Donald and Hillary, Richard and Jonah

It’s been more than two days since the aftermath of the US elections and by this time both American and foreign analysts have ventilated most of their indignation and jubilation over the shocking results which showed businessman Donald John Trump prevailing over favored Democrat standard-bearer Hillary Clinton.

Granting that Clinton held a slim, single-digit lead over Trump a day before the voting, it still came as an unpleasant surprise to her supporters especially the feminists who’ve been pulling for a historic Clinton victory to be greeted with the news that Americans instead opted to believe and vote for Trump.

Again, Clinton’s victory would have, just for sheer global historical value, been another milestone in the US’ continuing march towards greater acceptance and embracing of racial, gender and cultural diversity.

That an African-American like then Sen. Barack Obama can ascend to the White House and be reelected to a second term gave hope to many in the US that a woman can one day take over the reins of presidency fueled Clinton’s campaign even though it was fraught with obstacles like the formidable challenge posed by legislator Bernie Sanders.

That Hollywood was a principal supporter of Clinton’s campaign and had played key roles in Obama’s successful election and re-election campaigns — remember Obama’s guest spots in Oprah? — and its stars went all-out in campaigning for her through their public appearances and social media accounts all painted a rosy picture for the former First Lady, senator and secretary of state.

Then came WikiLeaks and their revelations about the unsecured e-mails sent by Clinton from her private servers and the resulting Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe somehow overshadowed the sex scandals and the controversial, racially charged comments made by Trump for the duration of the campaign period.

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There were parallel comparisons drawn between US President-elect Donald Trump and President Rodrigo Duterte because they share similarities in their bull-headed, outspoken campaign styles and their cavalier, sexist attitude towards women.

But there are noticeable differences between the two, not least of which is Duterte’s own accurate observation that Trump is a bigot when it comes to dealing with foreigners especially Mexicans and lamentably, Filipinos.

While both are said to be populist, Duterte is left wing or left-of-center as he himself admitted in his many speeches while Trump is a classic example/symbol of crass American capitalism as evidenced by the junk bonds that built his multibillion-dollar real estate empire in the ’80s.

This may sound weird or totally off tangent — okay I guess it is — but had Clinton won, I see her as being somewhat similar to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in reputation and image rather than the late president Corazon Aquino by virtue of the many scandals that had been tied to her by her critics, the latest of which was the e-mail controversy.

Both Arroyo and Clinton are politically savvy and had family ties to rich political legacies — Arroyo through her father, Clinton to her husband — but whereas Arroyo got disgraced by the “Hello Garci” scandal and her eventual detention and release this year, Clinton’s political potential and promise remained unfulfilled.

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Was surprised as anyone to learn that a police official linked actor-turned–Ormoc Mayor Richard Gomez to the Espinosa drug syndicate during yesterday’s Senate hearing on the killing of Albuera Mayor Roland Espinosa inside a jail last Saturday.

Chief Insp. Leo Laraga of the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG-8) claimed that Espinosa identified Gomez as among the big names involved in his group in his affidavit and that he even heard Chief Insp. Jovie Espinido, Albuera police chief, confirm Gomez’s involvement in the Espinosa syndicate.

Here in Cebu, aside from Daanbantayan Mayor Vic Loot, Ronda Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab also stands accused of being linked to the Espinosa group. It didn’t help Ungab that not a few believe and suspect that his association with the Espinosas go beyond legal representation.

Speaking of similarities, both Gomez and Ungab lead somewhat charmed lives that would be envied by most men, though Gomez undoubtedly looks far better than Ungab even if Ungab has fared better than Gomez in the political arena.

Yet as both men now find themselves accused of being involved with the Espinosas and examined on that harsh light, they now look less than perfect and more like any other paragon held in high esteem only to be found to have feet of clay.