Duterte, Hitler and Bonaparte: Debacles in history

Surely the Duterte rampage is unceasing, and into the eve of the D-Day in the presidential fight, he now appears to be the man to beat for the next presidency. There are talks now that Roxas has proposed to Liamanzares for her to withdraw in his favor if only to avert a Duterte win. Already, Duterte’s legions of fanatics are proclaiming him winner in the May 9 elections. Obviously this is calculated to justify harsh action from their end should, in all probability, Duterte lose the vote count. And the idea of Duterte losing after all is not far-fetched, on the contrary, a sound one.

History teaches us the one single trait of conquerors that leads them to failure is arrogance. On the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, was poised to war with the Seventh Coalition of Europe (composed of, among others, Great Britain, the United Kingdom of Netherlands and Prussia) had the conceit to mock his generals for being nervous about the British: “Just because you have all been beaten by Wellington, you think he’s a good general. I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad troops, and this affair is nothing more than eating breakfast.”