Japanese opposition leader smacks down Trump brutally: we're "being extorted by a delinquent."

It should be noted in Japan:

Lib Dem Party = Conservative 

Con Dem Party = Liberal

Sounds like 1984.

“Con” as in constitutional, not conservative. 

In Australia, the “Liberal Party” are the conservatives.  The Labour Party are the liberals.

Thank you for clarifying. 

Thanks! I added that info!

Maybe I should blame the translator, but the extortion is actually coming from a “juvenile delinquent.”  The kind that should be sent to reform school even though it won’t help.

The diarist said that Oguma spoke in English.

Yes, but the subtext of idiom sometimes elides something important. ‘Juvenile delinquent’ was the term that jumped to mind when I read it, too.
 

The reference to emphasize immature behavior is in line with his tone, and the culture.

I agree with dedwords’ interpretation.

He WAS sent to a military academy which is the rich boy’s version of reform school.  He was sent there because he was a hopeless bully to the kids in his class.

He has been an asshole his entire life.

He has been an asshole his entire life.

No exaggeration. In her book Who Could Ever Love You, Mary L. Trump confirms that as a teenager Donald had no friends. No one could stand him because he was cocky, rude, arrogant, humorless, and self-important. Today, with his tariffs, Donald Trump is getting back at the world for his friendless youth.

Glad some foreign leaders get it.  It is indeed mob boss tactics, and going along will get you worse things.

Yup.  And as such, negotiations aren’t going to be effective, because negotiating a deal with a man who doesn’t keep his word is just a waste of time.

Instead, what they’re going to find is that Trump will constantly move the goalposts and that even after reaching an agreement he will come back to retroactively change the agreement.

The law firms that “settled” with Trump are already discovering that, and Trump won’t treat other countries any differently because the fact is that he doesn’t know how to negotiate in good faith.  All he knows is bullying, threats, and blackmail.

Sounds like his best bud Putler, “Sure that’s a good peace deal, but whoopsie I forgot to tell I want *.* as well.”

a quote from an observer of the recent japanese trade delegation says it all:

        Trump has to tell the State Dept what he wants, the State Dept performs a study and determines the likelihood Japan will agree and creates fallback positions Trump may like.

           State informs Trump then asks what other pressure can they bring to bear on this does Trump want his deal, a quick face saving deal or no deal just an issue to campaign on until after the election.   

      The State Dept apparently did none of these things. 

Well, there’s also the problem that Trump doesn’t know what he wants, other than to be the center of attention and to feel important.  He doesn’t have goals, he just has feelings.

He has figured out that tariffs get him attention, when he threatens them, when he enacts them, and when he stops them, which is why he likes them so much.  That’s why all the justifications everyone is making make no sense, especially when you realize they all contradict each other and/or can’t even be achieved through tariffs.  He doesn’t care about the justifications, he just wants the attention.

tariffs get him attention, when he threatens them, when he enacts them, and when he stops them

It’s market manipulation. Somebody got rich(er).

Like a fucking toddler. 

Doesn’t know what he wants, probably won’t like any compromise proposed and any real negotiation is dead in the water.

Trump's only animating force is dominance. It's his addict's drug of choice. This is why anyone who looks for ideology or core beliefs to explain or frame his acts never gets it right. It's why he ping pongs. It's also why the only way to stop him is to say "No." and hit back as a group. He operates on singling one weaker victim out at a time to punch.

China gets this. Canada gets it. Harvard gets it. EU gets it. Japan (the largest holder of US Treasuries) is getting it. 

The US Congress and US press still doesn't get it. 

Tariffs up or tariffs down, Trump has been consistent:  He wants to ‘Make A Deal’.  Best to  visit Miami for his very special, very popular (bigly popular, like nobody’s ever seen!) $5,000,000 one-on-one dinners.  After dessert, gratuities will be gladly accepted at the Mar-a-Lago Corruption Desk, preferably in Trump’s own World Liberty Financial crypto currency . . . 

The line forms on the right.  PS, no paperwork will be required.

Art of the Steal!

