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Trump, 79, Guided Around Room by Japan’s New PM

The White House flipped out at a video of what happened in Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace.

Japan’s prime minister led President Donald Trump around a room in Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace on Tuesday to view an honor guard and an accompanying band during their first meeting.

Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female prime minister who took office less than a week ago, stood beside Trump during a presentation by Japan’s Self-Defense Force. After it was over, Takaichi, 64, stepped down from a platform and began a clockwise tour of the room. Trump, 79, followed, and when he stopped and stood by the band, she put out her arm to nudge him to keep moving.

When Trump had almost made a lap, he paused briefly in front of his own delegation. Takaichi then held out her hand to guide him back to the platform.

For some reason, the White House was touchy about how Trump was portrayed when video of part of his walk around the room garnered attention online.

“Why didn’t you share the full video, dumba--?” the official White House Rapid Response 47 account replied to X user Acyn, along with a longer version of the event.

Yet their video showed Takaichi doing more guiding of Trump, who recently underwent an MRI, so it wasn’t immediately clear what point the White House was trying to make about how the president came off in the first clip.

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The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

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Takaichi opened Tuesday’s bilateral meeting by saying she hoped it would mark “a new golden age of the Japan-U.S. alliance,” and reiterated a “shared goal of achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific.” She also said Japan would be donating 250 cherry blossom trees to Washington, D.C.—something it has done before.

Trump, who is on the second leg of his Asia tour, said the U.S. is “an ally at the strongest level” to Japan.

“You will be one of the great prime ministers,” Trump told Takaichi. “You’re going to do a fantastic job and we are going to have a fantastic relationship.”

Takaichi is a protégé of Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022, two years after he had retired. The trial of Abe’s alleged assassin also began Tuesday.

Takaichi gifted golf-loving Trump Abe’s putter and a golf bag signed by PGA tour pro Hideki Matsuyama.

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