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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPM Shinzo Abe of Japan to Trump just now at G20:
Link to tweet
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,864 posts)bearsfootball516
(6,377 posts)Renew Deal
(81,873 posts)<snip>
Dating back to the 1980s, Trump was among Americas most vocal Japan critics. In 1989, the real estate mogul said Japan systematically sucked the blood out of America and called for a 20 percent tariff on all its goods. On the campaign trail, candidate Trump called for Japan to pay more for Washingtons security blanketsaying we can't afford to do it anymoreand raised the specter of Tokyo developing its own nuclear weapons.
When Trump defeated Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016, Abes government was as shocked as any. In fact, when Abe had visited New York 50 days earlier, then-front-runner Clinton was his first port of call. Trump Tower, just a few blocks away, didnt make the cut. But priorities changed rapidly. Just nine days after the billionaire trumped Clinton, Abe became the first world leader to visit Trump Towerand made what may end up being the biggest blunder of his premiership.
That day, Abe unequivocally vouched for the America First president. I am convinced Mr. Trump is a leader in whom I can have great confidence and with whom he could have a relationship of trust, Abe told reporters. Japanologists lined up to applaud the two mens budding bromance, believing it would protect the Japan-U.S. alliance and accord Tokyo preferential Trump treatment. As Columbia University Japan expert Gerald Curtis put it at the time, Abe has succeeded in getting Trump to drop his campaign rhetoric about Japan and has gotten their relationship off to a good start.<snip>
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/01/japan-shinzo-abe-trump-world-217767
Cha
(297,692 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)At first glance I thought Abe was being sarcastic with that comment.
Cha
(297,692 posts)trump's version of his Fake News on the US Midterms.
Not a good look.
dalton99a
(81,598 posts)JHan
(10,173 posts)Vinnie From Indy
(10,820 posts)Nice!
dalton99a
(81,598 posts)Gothmog
(145,580 posts)rurallib
(62,448 posts)Almost lost my keyboard on that one
DFW
(54,443 posts)Trump will think he meant it, and the rest of the world will know he didn't.
Everyone goes home happy, and the subtlety in Abe's smile will rival that of the Mona Lisa.
Yavin4
(35,446 posts)lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)Chinese, but it's the thought that counts.
Gothmog
(145,580 posts)dalton99a
(81,598 posts)Kahuna7
(2,531 posts)marylandblue
(12,344 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)He does it a lot, seemingly unaware of what it looks like. Like a robot which has been shut off.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)MontanaMama
(23,337 posts)is not like the others. One of these things just doesnt belong...😏
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,367 posts)I bet he just won a bet. Theresa May double-dared him to congratulate Trump on the midterms. Now she owes him a genuine traditional British dinner, probably chicken tandoori.
Kahuna7
(2,531 posts)I doubt it. He probably just grinned sheepishly.
Elwood P Dowd
(11,443 posts)Kahuna7
(2,531 posts)and trump knows it. It seems a new scandal is breaking every time he leaves home to attend one of these events.
Cha
(297,692 posts)in the HOUSE 'cause of your big fucking mouth. And, don't forget Jon Tester is still Senator from Montana even though you went there 4 times to bad mouth him."
Oh and Senator Elect Kyrsten Sinema from AZ.. Jeff Flake's old seat.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Cha
(297,692 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)Cha
(297,692 posts)The PM of Japan has a wicked sense of humor.