President Duterte takes shot at Chelsea Clinton

DAVAO, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte returned to his home city of Davao on Wednesday to celebrate the 119th anniversary of the Philippine navy, and used the occasion to lambaste Chelsea Clinton for criticizing his comments about rape.

“When your father, the president of the United States, was screwing Lewinsky and the girls there in the White House, how did you feel? Did you slam your father?” he asked, in a reference to Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern with whom Bill Clinton had a sexual entanglement.

Chelsea Clinton had criticized Duterte for saying that he would take responsibility for crimes committed by soldiers under his recently imposed martial law in the southern Philippines, even if they “raped three women.”

“Not funny,” Clinton commented on Twitter, before going on to respond to another user that “Duterte is a murderous thug with no regard for human rights. It’s important to keep pointing that out & that rape is never a joke.”

The Philippine president insisted Wednesday that he was just being “sarcastic” and then made a reference to the famous case of a transgender Philippines woman, Jennifer Laude, who was killed by a U.S. Marine in 2014. Then, as if the Internet had not heard it yet, he repeated the anti-Chelsea punch line — again in English — this time more crudely.

He warned her: “Be careful because you live in a glass house.”

Duterte’s comments track closely with a strategy employed by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton. When Trump’s alleged sexual abuses became a major issue, the reality TV star responded by attempting to put the attention on Bill Clinton’s own sexual history.

Trump recently praised Duterte’s “unbelievable job” on his drug program. Thousands of people have died since Duterte’s “war” on drugs began last year, and his government has been widely accused of human-rights abuses.

Over 20 years in Davao, Duterte built a loyal base of support. He’s used to employing shock value, and the consequent disapproval often rolls off the backs of people there.

“He talks too much, yeah, and sometimes he offends people. He’s like that,” said Jane Enrile, a 31-year-old transportation logistics worker, of the rape joke, as she headed out for dinner in Davao after the speech.

“But he is not anti-women. We know that’s not really who he is.”