It now seems certain according to the world's most prestigious intelligence agency that one Russian single-handedly hoodwinked the entire population of the United States of America by manipulating its presidential election in Donald Trump's favor.
Trump's determination to brush off this sad mockery of politics makes him just as responsible as Vladimir Putin, aka Polonium, aka the Impaler of Truth.
It's a sad state of democracy when the American people can apparently be so easily manipulated by a hostile foreign power, but even sadder that their "chosen" one should wish to cement this situation.
How far and deep the manipulation went is still unclear, and whether it was just Russia or also powerful Americans themselves who were complicit must all be brought to light or the point of democracy itself will be defeated. What is not unclear is that America was fooled and now has a fool in office.
The brazen defamation of Hillary Clinton by making her emails the center of the election has made America a laughingstock in Russia and the rest of the world.
Neutral observers would have thought that the whole shebang was just a cheap soap opera, but now it seems that there will soon be a Disney character leading the country in some dastardly direction. Whether he turns out to be the cartoon villain or just a dead duck, Trump's victory may spell the end for his nation to be taken seriously if it continues to remain unquestioned, and with his wayward hands and fingers on the nuclear trigger it will send many previously peaceful states scrambling to arm themselves like his nefarious NRA supporters.
So all the more pitiful that Japan's leader makes his country seem equally foolish by visiting one to give an expensive golf club and trying to give the other an expensive Akita dog, both tantamount to bribes offered on behalf and at the expense of Japanese taxpayers. While the latter declined, no doubt the lavish welcome he received on his visit to Japan not only cost hundreds of millions of yen but can only be deemed as an embarrassment and further affront to America and the very spirit of democracy.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.