Trump is spontaneously re-writing America's foreign policy playbook

President Donald Trump's willingness to engage with some of the world's most notorious strongmen was on full display last weekend, when he extended White House invitations to Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte and Thai Prime Minister

The overtures prompted outrage among human-rights experts and some Democratic lawmakers. Duterte's merciless anti-drug campaign has left more than 7,000 people dead since he took office in late June 2016, according to the Filipino news site Rappler. Nearly 3,000 have died at the hands of police.

“You know he’s very popular in the Philippines,” Trump said of Duterte on Monday. “He has a very high approval rating in the Philippines.”

Kim

The White House has defended the invitation to Duterte — who called President Barack Obama an "idiot" and "son of a whore" after his administration raised concerns about the country's drug war and extra-judicial killings — as simply a "meeting," not a "thank you." An administration official told Reuters that it was aimed at preventing the Philippines from pivoting completely away from the US, which could "intensify" Duterte's "bad behavior."

But the outreach to Duterte and was not the first time Trump has displayed an unforced affinity for, and even attempted to legitimize, leaders with authoritarian reputations.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader and called it a "great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond." Trump has twice defended Putin against accusations that he murders journalists and dissidents, saying in September that he hadn't seen "any evidence that [Putin] killed anybody" and telling Bill O'Reilly in February that in the US, "we kill people, too."

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a referendum last month allowing him to vastly expand his presidential authorities and consolidate power, Trump called to congratulate him on his victory. The White House readout of the call did not mention Erdogan's crackdown on dissent, which has only intensified since a failed coup threatened his grip on power last summer.

In early April, Egyptian President

Trump has also developed a "very good relationship" with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has intensified China's longtime policy of censorship and intolerance of dissent (which has included the periodic abduction of government critics), according to Human Rights Watch. Trump has said he and Xi have "great chemistry," an abrupt turn after he frequently lambasted China along the campaign trail.

Trump's behavior in the foreign policy arena, experts say, is either an indication of how he views strength and good governance, or a signal of his broader understanding that the US-led global order — and its commitment to liberal democratic values — is eroding.

Or both.

Theres certainly a tradition of collaborating with unsavory dictators

The US has a long history of cooperating with authoritarian or dictatorial regimes in the name of furthering US national security interests.

The difference, however, is that previous presidents tended to caveat these partnerships with either a public or private warning about the need to uphold human rights and the rule of law.

"Just about every administration since Franklin Roosevelt has had to cooperate with dictators, to some extent, in the name of US strategic interests," Inboden said, pointing to Roosevelt's alignment with Joseph Stalin during World War II to counter Nazi Germany. "But the US also has a consistent record of pushing these countries

We need friends, and we need allies

Former US ambassador Jim Jeffrey, who

Inboden, the , said that approach seems "very strategically short-sighted." Others don't think there's a strategy behind it at all.

Derek Chollet served as theSecretary of State Hillary Clinton's policy planning

Chollet acknowledged that the US' commitment to human rights is often in conflict with its need to preserve and foster certain diplomatic relationships, a point Spicer made during his briefing on Monday.

"It's a very tricky balance," Chollet said. But it requires "

Inboden agreed.