The Auburn University student who disappeared in Japan has been found dead, his mother said on Facebook Saturday.
James “Weston” Higginbotham was found by a volunteer search-and-rescue group outside of Kyoto, Nancy Higginbotham <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nancy.higginbotham.50/posts/pfbid02ziddTrQ5h3QGquHD4cjJTtQ5sgcXUgNudkf9Gpdg2X6bGxMNBaJ3ZzoNJdFF1zGQl">wrote</a>. Additional details such as cause of death are not currently known.
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“The grief we feel is impossible to put into words,” Higginbotham said. “We are deeply grateful to the countless people across the United States, Japan, and around the world who shared Weston’s story, prayed for our family, offered encouragement, and helped in the search efforts. The outpouring of kindness and support has carried us through the darkest days of our lives.”
Weston, 20, vanished May 29 after deciding to explore on his own, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/search-intensifies-for-auburn-student-missing-in-japan">reported</a>. He and his mother had argued over the use of ChatGPT to help navigate the family’s vacation, and Weston often went exploring “to blow off steam,” Nancy said.
Local police said Weston left Kyoto Station alone before he was last seen on surveillance footage in Yamashina, on a path leading to a hiking trail in nearby woods, CNN <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/04/us/weston-missing-american-student-japan-hnk">reported</a>. Higginbotham said Weston was found in “a mountainous area.”
Search efforts had focused on wooded, mountainous terrain outside Kyoto, where Higginbotham was ultimately found by the rescue group, according to his mother. Authorities believed Weston may have entered after leaving the trail area.
Dozens of Japanese authorities, along with search dogs and helicopters, were searching for Weston amid waist-high mud after a typhoon struck the area.
The family had asked people to share Weston’s photo on social media to help people in Japan recognize him.
“We shared our story here and in the media in the hope of finding Weston,” Nancy said on Facebook. “We now ask for privacy as we begin to navigate this unimaginable loss. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. We will need them now more than ever.”

Credit: Nancy Higginbotham

Missing Auburn Student Weston Higginbotham Found Dead In Japan

auburn

College students

Japan

An Auburn University student has vanished in Japan on a family vacation without a trace.
James &#8220;Weston&#8221; Higginbotham, a 20-year-old from Birmingham, has been missing since May 29. Higginbotham never returned from a train station in the Kyoto area. His mother, Nancy, said in a Facebook post her son may be in &#8220;emotional distress,&#8221; calling the search &#8220;urgent.&#8221;
Weston decided to go explore on his own after an argument with his mother, saying he needed some space. Nancy told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/04/us/weston-missing-american-student-japan-hnk">CNN</a> she grew concerned when his phone location was turned off. She told the outlet that a disagreement arose between them over the use of ChatGPT to help navigate their trip.
&#8220;It’s not unusual for Weston to blow off steam going to the woods and just exploring. That’s his happy place,&#8221; Higginbotham told CNN. &#8220;I’m thinking … he’s just off in the woods, and he got lost.&#8221;
Reality quickly set in by 2 a.m. local time. Weston’s parents reported him missing, and Nancy and Keith are not leaving Japan until their son is found. Their determination to find their son is helping the search for him grow.
Local police said Weston left Kyoto Station alone at 6 p.m. Friday and was last seen on surveillance footage around 8 p.m. in Yamashina. Weston was on a path that led to a hiking trail in the nearby woods, per CNN.
Now dozens of Japanese authorities are assisting in the search in the Yamashina area as it approaches the one-week mark.
&#8220;As the missing young man is unfamiliar with the area, we consider it vital to locate him as soon as possible and are doing everything possible to ensure his safe recovery at the earliest opportunity,&#8221; a Kyoto prefectural police officer in charge of the case told CNN.
Crews on Thursday were forced to search through waist-high mud for Weston after a typhoon hit the area earlier in the week.
Weston’s mom said in a statement that search dogs and helicopters have also been deployed, adding that the area where she believes Weston is missing has plenty of water and some berries for food.
&#8220;There is still hope,&#8221; Nancy said.
The heartbroken mother is encouraging Americans to share Weston&#8217;s photo on social media. She said that is the best way to get his face out to people in Japan. The search will resume on Friday, with Japanese police planning to use additional surveillance footage to follow up on another lead. Nancy added that authorities are also deploying a smaller team to the forest.
&#8220;Our emotions are all over the place and every time we lose hope for a second, we receive an encouraging message from you,” Nancy said. “It keeps us going. We will find Weston.&#8221;

