Trump Mocks Allies Using Fake Asian Accents While Praising Kim Jong Un
[guest post by Dana]
At a big dollar fundraiser held at a private home in the Hamptons, President Trump made news for reportedly mimicking the accents of the leaders of South Korea and Japan to mock them:
Trump also made fun of US allies South Korea, Japan and the European Union — mimicking Japanese and Korean accents — and talked about his love of dictators Kim Jong Un and the current ruler of Saudi Arabia.
[…]
Talking about South Korea, Trump said it makes great TVs and has a thriving economy, “So why are we paying for their defense. They’ve got to pay.” He then mimicked the accent of the leader Moon Jae-in while describing how he caved in to Trump’s tough negotiations.
On his remarkable friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, “I just got a beautiful letter from him this week. We are friends. People say he only smiles when he sees me.
“If I hadn’t been elected president, we would be in a big, fat, juicy war with North Korea.“
Turning to Japan, Trump then put on a fake Japanese accent to recount his conversations with Shinzo Abe over their conversations over trade tariffs.
Trump’s mockery of various groups is nothing new, but this time it has rankled Asian-American voters:
When Amanda Berg heard that President Donald Trump mocked the accents of the leaders of South Korea and Japan at a recent fundraiser, it brought back painful memories from her childhood.
Berg, a Korean-American who grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, recalled kids doing the “stereotypical pulling at the eyes and the mocking accent.” It made her feel like she was a foreigner in her own community.
Berg, a registered Democrat, is among a growing and crucial bloc of Asian-American voters leaning further to the left in the age of Trump, and his stunt angered her and many others.
“It empowers people who would be predisposed to doing that kind of thing anyway,” said Berg, a high school English teacher in Denver. “And it makes it acceptable to be openly, increasingly discriminating.”
Here is quick look at American-Asian voters and their current party preferences. Bear in mind that not long ago George H. W. Bush received 55% of the Asian-American vote while Bill Clinton received 31%. Fast forward to 2016, where Hillary Clinton won approximately two-thirds of the Asian-American vote and Trump pulled in just 27%:
The Asian-American voting-age population has more than doubled in the past two decades, leaping from 4.3 million in 1998 to 11.1 million in 2018 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A majority of those new voters lean Democratic.
By 2016, some Asian ethnic groups that had leaned Republican shifted into the Democratic camp, said Natalie Masuoka, an associate professor of political science and Asian-American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. A Pew Research Center survey said 53 percent of Asian-American registered voters in 1998 identified with the Democratic Party. That figure rose to 65 percent in 2017.
“They are adding more and more new voters to the electorate,” Masuoka said. “Alongside Latino immigrants, they’re important for candidates to mobilize.”
This especially as Asians are the fastest growing racial group in the U.S.
However, with the presidential election around the corner and Trump’s aggregate polling hovering around 41%, incidents like like this, while amusing his base, may come with a risk. Especially in swing states:
Asian-American voters also could become a key factor in swing states. In Nevada, Asians make up 5 percent of registered voters and 9 percent of the eligible voting population. They comprise 5 percent of registered voters in Virginia and are 6 percent of the eligible voting population.
Coupled with the current refusal to just “look the other way” when one is racially offended, especially when the offender is the President of the United States, Trump’s lack of decorum comes with yet another risk:
The GOP, meanwhile, remains appealing to Asian-Americans who are strongly anti-communist, as many are in Vietnamese communities. Some data also suggests that a large proportion of Filipinos and wealthy, higher-educated Chinese-Americans are more likely to go Republican, Masuoka said.
But it may be hard for some to look past Trump’s words.
“He’s willing to use Asian stereotypes, Asian accents in his public speeches,” Masuoka said. “In that way … the way Americans are talking about race is now shifting possibly back to what historically was effective before the civil rights revolution” — explicit and sometimes offensive talk about race.
I would think that the Asian-Americans offended by this would be all the more offended given that he pulled this stunt while raising money for his reelection campaign.
At the end of the day, however, while I understand Asian-Americans being offended by Trump’s behavior, what is far more disturbing is that the President of the United States publicly mimicked and mocked our close allies while he lavishly praised a vile enemy of the United States. In what delusional world does this murderous madman, who does not hesitate for one second to imprison, torture and kill his people at will, deserve the adoration of the President? Were any of the deep-pocketed Trump supporters in the audience shocked when they heard this? Did they walk out of the event, so great was their offense? Likely not, because they weren’t at all shocked or offended because this is just business as usual with Trump. Likely they reacted like as Trump supporters do when the President makes outrageous comments and elevates evil over good: they listen with admiration believing that Trump is just telling it like it is.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
Apologies for the disjointedness of the post. It was hard to pull it all together into a cohesive piece.
Dana (fdf131) — 8/22/2019 @ 1:38 pmI guess you will be voting for joe walsh.
lany (280b99) — 8/22/2019 @ 1:56 pmBinary choice, eh?
