2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden said Tuesday that President Trump’s worst behaviors are being emulated by some of the worst leaders around the world.
“That’s why the rest of the world has followed us: because of our values, who we are, who we say we are, decency, honor. And it is being absolutely thrashed around the world. And, look, the idea that I believe and, I didn’t believe this — if you had asked me this five years ago I’d told you you’re crazy — I think there’s a genuine threat to American democracy,” Biden said.
The former vice president said the democracies in history that have fallen did so because of threats from within, not hostile foreign powers.
“It’s always been about the abuse of power, and look what [Trump’s] doing: He not only attacks courts because he said, ‘How can a judge with Mexican ancestry treat me fairly?’ The news media — all along back there — ‘They’re all fake news,’ he says. No, everybody thinks that’s kind of, you know, it doesn’t mean much, but look at the people copying his ways all around the world, whether it’s [Prime Minster Viktor] Orbán in Hungary, whether it’s in the Philippines. There are thugs all over the world using the same kinds of language he’s using now. And what are we saying to the world? What are we saying to the world?” he said.
“I know he’s a tough man, but he’s a respected man,” Trump said when Orbán visited the White House in May. “Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s OK. That’s OK.”
World leaders have criticized Orbán for consolidating his power and wanting to prevent asylum-seekers from entering the country.
Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has been condemned for his heavy-handed policies and rhetoric, such as his handling of the country’s drug war. Drug dealers, makers, and users are routinely killed by police.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reports 4,948 suspected drug users and dealers died during police operations from July 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2018. The national police also say 22,983 people have been killed by unidentified gunmen since the war on drugs began.