Search Intensifies For Auburn Student Missing In Japan

Desperate Search Continues For Auburn Student Missing In Japan As Week-Mark Lingers

Missing Person

News

The long-awaited sequel to 2006’s smash hit “The Devil Wears Prada” is getting some pushback, being accused of “blatant racism” for leaning into Asian stereotypes.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2,” starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, is getting blasted over a brief moment in a trailer. The scene introduces Andy Sachs&#8217; (Hathaway) new assistant, Jin Chao, played by Helen J. Shen, who some say is portrayed as a nerdy, socially awkward Ivy League grad.
In the trailer, Andy appears reserved upon meeting Jin, prompting the assistant to quickly rattle off her credentials.
“If you don’t want me, you can interview someone else. That’s totally fine,” Jin says. “I did go to Yale, 3.86 GPA, lead soprano of [Yale singing group] the Whiffenpoofs, and my ACT score was 36 on the very first time.”
Commenters also took issue with the way Jin donned a buttoned-up collared shirt and thick glasses, which they argue feel out of place for employees at a major fashion company.
Social media users from around the world, especially in Asian countries, expressed their frustration with the clip.
“The promotion up to this point was really great, but right before release, they suddenly hit us with blatant anti-Asian racism and flipped the car,” one user in Japan wrote in a post that’s been viewed more than 16 million times.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
プラダを着た悪魔、ここまでのプロモーションめっちゃ良かったのに、公開直前に突然ド直球のアジア人差別を見せつけてきて横転 <a href="https://t.co/uNUYIzXl7U">https://t.co/uNUYIzXl7U</a>
— 黄色人種ちゃん (@dekaketu_purin) <a href="https://twitter.com/dekaketu_purin/status/2046767047435247708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
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“We are in 2026… what made them think we’ll find this kind of racism funny,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/kaxishk/status/2046919948384243754?s=20">said</a>. 
“Short stature, messy hair, childish clothing, big glasses, a ton of qualifications and high education and grades, servile and incompetent, a name that sounds just like &#8216;Ching Chang Chong,'&#8221; a third person echoed. “In this day and age, deliberately clipping out such a thick, over-the-top level of Asian stereotype that&#8217;s actually rare nowadays for ad use—did they judge that going full-on with the blatant discrimination would be more commercially appealing??”
As The Hollywood Reporter <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/devil-wears-prada-2-racism-backlash-asia-1236574540/">noted</a>, a lot of the widespread criticism is the result of X posts being automatically translated, meaning comments from around the world are being circulated in the United States.
However, some, including Korean-American filmmaker Joseph Kahn, said the backlash reflects a cultural misunderstanding and claims that Jin is so weird she’s cool, at least to a Gen Z audience. 
“There&#8217;s an uproar with Japanese Twitter about this Asian character. They feel she&#8217;s a caricature, which she is, but not about Asians but Gen Z. Her outfit is actually very couture in a film about fashion,” he <a href="https://x.com/JosephKahn/status/2047085534103932968?s=20">wrote</a>.
“Her glasses and hair clips are of the moment. The body shape disparity comes from Anne Hathaway who mandated there would be &#8216;diversity of sizes&#8217; which could either be taken as genuine virtue signaling or an actress wanting to be the skinniest and tallest onscreen. Nevertheless, the Asian character is being depicted as a fashionable, striver in the fashion world with typical Gen Z neurodivergency.”
&#8220;Nerds don&#8217;t exist in Gen Z because they&#8217;re all awkward freaks and all dress like Nintendo cartoons,” he concluded. “Anyway Japan, welcome to America.”

