this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026

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Trump to Japan PM: 'Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?' (www.france24.com)

submitted 1 month ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 55 points 1 month ago (2 children)

[+] green_red_black@slrpnk.net 42 points 1 month ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 29 points 1 month ago (3 children)

AND they technically tried to warn the US about it, but the diplomat responsible for delivering the notice was late because of bureaucracy among other things! It was literally not even supposed to be a surprise attack!

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The 14-part ultimatum message was encrypted from Japan, the embassy had to decrypt then translate into English. To preserve secrecy the embassy didn’t employ locals, and few of the embassy staff knew English so progress was slow. The instruction to deliver the message at 1pm also didn’t mention this was absolutely critical. The Ambassador arrived at the State Department over an hour late.

Meanwhile army intelligence had decrypted and translated the message much faster, but a litany of failures meant the warning of probable attack had to be sent by telegram - not even paying for priority service - and arrived at the base after the attack.

However, it was intended to be a surprise attack, and the declaration of war was only delivered ten hours later.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Pretty sure it was still going to be a surprise, just not zero warning. Iirc their goal was delivering the declaration minutes before the first planes arrived.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

It was never a surprise.
The US, that never tolerates economic competition froze Japanese assets and subsequently imposed a total oil embargo in response to Japan's occupation of French Indochina, cutting off roughly 88–94% of Japan’s oil supply.
That was almost a declaration of war.
They wanted war with Japan.
Moving the fleet to a remote place in the middle of the ocean was seen as insanity since it was a sitting duck.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

......source?

[–] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

......source?

Literally any history book, this is high-school level information. JFC

Japan declared war on the U.S. and the British Empire later that day (December 8 in Tokyo), but the declarations were not delivered until the next day

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Literally every class I've ever taken, and every documentary I've ever seen has said it was a surprise attack.

Some documentaries suggest that the allies suspected an attack may be coming at some point, but they didn't "know".

So, no. Not literally every history book shows this as a pre-agreed upon attack.

[–] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

Maybe not in American history books but any other history books, yes.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

I don't even believe the 'late' part

[+] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works -13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That's legitimately a brilliant response.

[–] Humanius@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Japan and the US during WW2 were not allies. They were enemies.
That is pretty much why Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in the first place.

Today the US and Japan today are allies, however.
The two situations are not exactly comparable. You shouldn't treat your allies like you treat your enemies

[–] inari@piefed.zip 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In Japan this would go down terribly. Not only because sarcasm is seen as distasteful, he pretty much made her lose face.

I say "would" because in reality Japanese media tend to report stories with a pro-government, pro-US bias, so I doubt this little gaffe will get much traction domestically.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

I'm not sorry for this fascist ghoul, whitewashing the horrible warcrimes of their empire in WW2?

[–] thethrilloftime69@feddit.online 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This sounds like a Boondocks bit.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

These last years after the pandemic feel like we're stuck in a late-night Adult Swim reality.

[–] Brickhead92@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Word! Sometimes, there's just too many cooks.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

Well, It takes a lot to make a stew.

[–] Jhex@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

pile it on the list of embarrassments for America

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's legitimately the funniest thing he's ever said.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Funny is great, but not... In every situation. I don't want a funny president for the same reason I don't want a funny oncologist.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 3 points 1 month ago

Oh, no doubt. It was super inappropriate for sure.

[–] CobraChicken3000@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago

What a babbling idiot. Does he think that she was one of the Kamikaze pilots?

[–] TwilitSky@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

They're saying he's joking but it's possible he legit had never heard about Pearl Harbor until that day.

[–] D_C@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

Also it wasn't exactly a surprise that the us started a war with Iran.
That fat orange barrel of scabies has been yapping on about it for over a decade on xhitter and CuntSocial. It was in the Epstein files that it would happen if backed into a corner.

Then there were posts on here, and other sites, around 5 or 6 days before it happened about troops eating better and being mobilised etc.
Hell, we aren't american yet even my wife knew about it a few days before when I suggested it would happen within a week.
Ok, yes, I didn't know the exact date but we knew it was going to happen very soon.

The truly shocking thing is what happened to little girls school.
And I don't mean it was shocking that they did it, no I expect this regime of ShitGoblins to do terrible things like targeting schools. I mean the devastation and deaths of innocent school kids is shocking.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

The answer doesn't even makes sense since japan was the usa enemy and now it is the usa allies. He was asked why he didn't tell the allies and not Iran

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Well they did declare war depending on who you believe.
And as a rule I don't believe anything the US says since they could never be trusted