News (USA)

Did Japan’s First Lady pretend she doesn’t speak English to avoid talking to Trump?

Did Japan’s First Lady pretend she doesn’t speak English to avoid talking to Trump?
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and First Lady Akie Abe Photo: Associated Press
One nugget in Donald Trump’s stunning interview with the New York Times has gone under-reported. Sure, he stabbed Jeff Sessions in the back along with other top leaders at the Justice Department. Of course, he bad mouthed Robert Mueller for leading the investigation into Trump’s probably-illegal ties to Russian mobsters and whether his campaign colluded with the Russian government to win the presidential election.

But buried in the interview comes this juicy tidbit: Japan’s First Lady, Akie Abe, apparently let Trump think she doesn’t speak English so she could avoid talking to him during dinner.

During a segment in the conversation about Trump’s “secret meeting” with Vladimir Putin during a dinner at the G20 summit, Trump took a moment to point out that spouses attended the dinner as well and Melania Trump was seated near Putin. It would have been rude not to say hello, amirite?

Besides, he was sitting next to Abe. “She’s a terrific woman, but doesn’t speak English,” Trump told the reporters.

Asked if she really said nothing to him, Trump responded with “Like, not ‘hello’.”

Except, she does speak English. Apparently, like our own First Lady, she was just trying to ignore the doddering old lecher and make the most of a bad pairing.

Need proof? Here you go. She gave the keynote speech in 2014 at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction – no small feat for someone who “doesn’t speak English.”

Check out the excerpt from the Times interview on the next page.

BAKER: As long as we’re on the record, a lot of people are curious about your conversation with President [Vladimir V.] Putin at dinner. Not surprising. But what did you all talk about, and——

TRUMP: So, that dinner was a very long time planned dinner. And what it was was an evening at the opera. It was a final night goodbye from Germany and from Chancellor Merkel. It was her dinner. It was, you know, everybody knew about it. It was well-known.

_________

TRUMP: So when we got there, it was with spouses, and when we got there, there were a thousand media. You guys know, were you guys there?

BAKER: No, it was Julie [Hirschfeld Davis] and Glenn Thrush.

TRUMP: So, it was tremendous media. And we took a picture of everybody, the wives and the leaders, and then the leaders, and, you know, numerous pictures outside on the river. Then everybody walked in to see the opera. Then the opera ended. Then we walked into a big room where they had dinner for not only the leaders — Lagarde [Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund] was there, who I think is terrific, and various others. You had the E.U. people there, people other than just the leaders, but quite a few people. I would say you have 20 times two, so you had 40, and then you probably had another 10 or 15 people, you had Christine Lagarde, you had some others also.

So, I was seated next to the wife of Prime Minister Abe [Shinzo Abe of Japan], who I think is a terrific guy, and she’s a terrific woman, but doesn’t speak English.

HABERMAN: Like, nothing, right? Like zero?

TRUMP: Like, not “hello.”

HABERMAN: That must make for an awkward seating.

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

Senate confirms anti-gay blogger as federal appeals court judge

Previous article

Man sues Congress members over pride flags, claiming being gay is a religion

Next article