Devil Wears Prada 2

Long-Awaited Hollywood Sequel Is Already Making Enemies

Entertainment

Hollywood

Movies

Racism

If you thought America’s love of Japan was only about Hibachi restaurants, Anime teens, and The Karate Kid reboots, you haven’t spent enough time on X. Last weekend, the admiration entered a new phase as the social media platform boosted an AI-enabled translation tool, making exchanging and sharing posts easier between Japanese and American users.
What resulted was a pleasant and outright wholesome font of positive vibes that seemed out of place in the notoriously cynical virtual world of hot takes, hate bots, and culture wars. The website Pirate Wires noticed and published an <a href="https://www.piratewires.com/p/japan-is-americas-greatest-ally-and">essay</a> doubling down on the niche community, heaping praise on the newfound old love between Japan and America. In it, the authors point to President Trump’s bromance with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, love of American BBQ, and shared technological and military goals, all of which are true and good, but that’s only part of the story.
While it appears the Japanese people are living their best lives cosplaying Americana at <a href="https://tasteofcountry.com/authentic-honky-tonk-bar-tokyo-japan/">Honky Tonk bars</a> and showing off their <a href="https://www.topspeed.com/japans-love-affair-with-american-muscle-cars/">classic cruisers</a>, the Pirate Wires take is a little deceiving. What’s missing is the 1980s working-class anxiety and animosity toward our now Eastern besties — a sentiment not felt since the Greatest Generation came back from raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi and refused to buy Toyotas.
Japan’s rapid post-WWII industrialization and investment in technology paid off economically and sparked a transpacific rivalry, trade war, and manufacturing insecurity on par with a Rocky-versus-Drago fight of the century, if not a little less…violent. The Cold War rightly absorbs much of the attention when recalling the era, but as the Soviet Union was showing signs of losing its grip, Japan was becoming a real threat to the United States’ industrial domination — and the repercussions were being felt in homes, boardrooms, and factories across the country. Toyota and Honda exploded onto the automotive scene, helping usher in Detroit’s demise. Japanese technology, such as portable radios, video games, and televisions, was grabbing more market share from American companies like RCA. Even America’s trophy landmarks were being taken over. In 1989, Mitsubishi Estate took control of Rockefeller Center, a capstone acquisition following the Japanese corporation&#8217;s acquisitions of Firestone Tire &amp; Rubber and Columbia Pictures.
This tension was reflected in pop culture entertainment — think Ron Howard’s 1986 film Gung Ho, where Michael Keaton plays a foreman at an American auto manufacturing plant taken over by a Japanese corporation. The film is a comedy, but it mirrors the zeitgeist of the time. There was also Rising Sun, Kinjite, and imagined futures that look strikingly Japanese, such as Blade Runner and Robocop 3; Die Hard takes place in Nakatomi Plaza. Tom Clancy even explores this theme in his novel &#8220;Debt of Honor,&#8221; in which the protagonist, Jack Ryan, fights a &#8220;secret cabal of Japanese industrialists.&#8221;
But enough with nuance. The biggest takeaway from the situation is the display of understated power and the magnitude of influence and reach American culture has had from the mid-20th century forward. And even though there have been some notable outside foreign influences permeating these liberty-laden shores, it’s far from an even exchange.
We gave the world jazz and rock and roll, fast food and blue jeans, baseball and John Wayne Westerns. Sure, we got the British Invasion and Crocodile Dundee, but what would France do without Jerry Lewis and Germany without David Hasselhoff? I’m only half-kidding. American cultural influence was instrumental in winning the Cold War — there was even an underground pipeline of Chuck Norris <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2442080/">films</a> to undermine the communists — and who could deny Roger Goodell’s not-so-secret <a href="https://media.nfl.com/news-and-releases/international/nfl-s-global-markets-program-expands-in-2026-with-addition-of-it">plan</a> for the NFL to take over the world?
So while our “special” relationship with Japan is great, it’s not exactly novel. America’s cultural influence is a force for good in the world, and it’s a shame the mainstream media has ignored it in favor of authoritarian worship, evidenced by the rise of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/25/asia/chinamaxxing-americans-soft-power-intl-hnk-dst">stories</a> about “Chinamaxxing.”
Good for Pirate Wires to report a feel-good story that most of the media ignored, even if it wasn&#8217;t a complete picture. It’s important to remember that for all the reports of America’s demise, we’re still going strong — and in unexpected corners of the world and in unexpected ways. Far from the evil empire that snobby Europeans or elitist media personalities would have you believe, we just want to spread some good old-fashioned American fun. Because in the long run, that makes better friends than enemies.

