Corruption in a Trump Presidency
In December 2009, I moved to Philippines just before the presidential election. Like most of the former leaders of the Philippines, the outgoing president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was exiting under a cloud of scandal. The candidates pledged to end the corruption that plagued the country, promising to jail Arroyo and clean up the government. The leading candidate was a man named Manny Villar. I remember him for two reasons. First, he had possibly the smarmiest campaign ad I’d ever…