David OD

ah the good ol’ days of $50,000 a plate luncheons in FL when grey haired, hedge fund, Mormon pirates running for president deplored the 46% of Americans who don’t pay taxes…. seems like just yesterday… sniff, sniff

That would require them to actually know what they want beyond vague fantasies of power, wealth, and submission.

They can’t articulate what they don’t understand.

They want bribes, they just haven’t learned the diplomatic way to ask. 

They want everything they can get, so being precise defeats the purpose of agreeing-but-not-really. Vague agreements facilitate moving the goal-posts over and over and over...

This reminds me so much of the Republican government shutdown during Obama’s presidency.  Ostensibly, they shut down the government to induce Obama to “get rid” of the ACA, but Obama, as the executive, couldn’t repeal the ACA, nor could he defund it, also Congress’s job, not his.   So, they shut down the government either expecting Obama to do their jobs for them even though it would be blatantly unconstitutional or wanting something else they couldn’t even describe because they had no idea what it was.

And people still vote for these idiots . . .

Like a mob boss Trump expects the capos and extorted parties to take the initiative, much like Vietnam did by offering him a $2bn Trump Org resort project and the opening the country to Elon’s Starlink  service. 

Just say No! To Trump

And keep saying it.

“This is you country, and this is your country on Trump...a country is a terrible thing to waste”

The Japanese opposition leader is 100% spot on.

Kraznov is a confirmed juvenile delinquent. 

He was sent to reform school at age 13. In those days, that school was called a military school. They were known to beat the children. His father sent him there after  the private school he had been attending refused to accept him for another term despite the fact that his father was on the board. They determined he was, indeed, a juvenile delinquent. His teachers recalled that he had spent more time in detention than in class. After that, his father gave a big donation to Fordham to get him accepted against his will. There, he paid his sister to do homework and others to take tests. After two years, his father got him transferred into Wharton. Donations again bought his degree.

What we do know is that Mr. Trump graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Wharton without honors and that one of his professors there is reported to have said “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.”

All this was documented in a series published in the NY Times in 2015/16 and in other sources.

I have a childhood friend who similarly was from a seriously dysfunctional family and was declared incorrigible by the family court. Ended up in reform school where he met more delinquents as friends. Without the money and the toxic narcissism, though. We’re still friends, but he absolutely cannot be trusted.

Kraznov has a larcenous mind. Extortion is a tool in his toolkit.

His mentor, Roy Cohn, is yet another layer of severe dysfunction. A homophobic gay man and an antisemitic Jew, for starters.

“Extorted by a delinquent”.

Not to mention Drumph always dying his hair blonde instead of leaving it at the natural color.  Another sign of "deliquency" in Japan, since dying one's hair to a non-natural color is seen as a sign of rebellion.

Not sure the stream of Japanese people I see every day with dyed hair would agree with you on that. Most schools won't allow, though a few do now. And you'd not likely get a job at Toyota if you looked like an anime character, but you'll be hard-pressed to find any senior citizens with natural hair colour here.

not just a delinquent, but a criminal delinquent.

ALL repug congress members SHOULD be ashamed/embarrassed/red-faced, etc…..Here a Japanese politician can ‘talk back’ to extortionist trump as well as tfg’s unqualified incompetent administration and (the Japanese spokesman) can  ‘stand up’ with a spine for his country…..but ….our OWN ...ELECTED…..repug reps are too AFRAID of their own party leader to do the same — the repugs are going to just ‘let’ their party’s lead destroy our standing in the world ---out of FEAR of their own chosen leader….…..  --— What an embarrassing country the USA is right now with this kind of corrupt ‘leadership’ …..!  

I know this can go unstated but….some people in this world should NEVER have children.  And every young family should do family counseling, some a little, some a lot, period.  

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...

Conclusion

ACEs(Adverse Childhood Experiences) are the primary risk factor for the development of NPD(Narcissistic Personality Disorder) in adulthood. Dysfunctional household environments and parenting practices compound the association between ACEs and pathological narcissism. It is important to address childhood trauma for the prevention and treatment of NPD. Further research is necessary to clarify how individual factors influence the relationship between ACEs and pathological narcissism.

Note:  This is not the same as having some narcissistic traits, NPD is a much bigger animal.

Thank you.  So much generational trauma goes untreated.  

