Japan’s Shinji Aguma delivers a brutal truth Americans still ignore:Trump isn’t a negotiator, he’s an extortionist. And while foreign leaders brace for his chaos, the U.S. media keeps feeding the myth
I would say that the people who love him are only paying attention to his PR. If you really looked closely there is a shit load of evidence that he is a liar and a failure and not equipped in any way to run a country (see multiple bankruptcies).
To be fair, I never paid attention to the loser until he entered the primary. What little I had seen before that already convinced me that he was not worth my time. I felt insulted and betrayed when he won the first primary.
If you look at the previous trade agreements Trump made and has already broken, it is obvious to any leader in the world that Trump views these agreements in the same way that he looked upon contracts with his subcontractors in New York: they are merely a way of drawing in the suckers and losers.
Wonderful article. So glad I've read it. The ease of this conman in gaining followers is heartbreaking. I'm looking on line for Shinji Aguma, finally found the speech with a different spelling, Oguma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIao2kkB7Gg
I want to hear more from the rest of the world. BBC and CBC news easily available but in this interconnected world, surely we can hear from other nations. How did you find this? I hope it's reported on by our major serious news outlets.
I'm an Oregonian living in Australia, and I cannot find anything on this in our press yet. I found Mary's article via an Aussie friend who posted it on her FB feed. I have asked her how she found it but don't have a response yet.
Shinji Aguma’s analysis is spot on. Japan and the rest of the world should go on forming alliances and establishing new trade priorities. The lesson here is that the countries of the world should be strong on their own so that they can be stronger in their alliances. If this kind of total breakdown of morals and laws can happen here, it can happen anywhere. Be strong, reliable to your allies and be independent.
I've had this asshole's number since 1987, there is a reason no one in my family is a magaloid, and it is, from the moment he slithered down his faux gold escalator, * I * was able to get to them before he did. By the time the election rolled around, every single member of my family who wasn't already clear on it, knew everything I knew about him (which was A LOT), and would have stuck their heads in the microwave before they voted for him.
There were even a few I had to remind a few times, if anyone started agreeing with him, or I saw them being swayed by the bullshit, I hammered them again. It was actually kinda fun saying "told you so" to people who *hadn't* caught whatever contagious brain virus he's infected his supporters with, and hearing "boy were you right about that guy, glad I didn't wote for him." Yeah, me too, I feel for people whose families got caught up in it.
People see what they want to see until what they’re seeing doesn’t match what is happening to them personally at that moment. As a proud and informed Canuck I can assure you lots of us in Canada see him for who and what he is - a craven and vile mob boss shaking down and extorting a country (a whole damn COUNTRY!!) for his own personal profit and to keep his sorry arse out of jail. He has his consigliere and his capos and their crews all fawning and doing his bidding in hopes of grabbing some personal power for themselves…along with some riches too - because enough is never enough. There are those in Canada who love the FacistFelon and I dare say they are likely fans of fox entertainment. The utter stupidity and total blindness of so many of his cult followers is truly beyond comprehension…🤷. People who close their eyes, turn away, and refuse to acknowledge what is happening to them do so at their peril. Sadly too many others, good honest people, will be taken down with them.
It’s both sobering and surreal that it takes a Japanese lawmaker to articulate, with moral clarity and strategic precision, what so many in our own government and media still tiptoe around. Aguma didn’t mince words because survival doesn’t allow for politeness.
Meanwhile, too many Americans are still clapping for the performance, not reckoning with the cost.
This isn’t politics-as-spectacle anymore—it’s politics-as-sabotage. And you’re right: the myth only lives because the media keeps feeding it.
Thank you for this piece. It reads like the kind of reckoning we’ve been too slow to have.
Thank you so much for this piece! Rupert Murdoch and the mush brain garbage that is televised, nonstop, has turned our country into a pathetic parody of the crap they are watching.
I really don’t understand why there is very little coverage from other countries about this horror. All the noise and protests con seem like reality tv at times. Nothing seems real and the atrocities in American government continues. This all gives me a cold feeling in my stomach. I’m sure it will take some time for organized opposition to be able to effect any kind of change. And I’m not at all educated about the political system to have any perspective, but it’s like living on a nightmare. And I’m not living in America - but Canada doesn’t seem far enough away. Is any place far enough away? I fully support all the American people who are doing whatever they can to oppose this illegal and immoral regime.
I see him clearly….its been pretty obvious for many years
It has, but so many people are just not paying attention.
Many are paying attention, they see what he is and they love it
I would say that the people who love him are only paying attention to his PR. If you really looked closely there is a shit load of evidence that he is a liar and a failure and not equipped in any way to run a country (see multiple bankruptcies).
He is worse than a liar, he is an evil narcissist but that seems to resonate with more than a few in our culture
He is in fact a psychopath.
Decades even.
