PM Shinzo Abe of Japan to Trump just now at G20:

[demmiblue]

PM Shinzo Abe of Japan to Trump just now at G20: "I want to congratulate you on your historic victory in the midterm election in the United States."

Link to tweet

[NightWatcher]

1. Is the entire planet trolling him now?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Abe knows how to play the game.

[bearsfootball516]

4. Yep. The only way to get anything from Trump is by sucking up.

[Renew Deal]

5. He does and he has been playing from the beginning

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wooed the new American president harder than anyone. But his bet on Trump is not looking so hot today.

<snip>

Dating back to the 1980s, Trump was among America’s 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 Washington’s security blanket—saying “we can't afford to do it anymore”—and raised the specter of Tokyo developing its own nuclear weapons.

When Trump defeated Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016, Abe’s 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, didn’t make the cut. But priorities changed rapidly. Just nine days after the billionaire trumped Clinton, Abe became the first world leader to visit Trump Tower—and 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 men’s 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]

20. Wow.. thanks for that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Helpful piece, thanks.

At first glance I thought Abe was being sarcastic with that comment.

[Cha]

25. It seems Abe is totally going with

trump's version of his Fake News on the US Midterms.

Not a good look.

[dalton99a]

9. Otherwise we'd hear him ranting to no end about Pearl Harbor

[JHan]

3. hahahaa

[Vinnie From Indy]

6. Banzai!

Nice!

[dalton99a]

7. Good one

[Gothmog]

8. That is so very cold

[rurallib]

10. may he have a similar victory in 2020

Almost lost my keyboard on that one

[DFW]

11. I think that can be categorized as inscrutable Oriental humor

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]

12. Sick Burn!!! n/t

[lpbk2713]

13. "May you live in interesting times"

Chinese, but it's the thought that counts.

[Gothmog]

14. This does not look like a happy man.

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

15. He's thinking about revenge.

[Kahuna7]

18. Good call.

[marylandblue]

30. That's not a look of revenge. That's "I hope I get the corner prison cell"

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. That suit-on-a-hangar pose of his is so weird.

He does it a lot, seemingly unaware of what it looks like. Like a robot which has been shut off.

[dewsgirl]

27. I don't know why, but this made me literally LOL! Thank You.

[MontanaMama]

28. One of these tuings

is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong...😏

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

16. "... and it's nice to have a cabinet that's grateful to serve your agenda."

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]

17. Did he cuss him out like he did to Theresa May?

I doubt it. He probably just grinned sheepishly.

[Elwood P Dowd]

19. Trump is behaving. Putin has him on a leash.

[Kahuna7]

29. The rest of the G20 can hardly contain their snickers and smirks...

and trump knows it. It seems a new scandal is breaking every time he leaves home to attend one of these events.

[Cha]

21. Abe.. ".. yeah you only lost 40 red seats

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]

22. If you hear it with his actual voice it is even funnier

[Cha]

26. So Abe is being sincere?

[grantcart]

31. No it was over the top

[Cha]

32. Oh good to know, grant.. Thank You.

The PM of Japan has a wicked sense of humor.