When the Japanese live translation goes silent because the translators are too stunned to repeat your Pearl Harbor “joke” to the Japanese PM, you’ve officially reached a new level of diplomatic failure.
Those seconds of silence were the most honest reaction of the day.
@Strandjunker omfg.
When asked by a reporter about why the U.S. didn't share their Iran war plans with Japan, President Donald Trump said it was necessary for the element of surprise. The president followed this with a joke, saying, "Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Ok, why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?"
@Strandjunker Wow.
On my trip to Japan I asked one of our interpreters what they do if they're asked to translate something that's wrong, stupid, or whatever.
"We translate it" they said.
@DonChacale ooh ooh pick me pick me!
@passwordsarehard4
"if you’re not sure"
reading comprehension?
@ewos1986 Thank goodness it's only about 35% who believe in Trump. Intelligence isn't the most important human attribute, of course, but Trump supporters also lack kindness if they can tolerate the way his HSI treats immigrants (and just random people grabbed in error). They lack honesty if they can see the same quid pro quo and intimidation activities on loop and still support that shakedown artist. And they lack decency if they can put up with the way he talks to and about people, especially women. So 35% of Americans have a lot of soul-searching to do if they ever want the rest of us to respect them.
Sorry to be strident - I don't mean it to be about you. But I get so mad thinking about how much less terrible and terrifying the world would be now if he had never been allowed into office. Sigh.
That won't be the Japanese, though...
Well he already joked last year that D-day was "not a pleasant day" for the German chancellor, but I'm sure he'll come up with some new jokes this year.
To his credit the German chancellor Merz gave a great reply "Well in the long run, Mr President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship" but sadly Merz himself is collaborating with the German neonazi party
The embarrassments just keep on coming.
@Strandjunker Meh, I don't feel bad for Japan on this one. There are so many war crimes Imperial Japan and Japan today have not answered for: Unit 731 was covered up with US complicity, Japanese conservative politicians outright deny the Nanjing massacre ever existed, or if it did, it was orders of magnitude less than the Chinese claim, still no proper apology for Korean and Taiwanese comfort women.
There's literal war criminals still enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo
That last phrase is one that is always applicable to the president.
@Strandjunker I'm fluent in MAGA. How will they see this?
A win.
The 'joke' punches down at the 'loser' Japanese PM while giving them a backhanded 'compliment' about their deadly surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
I think he liked 'teasing' this woman. That she sat & "took it" is a sign of weakness to him.
In WWII America ultimately won by killing 100,000s (How many Americans had to die doesn't count to him.)
#Trump later hints he could defeat Iran with a #nuke, if he wanted to. #uspol
The Japanese have all kinds of stoic capacity westerners have no clue about.
God with a horrible man
@Strandjunker What's almost morbidly impressive is how he managed to make the most tasteless joke imaginable and undercut his own position: the attack on Pearl Harbor was tactically more or less everything that could have been expected of it; but quickly proved to be a strategic disaster.
Not...exactly...what you want to invoke when it looks like you sure did airstrike Iran pretty hard but that seems to have done you significantly less good than you anticipated.
@Strandjunker Trump would also get surprised by Pearl Harbor, perhaps more so because he prefers a showcase military rather than a competent one.
🍑
@echanda @Strandjunker That part.
no matter how horrible he’s being, there are always people in the room who either clap for him or laugh at his tasteless jokes. Ugh!
Not the first translator to loose it over trump, be it explicitly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSc8vB3GqkA
or visually
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nSlWu0ICI
As for the prime minister herself: the grade of loss of control over her facial expression (especially for a seasoned japanese professional politician) tells worlds. Especially when from a country that values keeping one's face so much.
@Strandjunker Translators and interpreters have a hard time with Trump.
Do you change the content to be more coherent, or translate accurately and make people think you suck at your job?
I think they'd consider that he'd dishonoured himself by saying that 'joke'. Like, needs to seppuku. The Japanese people have an honour (and shame) based society still, and trump has neither.
They're a subtle people and he brags about groping women in public. They're polar opposites to begin with - she went from seeming to hold her nose to looking as though she'd walk out.
In short, she was trumped on.
BTW, in the UK 'trump' is slang for 'fart'.
@Strandjunker
Trump doesn't understand the difference between sharing intelligence and strategic planning with your allies and not sharing it with your enemies.
He also says "...why didn't you tell me about..."
When it should have been "...why didn't Japan tell the USA about..."
He frames everything as a personal attribute or affront and only sees the world as being all about himself.
But we all already know this, I think even his supporters know this.
IDK, he probably said something that popped into his head, it happened to also serve a crude dominance function, and supporters will call it 4D chess while critics call it a gaffe.
my youngest brother has a knack for saying the most wrong thing in any given situation. getting worse as he ages. have to slap him upside the head now and then.
Andrea Junker 
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