Not sure if the symbolism was on purpose, but President Trump yesterday greeted Japan’s Prime Minister aboard the carrier USS George Washington, some 80 years, a month, and 26 days after General Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan’s surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri.
On September 2, 1945, General MacArthur accepted the surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II. As Commander of the Allied Forces in the Pacific, MacArthur signed the surrender with Japan’s Foreign Minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu. Japan had brought the U.S> into WWII by attacking Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
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The event with Japan’s first female Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, represented a remarkable turnaround in relations between Japan and the United States since that fateful day in 1945. The Prime Minister accompanied Trump on his visit aboard the USS George Washington to rally the troops.
“I have such respect for Japan and the country, and now I have a really great respect for the new and incredible prime minister,” Trump said. “I have to say this: The first female prime minister in the history of Japan.”
Addressing the assembled U.S. force, Trump said:
“When it comes to defending the United States, we’re no longer politically correct. We’ll defend our country any way we have to, and that’s usually not the politically correct way. From now on, if we’re in a war, we’re going to win the war. We’re going to win it like nobody ever before.”
Trump’s visit to Japan included the signing of a rare earths deal, along with a pledge by Japan to invest $550 billion in the U.S. as part of the U.S.-Japan Framework Agreement.
[PICTURED: President Trump speaking aboard the USS George Washington]
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