In the name of eliminating drug crime, President Rodrigo Duterte has plunged the Philippines into a nightmare of brutal slaughter. The police say that since July 1, they have killed more than 2,000 people suspected of drug-related crimes. In addition, more than 3,500 homicides remain unsolved, many at the hands of unknown vigilantes.

During a recent 35-day stay in Manila, Daniel Berehulak of The New York Times photographed 41 murder scenes, with 57 bodies. His powerful report is hard to read and the images are hard to view. But they bring home, in a way mere numbers cannot, the horror being inflicted on a population living in fear that death can strike anyone, at any moment, with impunity.

Even if Mr. Duterte has not directly ordered individual killings, there is no doubt they are being carried out with his approval. Mr. Duterte campaigned on a promise to begin a killing spree to eliminate the country’s drug problem, and he pledged bounties to those who would help. He has defied calls from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union to stop, instead lashing out, calling President Obama a “son of a whore” and threatening to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.

Mr. Duterte says he has found a sympathetic ear in President-elect Donald Trump, which, if true, would be deeply shocking. After the two men spoke by phone on Dec. 2, Mr. Duterte claimed Mr. Trump assured him that, as far as the Philippines’ war on drugs was concerned, “we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way,” and that Mr. Trump wished him well. So far, Mr. Trump, who has business interests in the Philippines, hasn’t challenged Mr. Duterte’s version of the conversation, leaving the impression that the future president of the United States condones the murderous methods of a strongman.