Trump Invites Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte To The White House 

CNN: “President Donald Trump Invited His Polarizing Philippines Counterpart To The White House.” According to CNN.com, on May 1, President Donald Trump invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to visit the White House, but it was unclear “when or if Duterte would visit Washington.” According to CNN.com, “Duterte's term has been marked with accusations of human rights violations” since his election in 2016. From the CNN.com article:

President Donald Trump invited his polarizing Philippines counterpart to the White House during a phone call in which the two leaders discussed North Korea.

Trump and President Rodrigo Duterte had a “friendly discussion” Saturday that also addressed regional security in Southeast Asia and the Philippines' drug war, the White House said in a statement.

The statement did not provide details on when or if Duterte would visit Washington, but it said Trump is looking forward to his Philippines trip in November.

[...]

Duterte's term has been marked with accusations of human rights violations. Since he became President last year, he has encouraged the extrajudicial killings of thousands of citizens suspected of dealing or using drugs.

He took power in June 2016 and waged an all-out “war on drugs,” which killed some 6,000 people in his first six months. [CNN.com, 5/1/17]

Talk Show Host Michael Savage Has Lauded Duterte For “Using Vigilante Squads To Kill Drug Dealers”

Savage: “The President Of The Philippines, Duterte, Is Using Vigilante Squads To Kill Drug Dealers” And “What Is The Argument Against The Death Penalty For Drug Dealers?” Savage said Duterte has been “using vigilante squads to kill drug dealers,” and added, “What is the argument against the death penalty for drug dealers” in the United States? From the April 27 edition of Westwood One’s The Savage Nation: 

CALLER: My second husband has been dead more than 20 years as a direct result of abusing illegal drugs. I am highly in favor of a mandatory death penalty for drug dealers. 

MICHAEL SAVAGE (HOST): Well, you made your case pretty clearly. It was triggered by this article out of Virginia of a 22-year-old -- 21-year-old found dead by her mother on the bathroom floor, who shot up her normal dose of heroin that had been spiked with an elephant tranquilizer that killed her, and I’m wondering when this is going to come to an end and how it’s going to come to an end. 

Now, the president of the Philippines, Duterte, is using vigilante squads to kill drug dealers. Did you know that?

CALLER: No. 

SAVAGE: Oh yeah, the libs don’t like that at all. They’re calling him a fascist. See, liberals like drug, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll. The more, the better. The more dead children, the better. The more STDs, the better. The more cross-minded people there are the better. The more twisted, the better. The sicker the people are, the better. The more disease, the better. That’s because of lawyers and the ACLU, in my estimation. Denise, that’s a sad story, but you made your case. 

What is the argument against the death penalty for drug dealers? Tell me the argument against it. I don’t know the argument against it. There must be one. There must be a liberal lawyer out there who defends drug dealers who can help us with it. What would be the argument against that? [Westwood One, The Savage Nation, 4/27/17]

Savage: “The Actions” By Duterte “Where He’s Killing Drug Dealers -- Well, A Lot Of People Wouldn’t Be Too Unhappy With That Here.” Savage asserted that “American civilization is in ruin and collapse” and “we need a strongman to clean the country up” and do things “that you’re not going to like very much.” Savage went on to praise Duterte for “killing drug dealers,” saying that “a lot of people wouldn’t be too unhappy with that” in the United States. From the February 2 edition of Westwood One’s The Savage Nation: 

MICHAEL SAVAGE (HOST): We know American civilization is in ruin and collapse because of the pornographers and the left-wing fanatics. We know we need a strongman to clean the country up. We know we need almost -- well, things to happen that you’re not going to like very much. We know that the actions, for example, in the Philippines, by the leader of the Philippines where he’s killing drug dealers -- well, a lot of people wouldn’t be too unhappy with that here. But then I’m sure the young girls would march outside NYU saying something about human rights for drug dealers, I don’t know what. Then the pornographers, you’re telling me they’re not a bigger poison than heroin or fentanyl? Pornography is a bigger poison than fentanyl. It’s destroyed more lives, more families than fentanyl and heroin put together. [Westwood One, The Savage Nation, 2/20/17]

Savage: “Look How Popular The President Of [The] Philippines Is. He’s Got A 70 Percent Approval Rating. You Know Why? Because He’s Killing Drug Dealers.” Savage characterized Duterte as “blunt” and “an honest leader,” and argued that the president of The Philippines has “a 70 percent approval rating … Because he’s killing drug dealers.” From the October 7, 2016, edition of Westwood One’s The Savage Nation:

MICHAEL SAVAGE (HOST): What, you wouldn’t like someone who’s blunt? Look how popular the president of Philippines is. He’s got a 70 percent approval rating. You know why? Because he’s killing drug dealers. He’s over the top, he’s actually -- he’s killing drug dealers because the drug scourge is destroying the Philippines. He’s loved by the other people. What’s wrong with an honest leader? [Westwood One, The Savage Nation, 10/7/16]

Savage And Trump Have Maintained A Close Relationship Throughout The 2016 Campaign And Into Trump’s Presidency

Savage And Trump Have Maintained Their Close Relationship Into Trump’s Presidency: “You've Been Amazing, And You've Been Really Nice To Me And I Appreciate It.” Savage frequently hosted Trump on his radio show throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, exclaiming that he has “avoided” endorsing presidential candidates in the past, but in 2016, he was “openly supporting Donald Trump” for president and even claimed to be “the architect of Trump’s messaging.” Since Trump’s inauguration, Savage attended a private party at Trump’s Florida property, claimed to have spent “over an hour alone” with the president when he advised him to continue falsely claiming that climate change “has nothing to do with mankind,” and has called for a Democratic member of Congress to be charged with “sedition” for criticizing the president. [Westwood One, The Savage Nation, 3/28/17; Media Matters, 10/9/15, 2/21/17, 2/24/17; Cumulus Media Networks, The Savage Nation, 2/24/16]

Savage Frequently Uses Violent And Offensive Rhetoric

Savage Was Fired From MSNBC After He Said A Caller Was A “Sodomite” And That He Should “Get AIDS And Die.” The Associated Press wrote in 2003:

MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage for anti-gay comments.

The popular radio talk show host who did a weekend TV show for the cable channel referred to an unidentified caller to his show Saturday as a “sodomite” and said he should “get AIDS and die.”

“His comments were extremely inappropriate and the decision was an easy one,” MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said. [The Associated Press, 7/7/03]

Savage: Arabs Are “Non-Humans” And “Racist, Fascist Bigots”; We Should “Kill 100 Million” Muslims. Savage said Arabs are “non-humans” and “racist, fascist bigots”; claimed Americans would like to “drop a nuclear weapon” on an Arab country; and argued that “these people” in the Middle East “need to be forcibly converted to Christianity” in order to “turn them into human beings.” Savage has also said of Muslims: People “are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, 'Oh, there's a billion of them.' I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them; then there'll be 900 million of them.' I mean, would you rather die -- would you rather us die than them?" [Media Matters, 5/14/04, 4/19/06]

Savage Has Pushed Paranoid And Conspiratorial Rhetoric About President Obama. Savage warned in 2008 that “Obama will stir up a race war ... in order to seize absolute power,” and he said in 2009 that the “radical left,” including Obama, “dream[s]” of Maoist revolution with “death camps.” Savage has also pushed conspiracies about Obama's birth certificate being a forgery and questioned whether Obama visited his grandmother in Hawaii not because she was ill but because he needed to “fudge the birth certificate.” [Media Matters, 10/11/10, 10/23/08]

For more of the countless examples of extreme rhetoric from Savage, go here, here, and here.