Every single day, without fail, Trump finds a new way to embarrass this country, and, again, he managed to be both clueless and classless at the same time.
During a recent Oval Office sit-down with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a Japanese reporter asked why the U.S. didn't bother telling allies like Japan before launching strikes on Iran. Trump's response was to crack wise about Pearl Harbor. "We wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?" he said, grinning, scanning the room for a laugh that barely came.
Takaichi's reaction said everything. Her eyes widened, she stiffened in her chair, and the smile she'd been maintaining evaporated. Some in the room gave a polite, uncomfortable chuckle, then it went quiet. Trump scanned the audience for the validation he didn't get. Someone needs to come and get grandpa for his nap, or better yet, prison.
While Trump was busy bombing in the Oval Office, Takaichi was there with genuinely serious business on the table. She'd already told her own parliament the meeting would be "very difficult." Japan imports roughly 95% of its oil from Persian Gulf countries, meaning Trump's war has sent energy costs through the roof for ordinary Japanese citizens.
She needed a serious discussion about serious issues and what she got was a guy who responds to a pointed question about allied trust by reaching back 85 years for a war crime punchline and then looking around the room for a high five.
That's the part that should keep everyone up at night. Not just the embarrassment of it, but the reality that world leaders with actual problems, actual economies, actual populations depending on them, have to sit across from this man and pretend it's normal.
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