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I find this article somewhat strange. It seems to begrudgingly acknowledge that the election was won fair and square, while nonetheless characterizes the winners as "authoritarians." It mentions in passing that they have widespread appeal to citizens of the Phillipines, but chalks it up only to, err, people's fond memories of infrastructure, or something.

This weird subtext is present in many Persuasion articles, that somehow it is only "democracy" when the people we like win and we approve of the electorate's preferences.

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Back when Rodrigo Duterte was in power, I noticed something notable in the US articles about him. Essentially every comment that came from the US was negative. Essentially every comment that came from the Philippines was positive.

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