Shinzo Abe's government may be many things to critics — hawkish, authoritarian, reform reverse — but killers? That's how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump described the prime minister's team in an August speech.
At the time, it was Caroline Kennedy's turn to get slapped around by the presidential wannabe. Among Trump's gripes with the respected U.S. ambassador to Japan was her being "wined and dined by Abe and all these killers. Wined and dined!"
Trump could perhaps claim he was referring to Abe's negotiating prowess, but it was lost in translation for many of Japan's startled 126 million citizens. Such bluster and ignorance heaped at a key ally demonstrates why Asia is so unnerved by the prospect of a President Trump and why he's unfit to lead.