Jimmy Kimmel somehow found something “we should be grateful” about when it comes to President Donald Trump’s cringe-inducing meeting with Japan’s first-ever female Prime Minister.
The U.S. president hosted Japanese leader Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office on Thursday, where he made an ill-advised joke about Pearl Harbor. Trump offered the response when asked by a Japanese reporter why America did not alert allies in Asia and Europe about the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.
“You don’t want to signal too much, you know?” Trump, 79, said. “When we go in, we went in very hard, and we didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us.”
Kimmel, shaking his head in disbelief after displaying the clip, said, “I guess we should be grateful he didn’t do an accent?
“What is going on through that orange head of his?” he asked, laughing. “Let me tell you. There is no doubt in my mind that everything he knows about Pearl Harbor begins and ends with a movie starring Ben Affleck.”
The late-night host, a known enemy of the president, said that Americans “often cringe when real leaders come to visit ours, but today I think we hit a new level of discomfort.”
Takaichi, 68, looked visibly uncomfortable after Trump’s remarks, her eyes widening. The room allegedly went silent. Kimmel called the comments “absolutely astonishing.”
Known for her ultra-conservative views, Takaichi assumed office in 2025. Trump commended her for her landslide victory in Japan’s election. But the president also insisted that Japan must “step up” amid the global energy crisis.
Kimmel also commented on Trump’s expectations from Japan, saying, “Trump very much wants Japan to support his war on Iran. He asked the prime minister, he asked her today to send us a Godzilla, and she said no.”