To be fair, I never paid attention to the loser until he entered the primary. What little I had seen before that already convinced me that he was not worth my time. I felt insulted and betrayed when he won the first primary.
As did we all. It was shameful, to say the least.
Well put.
Trump is wrecking so many pillars of American power that I still don't believe many Americans fully grasp how badly this is likely to go for them.
https://substack.com/@abhcan/note/c-98995842
If you look at the previous trade agreements Trump made and has already broken, it is obvious to any leader in the world that Trump views these agreements in the same way that he looked upon contracts with his subcontractors in New York: they are merely a way of drawing in the suckers and losers.
Perfect analysis by the Japanese.
Wonderful article. So glad I've read it. The ease of this conman in gaining followers is heartbreaking. I'm looking on line for Shinji Aguma, finally found the speech with a different spelling, Oguma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIao2kkB7Gg
I want to hear more from the rest of the world. BBC and CBC news easily available but in this interconnected world, surely we can hear from other nations. How did you find this? I hope it's reported on by our major serious news outlets.
I'm an Oregonian living in Australia, and I cannot find anything on this in our press yet. I found Mary's article via an Aussie friend who posted it on her FB feed. I have asked her how she found it but don't have a response yet.
Shinji Aguma’s analysis is spot on. Japan and the rest of the world should go on forming alliances and establishing new trade priorities. The lesson here is that the countries of the world should be strong on their own so that they can be stronger in their alliances. If this kind of total breakdown of morals and laws can happen here, it can happen anywhere. Be strong, reliable to your allies and be independent.
I've had this asshole's number since 1987, there is a reason no one in my family is a magaloid, and it is, from the moment he slithered down his faux gold escalator, * I * was able to get to them before he did. By the time the election rolled around, every single member of my family who wasn't already clear on it, knew everything I knew about him (which was A LOT), and would have stuck their heads in the microwave before they voted for him.
There were even a few I had to remind a few times, if anyone started agreeing with him, or I saw them being swayed by the bullshit, I hammered them again. It was actually kinda fun saying "told you so" to people who *hadn't* caught whatever contagious brain virus he's infected his supporters with, and hearing "boy were you right about that guy, glad I didn't wote for him." Yeah, me too, I feel for people whose families got caught up in it.
People see what they want to see until what they’re seeing doesn’t match what is happening to them personally at that moment. As a proud and informed Canuck I can assure you lots of us in Canada see him for who and what he is - a craven and vile mob boss shaking down and extorting a country (a whole damn COUNTRY!!) for his own personal profit and to keep his sorry arse out of jail. He has his consigliere and his capos and their crews all fawning and doing his bidding in hopes of grabbing some personal power for themselves…along with some riches too - because enough is never enough. There are those in Canada who love the FacistFelon and I dare say they are likely fans of fox entertainment. The utter stupidity and total blindness of so many of his cult followers is truly beyond comprehension…🤷. People who close their eyes, turn away, and refuse to acknowledge what is happening to them do so at their peril. Sadly too many others, good honest people, will be taken down with them.
"The Ugly American" of the 21st century.
Other world leaders can try to negotiate with the new extortionist US president. But he will only humiliate them for the attempt and extort more.
It is a no win scenario for any world leader to approach Trump.
Trump has no cards to play now because the world knows of his fragile ever consuming ego.
He’s definitely outplayed himself and, unfortunately, the country.
Brilliantly laid out—and painfully true.
It’s both sobering and surreal that it takes a Japanese lawmaker to articulate, with moral clarity and strategic precision, what so many in our own government and media still tiptoe around. Aguma didn’t mince words because survival doesn’t allow for politeness.
Meanwhile, too many Americans are still clapping for the performance, not reckoning with the cost.
This isn’t politics-as-spectacle anymore—it’s politics-as-sabotage. And you’re right: the myth only lives because the media keeps feeding it.
Thank you for this piece. It reads like the kind of reckoning we’ve been too slow to have.
Thank you so much for this piece! Rupert Murdoch and the mush brain garbage that is televised, nonstop, has turned our country into a pathetic parody of the crap they are watching.
I really don’t understand why there is very little coverage from other countries about this horror. All the noise and protests con seem like reality tv at times. Nothing seems real and the atrocities in American government continues. This all gives me a cold feeling in my stomach. I’m sure it will take some time for organized opposition to be able to effect any kind of change. And I’m not at all educated about the political system to have any perspective, but it’s like living on a nightmare. And I’m not living in America - but Canada doesn’t seem far enough away. Is any place far enough away? I fully support all the American people who are doing whatever they can to oppose this illegal and immoral regime.
There’s lots of coverage from other countries. Maybe you’re not looking in the right place.
I do see some coverage. Just not as much as I would expect. But something is better than. O thing.
Not lost on Canadians. We know what Trump is.
Sadly we have our own maple MAGAs.
I for one see him very clearly for the monster he is
100% agree, that’s our view from Australia, minus a few dickheads.