Patriotic cowboy boots

Hate Us Or Love Us, Everyone Still Wants To Be American

America

American History

Social Media

World

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mks-ep-1936-sub?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
President Trump just gave the finest one liner in the history of press conferences. 
So here is President Trump, sitting in the Oval Office yesterday with the Japanese prime minister, who seems to adore him. When she arrives at the White House, for example, she runs up and gives him a big hug. He proceeds to show her the Hall of Presidents, on the White House little walkway there by the Rose Garden, and she sees Joe Biden&#8217;s picture is just an auto pen and seems to get a huge kick out of it.
Trump also got along famously with Shinzo Abe. So, there&#8217;s something about Trump and Japan — they get along great. It&#8217;s like white on rice, to use an apt metaphor.
In any case, while they&#8217;re sitting in the Oval Office, a reporter asks President Trump why he did not tell everyone about the attack on Iran before he launched it.
“Japan and U.S. are very good friends. But one question — why didn&#8217;t you tell U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before taking action? We are very confused.”
Trump responded, “Well, one thing — you don’t want to signal too much. 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? Okay? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Right? He’s asking me, do you believe in surprise? I think much more so than us.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump: &#8220;Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn&#8217;t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/O5t0EWoOkw">pic.twitter.com/O5t0EWoOkw</a>
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2034664767256658127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Just magnificent. I don’t know how to frame a clip, but that’s it. No one will ever beat it.
Jeremy Boreing took me out for dinner last night for my birthday, and we were talking about how Trump is Elvis. Trump is Elvis. Now, Jeremy has criticized Trump many times over the years, but he believes the guy is just amazing at this. He’s Elvis.
So, Trump is sitting there, and he gets the question: Why didn’t you tell people about the attack?
And he starts to give a serious answer by saying: Well, you know, I didn’t want to signal…
And then that showbiz brain kicks in: Hey — who knows more about surprises than you guys?
At that point he could have gotten up, grabbed a stool, lit a cigarette, spotlight on him like he’s in a comedy club in New York: Let me tell you about these guys… we got some of our Japanese friends here, am I right? You guys know a little bit about surprises? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?
Just a great bit.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mks-ep-1936-sub?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-1054531 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
I’m going to miss him very, very much after his fourth or fifth term — whatever. I know, at a certain point, after he’s 120 years old, life will take its course. But I’m just sorry we’re already in the second term. We’ve only got, what, two or three terms left?
It’s beautiful.
And it’s not just funny — it’s a serious point. The serious point he’s making is that you don’t telegraph your moves when you’re engaging in war, even when you’re engaging in ordinary politics. And he conveys that serious point with humor, and people take note.
Antonin Scalia used to do this in his Supreme Court opinions and dissents. He would use funny lines like “applesauce,” and “did you ask the nearest hippie?” These are real lines Scalia used. Why did he do it? Because it&#8217;s funny and it grabs your attention. It’s memorable. It sticks in the minds of law students and it&#8217;s going to shape American jurisprudence.
Same thing here.
Very, very funny — and very, very smart.

