at the helm. Did they use Trump or did Trump use them?
It’s all just a warmup to the meeting with Xi.
The Philippines, and the others, need and want the U.S. to contain China. The price may be to give Trump whatever he wants in tariff negotiations. Small price to pay when you have no power.
Of course, we will feel it when we pay for it at our local Asian store.
For China, Xi just wants to make sure he gets the same respect and deference Putin gets.
In that sense, and I hate to say it, but Trump’s strong man may be the only way to play this on the world stage. Trump’s vision is to be as strong as his superpower adversaries, Putin and Xi.
But in Asia it’s apparent, the strongman costume is not just a Halloween costume. It’s not for show.
What that means for democracy at home, is scary.
Emil Guillermo is an award-winning veteran journalist, and columnist, and a former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.” He has written columns on Asian American race and social justice issues for more than 30 years.
See him perform his latest “Emil Amok” monologue, Nov. 19 at the SF Marsh. Save the date and get tickets now.
See him talk about the news, California’s Yes on 50, other elections, and Filipino American History with San Francisco State striker, Asian American Studies Prof. emeritus Daniel Phil Gonzales at the San Francisco Public Library, Third Floor, Nov. 5, Wednesday 5:30 pm, Free.
Registration is closed for Common Ground: Building Together conference and gala award banquet in San Francisco on January 24. A shoutout to our planning committee: Jane Chin, Frank Mah, Jeannie Young, Akemi Tamanaha, Nathan Soohoo, Mark Young, Dave Liu, and Yiming Fu.
We are published by the non-profit Asian American Media Inc and supported by our readers along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, The Asian American Foundation & Koo and Patricia Yuen of the Yuen Foundation.
Find additional content on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram ,Tiktok, X, and YouTube. Please consider interning or joining our staff. Don’t miss a single headline. Subscribe for free.
