Today’s BradCast is, necessarily, a bit dark. There are, however, a few bright spots here and there if you listen closely enough. [Audio link to show follows this summary.]

Very briefly, these are some of the stories covered today…

• The Philippines former strongman President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by Philippine law enforcement officials on Tuesday, on an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of Crimes Against Humanity. Interpol reportedly participated in his detention, after which he was flown to The Hague in The Netherlands to face the charges. Duterte is known for his extra-judicial, often point-blank, shot-to-the-head killing spree of supposed “drug suspects” during his six years as President and two decades as Mayor of one of the nation’s largest cities. The government acknowledges some 6,200 killings during Duterte’s reign in office. International human rights groups, however, put the bloody total closer to 30,000. Elected to the Presidency in 2016, the same year as Donald Trump, our President had congratulated Duterte (pictured together above) in 2017 for his “unbelievable job on the drug problem,” congratulating him for “what a great job you are doing.” In addition to victims’ families finally seeing some justice, there are a few other perhaps dark, but perhaps hopeful lessons we may learn from this incident regarding our own President.

• Tune in, at least for this part, because I can’t even begin to adequately summarize the roller coaster ride today on Wall Street touched off by Trump’s threat to double-down on 25% tariffs — to 50% tariffs — against our ally Canada last night in retaliation for a threat by Ontario’s conservative Premier Doug Ford to cut off electricity to several U.S. states. As the day progressed, both Ford and Trump appeared to back down from the worst of it. For now. But the disaster Trump’s tariffs (and threatened tariffs) has made of the markets — along with increasing inflation and his mass firing of federal workers — has economist worried about a coming “Trumpcession”. If things continue to tank, it could leave a very serious mark — perhaps even one that MAGA will notice — given that Trump’s “superpower” was supposedly his brilliant business acumen and genius ability to strengthen the U.S. economy. Oops.

• Elliot Higgins, journalist, founder and creative director of Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group, founded in 2014, specializing in fact-checking and open-source intelligence investigations by both professional and citizen journalists, has a few thoughts on what happens when “disordered discourse” captures a political party (like the Republicans) and “then the state itself” (like the U.S.) and the destabilizing, and perhaps deadly effect it has on democracy itself. His first thread on that is here. His follow-up, on potential solutions, is here.

• And with that in mind, a few thoughts about a friend, mentor and occasional on-air guest over the years, Kevin Drum, who, we learned on Monday night, lost a long battle with cancer. He was a pioneering OG blogger, originally of Calpundit (2002-2004), then Washington Monthly’s Political Animal (2004-2008), then Mother Jones (2008 through 2020) and, finally, beginning in 2021, his last blog, the independent Jabberwocking. His last appearance on The BradCast was in early 2023, on how to face down Republicans’ threat at the time to not raise the dumb debt without sending the U.S. into default on its debt. Today, a brief tribute, including a few personal remembrances of Kevin, one of them an hours long discussion on election integrity in the cold on my back porch. Washington Monthly‘s remembrance is here. Clare Jeffrey’s of Mother Jones is here. Josh Marshall’s is here. Ezra Klein’s is here. Heather Digby Parton’s is here. A tribute page set up by his wife Marian on Facebook is here.

• Finally, Desi Doyen is here with our latest Green News Report, including a burning oil tanker’s worth of environmental news, both dark and otherwise, from here in the U.S. and around the world from over just the past few days…

The BradCast

with Brad Friedman

3/11/2025

Bad Day for ‘Strongmen’: ‘BradCast’ 3/11/2025  |  Philippines' Duterte arrested for 'Crimes Against Humanity'; Trump waffles on Canadian tariffs; Wall Street continues swoon; Also: Democracy and 'disordered discord'; In Memoriam: OG blogging pioneer Kevin Drum...   · · · · ·   Bad Day for ‘Strongmen’: ‘BradCast’ 3/11/2025  |  Philippines' Duterte arrested for 'Crimes Against Humanity'; Trump waffles on Canadian tariffs; Wall Street continues swoon; Also: Democracy and 'disordered discord'; In Memoriam: OG blogging pioneer Kevin Drum...

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