Dana (fdf131) — 8/22/2019 @ 1:57 pmthey endorse the folks that put quotas on their admissions, that’s what university administrators are doing, note no other source except pornhub marshall’s took that story seriously,
narciso (d1f714) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:02 pmAnd let’s not forget his damaging our relationship with a European ally like Denmark and once again making overtures to a hostile foreign dictator like Putin by cheerleading his return to the G8.
Paul Montagu (a2342d) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:11 pmIt’s not meant to be real. He used an accent they do not have.
How else is Trump going to indicate somebody else is talking?
Stephen Colbert uses a special voice in his monologue to indicate Donald Trump is talking (often when reading tweets out loud)
That was more mocking. This was just an attempt to label the person as beiing from Korea or Japan
Sammy Finkelman (b47846) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:32 pmthere’s no proof, any of these statements were made, and in the hamptons of all places,
narciso (d1f714) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:37 pmExcuse me while I go into my cave and cry.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:45 pmnarciso,
Exactly what about Trump mimicking Asians as well as praising Kim Jong Un sounds unbelievable to you?
Dana (fdf131) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:47 pmWell, he could do what any civilized adult would do, and say something like “Prime Minister Abe said …” or “President Moon said …”.
But Trump’s civilized adult impression requires a teleprompter.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:48 pmthat he has respect for abe for one, I don’t entirely agree with the Korean strategy, but our partner in the region, for reasons passing understanding hasn’t given up on what is a foolish endeavor, but what is the real alternative solution?
narciso (d1f714) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:51 pm5: No one wants to be gratuitously rude to the Danes. But please: its a real stretch to suggest that our first thought should be “Oh no! We’ve upset a valuable ally –5.5 million Danes!”
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:52 pmBinary choice, eh?
If it’s a meaningful choice. If you want better than Trump/? vs Senile/WhackJob then maybe there should be a primary opponent. Don’t see one.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:54 pmBTW, are we sure it will be Pence?
Kevin M (21ca15) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:55 pmOne paper quoting another paper, that relied on anonymous sources, is now good enough to be treated as truth. Why? Because we can imagine it to be true. Didn’t Ballsy-Fraud run with a similar MO?
Several weeks after the anonymous teaser not a single person has corroborated anything.
I long for the days whene decent Republicans, like Romney, showed his enemies enough professional courtesy to allow his off color remarks to be secretly recorded at his fundraisers. Stupid Trump should be more like Romney.
BuDuh (8b0bff) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:55 pmBut Trump’s civilized adult impression requires a teleprompter.
You misspelled “enforcer.”
Kevin M (21ca15) — 8/22/2019 @ 2:55 pm“Oh no! We’ve upset a valuable ally –5.5 million Danes!”
A million here, a million there, and pretty soon it adds up to real opposition.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 8/22/2019 @ 3:00 pmThink that’s where he got the orders to whack Epstein?
nk (dbc370) — 8/22/2019 @ 3:10 pmThe Danes could have been a little more circumspect in responding to Trumps overture.
Whether or not I agree with Trump, I thought he spelled out his feelings and reasoning well.
There is a Danish movie where they sent the bicycle platoon off to fight a German mechanized brigade at the outset of WWII when the Germans invaded Denmark. The Danes did not move defensive troops to the border to avoid offending the massing Germans.
The end of the the movie you found out the kids on the bikes fought for nothing.
steveg (354706) — 8/22/2019 @ 3:22 pmTheir leadership had already cut a deal with the nazis and bailed.
Trump was gratuitously rude when he canceled his trip to Denmark. We did $11.5 billion in trade with the Danes in 2018. That’s $2,000 or so per capita. We do $27.5 billion in trade with much larger Russia, or around $200 per capita. So, yeah, let’s piss off a fellow free-market economy for no real good reason.
Paul Montagu (a2342d) — 8/22/2019 @ 3:31 pmBad wady thay no to Donny.
nk (dbc370) — 8/22/2019 @ 3:35 pmyes, much fact checking was involved in this kerfluffle,
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/22/mississippi-man-sues-huffington-post-over-story-brett-kavanaugh-illegal-drugs-party-david-kennedy/2078341001/
narciso (d1f714) — 8/22/2019 @ 3:52 pmThe Danish leadership did capitulate to the Nazis two hours after the invasion started, but they did not “bail”. They remained in the country and continued to govern it (under German occupation) for three more years. The government successfully resisted German demands to implement anti-Jewish and pro-German policies, until the Germans eventually dismissed them and took over completely in 1943.
16 Danish soldiers died between the start of hostilities and the Danish surrender.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/22/2019 @ 4:27 pmThere was also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_the_Danish_Jews
Davethulhu (bc6fa6) — 8/22/2019 @ 4:42 pmFlame and Citron…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/22/2019 @ 4:45 pmTom Cotton had discussed it with reps from Denmark before making the suggestion to Trump.