Yes, and its utterly heartbreaking for that child, and maddening for us all that that child, as a man, can hurt the entire world.

Any deals yet from those 15, or 50 or 75 countries that are calling and kissing his ass? I haven’t heard of any. I’m sure if there were any deals Trump would be all over the place crowing about them. 

When Trump said that, it hardened people’s resolve against him.  Good.

It’s the same country’s whose leaders were constantly calling during his 1st term to tell him what a great job he was doing.

They’ll all be done in two weeks.

He’s way worse than  just a delinquent. He’s a depraved, sadistic, semi-literate screwup.

In 1947, in the wake of World War II, we negotiated the GATT, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in which we and the rest of the world agreed, with certain specific exceptions, that we would not raise tariffs and gradually eliminate them in the long run.  The thinking was that the trade wars triggered by the Hawley Smoot Tariff of 1930 not only led to the world wide depression but that depression in turn led to the rise of fascism and World War II.  We reaffirmed this commitment when GATT was succeeded in 1995 by the WTO, World Trade Organization.

Between 1986 and 2013 we negotiated free trade agreements with Israel, Canada, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, all the countries of Central America (CAFTA-DR) except initially Panama, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Panama, Morocco, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.  Each of these free trade agreements allowed for a party to withdraw, but only after one year notice. 

Trump violated all of the above.  Why would any country make any agreement with him?

The problem isn’t that Trump violated the agreements. The problem is that the U.S. violated the agreement. It doesn’t matter that many of us voted against Trump. What matters is that our political systems weren’t sufficient to preclude the election and ascension to power of someone like him. It makes no sense to trust such a country. It’s unfortunate we have to live here in these times, but the world is better off isolating the cancer we have become. 

Smoot Hawley (in 1930) did not cause the Great Depression; the stock market crash of October 1929 (only 10% over two days) preceded the Smoot Hawley tariff act  of 1930.  The long-term trend of the Dow was a high (of 350) around September 1929 to around 240 by November 1929, a drop of 30%.  There was a rally back up to 290 or so by April 1930, but then a steady slide, as the economy continued to worsen and unemployment continued to rise, until the low point (at 50, or an 85% drop) in August of 1932.

The tariffs, and reciprocal tariffs in other countries, certainly made things worse than they would have been.  But they did not lead to the Great Depression; that slide was already underway.

The whole world (well, except Russia) needs to stand up to Trump.

Trump renegotiated trade agreements with Mexico, Canada and China in his 1st administration and claimed they were so much better than NAFTA/TPP. Then he declared that trade with Mexico, Canada and China was a national emergency in his 2nd term despite his own “great” trade agreements still being in place.

That’s the perfect example of why doing “deals” withTrump is a waste of time.

Maybe the UK Parliament will follow Japan’s and Charles will reconsider his “fest” with the fascist gangsta president.  You are known by the company you keep.

  I think the big point is if Japan makes a deal with Trump he will only ask for more.   However Trump cannot be counted on to honor any deal he makes like if Japan is invaded. 

      I expect Japan to increase military spending a bunch.

They certainly should, now that they know Trump won’t have their back, & with neighbors like China, Russia & North Korea.

There's really no good reason for anyone to invade Japan; there's nothing to be had in the way of minerals, not much free space and the weather's getting worse every year.

From what I can tell, and I welcome correction, “Delinquent,” in Japanese usage, is akin to “punk, hoodlum,” and “bully.” For us, in the US, it carries a connotation of truants and school children, but the connotation for Japanese speakers seems to be much broader and to include criminality and violence.

“Delinquent” seems to encompass “gang member,” for example, and not just ‘going to the arcade.’

In other words, we shouldn’t be distracted by our own associations with “skipping school.”

delinquent n.

1. A juvenile delinquent.

2. A person who neglects or fails to do what law or duty requires.

3. One who fails or neglects to perform his duty; an offender or transgressor; one who commits a fault or a crime; a culprit.
Similar: culprit

4. One who disobeys or breaks rules or laws.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

Extortion worldwide 

The adjective form of “delinquent” (a debt, loan) has been reduced to technical contexts in American usage, and “juvenile delinquent” was so commonly said that “delinquent” became a clipping of the phrase. Consequently, “a delinquent” carries the associations of “juvenile reprobate” usually “as labeled by school authorities or courts.”