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2019/08/months-before-president-donald-trump.html
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/22/2019 @ 4:50 pmThe question is, will Trump continue to say and do things that might jeopardize the vote in swing states? My guess is, yes, he will, and when those states go blue, he will find someone to blame for it.
Dana (fdf131) — 8/22/2019 @ 4:56 pmMy guess is that anonymous sources won’t make any dent in how well the President does in swing states.
BuDuh (8b0bff) — 8/22/2019 @ 5:42 pmThats curious:
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/south-china-sea-has-beijing-given-up-fortifying-its-illegal-islands/?fbclid=IwAR0T34J6lk20YjM_8DceyiCs_jugcVC6jDzOdEYbLBKanM_YglxJdTXNX78
Narciso (222325) — 8/22/2019 @ 6:21 pmThey bailed on support of the kids they sent on bicycles with 40 rounds of ammo and a crash course on flat repair.
steveg (354706) — 8/22/2019 @ 8:42 pm16 died only to find out that their leaders had capitulated.
The worst they did to the Nazis was send a terse reply to Hitlers happy birthday to the King
“Giving my best thanks, King Christian” It would take balls to say…”your birthday wishes are absurd”
My point is lack of diplomatic niceties cuts both ways. The nazis taking over your country is absurd, Trump offering to buy Greenland from a friend is a “no thank you”… unless they are not really a friend
steveg (354706) — 8/22/2019 @ 8:47 pmOnly the Greeks stood up to the Axis from the very beginning. No pacts, no accords, no concessions, just “Molon Labe”. Even Hitler said so.
nk (dbc370) — 8/22/2019 @ 8:54 pm27… I think you sell people short, they are well aware of the game played by the media. Trump gives the press covering him 40 plus minutes, in the heat, copter blades making a lot of noise, the press hates this, but Trump is in his element. Lord only knows what he’ll say, but people know whatever is said, it will be cast in the worst possible light. Even though many around here seem to be slow on the uptake about this, The People are on to it. His rallies are said he be fun. The Democrat strategists know it and struggle to build the enthusiasm but they just don’t have what it takes and neither do their candidates.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/22/2019 @ 9:34 pmAre said to be fun…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/22/2019 @ 9:35 pmPfft. You guys fought the Italians one-on-one for four months and couldn’t even take Rome.
But having a fascist already in charge when the other fascists come knocking apparently helps.
(As it happens, I was just reading the narrative of the Greek campaign half an hour ago while eating dinner, in HP Wilmott’s excellent The Great Crusade)
Dave (1bb933) — 8/22/2019 @ 9:37 pmWhackoffpedia is not a reliable source.
nk (dbc370) — 8/22/2019 @ 9:51 pmThe Germans invaded at 4:15am; they landed in Copenhagen and took the main army headquarters within an hour; using troops landed by sea and parachutists, the Germans seized essentially every bridge and ferry in the country almost instantly. German planes were buzzing Copenhagen and dropping leaflets warning that bombing was imminent. What exactly was the government supposed to do during those couple hours to support a bicycle platoon a hundred miles away while thousands of armed Germans were chasing them around Copenhagen?
Dave (1bb933) — 8/22/2019 @ 9:57 pmHere’s a pretty good political ad… https://twitter.com/Weirddave0/status/1164185155793084416
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/22/2019 @ 10:00 pmDave trying to lecture nk on the nature of the greek resistance, snorfle.
Narciso (222325) — 8/22/2019 @ 11:52 pmWhat exactly was the government supposed to do during those couple hours to support a bicycle platoon a hundred miles away while thousands of armed Germans were chasing them around Copenhagen?
Make the shield wall and hold it to the last man like Beowulf would have done:
nk (dbc370) — 8/23/2019 @ 5:14 amή ταν ή επί τας
(But the Spartans didn’t have bicycles, as Paul Montague recently reminded us…)
Dave (1bb933) — 8/23/2019 @ 7:09 amDanish King: Shall we war against Fortinbras?
nk (dbc370) — 8/23/2019 @ 7:22 amPolonius: No, Your Majesty. We can fight thirteen bras but not fourteen bras.
Got Trump on tape? Otherwise, I don’t believe anon. sources from Trump hating media. And I don’t care about writing nasty notes to North Korea. IRC, when Trump was talking “fire and fury” the same big mouths that wanted to TALK tough, were screeching about how “Trump was going to blow up the world” and we needed quiet diplomacy.
The only consistency? Orange Man bad.
rcocean (1a839e) — 8/23/2019 @ 12:55 pmMIttens took the same tack, attacking Trump was being “Too soft” on NK. As if Mittens, would’ve been some sort of tough guy enforcer.
rcocean (1a839e) — 8/23/2019 @ 12:57 pm