As the AHD points out, in denotation, the word is pretty straightforward: “in violation of contract, of law, of obligation.”

I think it’s the perfect word for a diplomat to use for Trump because it carries all those meanings, while subtly referring to Trump’s immaturity. A Spanish translation of “crime” is “delincuencia”.

You have Oguma serving in the House of Councillors in the past tense, which is true, but you don’t specify that he currently serves in the House of Representatives, so your opening paragraph makes it sound like he’s not currently in an elected position. That made it a head scratcher, as “Opposition Leader” in the headline implies an elected position. Would make a stronger point to delete the irrelevant upper house reference and just say that he has been an elected member of the House of Representatives since 2012. Or just “elected member of the Diet since 2010.” 

Thanks! I have made the appropriate changes.

That sums it up

I hope that every country does the same thing!

Canada, Japan, Europe, South Korea, Australia, yeah, all are our closest allies are stepping up & standing firmly against this regime.

GOOD!  They definitely need to be!

Keep it up, Japan!  He is worse than a delinquent.

I think that is a very apt word though. While relatively mild compared to how bad he really is, it also implies how puerile he is. Just the right word to convey the intended message while keeping his tone more diplomatic than inflammatory.

Statement from Trump:

“No no no no no I’m not a juvenile delinquent."

Not Deli-quints!

“logic is all over the place” aka ‘the weave’

I am glad there is so much resistance abroad. They shouldn’t be harmed by our stupid politics and I also feel like the more fronts he tries to argue on the more his bravado will collapse under sheer volume.

Yes!  Thank you world for pushing back.  The world is now showing that a community that joins together can defeat the local sociopath.  I wish the various entities within the US would follow that example.  (Lookin’ at you law firms, social media companies and news organizations.)

Oguma is 100% correct & he was being as polite & diplomatic as he could while still conveying as clear as possible his strong message. And his English & understanding of Trump are both excellent!

Delinquent,  all right — missing basic humanity, an illiterate, stupid excuse for a human being.

I fear the Japanese will have him for breakfast,

 … and there won’t be anything left for lunch.

Good going, Oguma!

I am glad he knows who the Orange Asshole really is.

The rest of the world should treat him as such.

And we have nearly 4 more years of this shit to endure.

.

This confirms from another news source — can’t recall off hand — that the Japanese negotiator is sick of making concession after concession to Trump’s people.  I knew that was Trump was going to “handle” these “negotiations.”  Trump and his people will bully any and all who show up for talks and give nothing in return.

This will work with very poor countries, but I don't see how the Japanese are expected to take this kind of bullying.  The Japanese already had a shot across the bow monent when they coordindated a sell off of U.S. securities.  Trump’s demented mind has forgotten that the Japanese own a LOT of U.S. securities.

Trump is a narcissistic sociopath.
He gets his kicks from hurting other people.

Destroying the USA economy will hurt hundreds of millions of Americans.
That is why he is doing it.
Hurting people makes him feel powerful.
And that is why the cruelty is the point in everything Trump does.
While it’s true he is a moron, that isn’t the reason he is jerking Wall Street and the global economies around.

He’s doing it to inflict pain on people in order to make himself feel more important.
That is the bottom line with Trump, and it’s why he is such a huge threat to the nation.
 
He needs to be removed from power and banned from holding any office for life (in addition to being held legally accountable for all of his crimes, both in and out of office). Same goes for all his MAGA seditious sycophants and criminal cronies.

Talking this way is pretty unusual in Japanese politics. It's unusual for domestic politics and most certainly for international politics about an (ostensible) ally.

I'll be interested to hear what my students have to say about this today. Speaking your mind is rarely considered a good thing here.

The word he might be looking for is ‘degenerate.’

Country should insist that any agreement they get be passed by the Senate, so that it becomes a part of U.S. federal law.

Japan holds $1126 Billion in US Treasury notes. China is not far behind at $784B. If the US pisses them off enough, they might think of selling, which would have profound effects on our and the world economy. Of course, it may be Trump’s intention to crash the US economy in which case, he is on the right road.