US-JAPAN-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-TAKAICHI-TRUMP

President Trump Drops The Greatest One Liner In Press Conference History

Donald Trump

Iran

Middle East

Opinion

Pearl Harbor

White House

America&#8217;s allies are finally ready to step up to the plate after years of dithering on the Iranian threat.
Those allies are ready with all their combined strength: Germany, France, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Japan. They are firing on all cylinders with urgency, resolve, and action.
Yes, that&#8217;s right. Our allies, who have been reliant on our largesse and mutual defense for decades, finally announced that they are going to help us, their patron state, the United States — with a very strongly-worded letter.
Our allies are doing what they do best. They are saying things.
At some point, the questions have to be asked: Who are our true allies? Who is actually stepping up to the plate? Who is merely judging from the sidelines?
In lieu of any real world support, our valiant allies have now issued a strongly worded letter.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2392-sub?elementPosition=1&amp;row=6&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Here&#8217;s what the letter says:
<blockquote>We condemn in the strongest terms, recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces. We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict.
We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines and drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the strait to commercial shipping and to comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 28-17. We call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations. We call on all states to respect international law and uphold the fundamental principles of international prosperity and security.</blockquote>
Whoa, dude. Harsh stuff.
Iran must be quaking in its boots. Our allies are saying things.
The Europeans, Japan? They&#8217;re expressing “deep concern.” Not “regular” concern. “Deep” concern. They are calling on Iran to do things and to stop being so mean.
But wait, isn&#8217;t there some sort of commitment to action in the letter?
The statement does say this: “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure a safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.”
That sounds good, right? But what does “appropriate efforts” mean? Who decides what is “appropriate?”
According to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/19/strait-hormuz-coalition-allies-statement-uk">Axios</a>, “On Thursday morning, NATO head Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and convinced him to lift his opposition to the political statement of support, while leaving the discussion on the practical steps for later.”
Now, to be fair to Rutte, there&#8217;s not much he can do. He&#8217;s the head of NATO, but he can&#8217;t simply deploy force. He certainly recognizes the Iranian threat, and he would like to avoid alienating the United States.
He said, “We all agree, as we always did, that it was crucial for Iran not to get its hands on a nuclear capability, a ballistic missile capability. And what the U.S. is doing at the moment is degrading that capability of Iran. And I think that&#8217;s very important. This is important for European security, for the Middle East. It is vital for Israel itself.”
 The Japanese are also paying lip service here; the Japanese prime minister told President Trump, “I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world,” adding they would “reach out to many of the partners in the international community, to achieve our objective together.”
So what are our allies actually committing to?
Nothing. This sort of stupidity is nothing new for our allies, who are quite fond of empty verbiage as a substitute for credible threat of force.
Go all the way back to 1919, when the covenant of the League of Nations was integrated into the Treaty of Versailles. That attempt to form a family of nations — while it was not a success — led to 1928, when 15 countries came together to sign what was called the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
It outlawed war.
Did you know that? That war was outlawed in 1928? The signatories included France, the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Italy, and Japan. 47 more nations joined in as well.
And then, three years later, in 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria and nobody did anything. And by 1941, every single nation that had signed the treaty, with the exception of Ireland — which basically stayed out of the war and sided with Germany — was enmeshed in World War II.
Empty verbiage.
The same thing holds true today. For decades, our allies have pretended to oppose the Iranian terror regime while doing virtually nothing to hold them accountable. They&#8217;ve imposed some rather minor sanctions targeting specific officials, unless the United States has pushed them into broader sanctions.
We&#8217;ve had to do all the hard work, as per our usual arrangement.
So here&#8217;s the deal. If we&#8217;re going to do all the work and undertake all the sacrifice and spend the blood and treasure, then we ought to reap the benefit. 
There&#8217;s been a lot of talk about what the United States ought to do next with regard to Iran. The most obvious move, and one I&#8217;ve been advocating, is for the United States to seize Kharg Island. President Trump has been suggesting for a while that this may happen.
Nearly 90% of all Iranian oil passes through Kharg Island. The Iranians have already, in large part, shut the Strait of Hormuz. They&#8217;ve already upped the ante in terms of attacks on surrounding gas and oil facilities. So the United States doesn&#8217;t have tremendous downside here.
What&#8217;s Iran going to do, attack more oil facilities? We ought to seize control of the oil, and then we ought to let American companies keep pumping it, and then we ought to send it to its final destination, China. China would then know that we are in charge of the spigot; Iran&#8217;s terrorist government would be deprived of their monetary flow.
What about the Europeans?
If the price of oil rises, they can buy it from us, not the Iranians.
If they&#8217;re not going to join us as allies, they can pay our companies for the oil.

NATO Leaders Attend 2025 Summit In The Hague

Fake Allies And Backstabbers

Ben Shapiro

European Union

NATO

Strait of Hormuz

While taking questions from reporters on Thursday, President Donald Trump blindsided Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with made a joke referencing the 1941 surprise attack initiated by the Empire of Japan on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The question, from one of the reporters in the Oval Office, was about the current joint operation in Iran undertaken by the United States and Israel — specifically, why President Trump had not spoken with allies in Europe or Japan prior to initiating an attack against the Iranian regime.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Q: &#8220;Why didn&#8217;t you tell U.S. allies…about the war before attacking Iran?&#8221;
President Trump: &#8220;We wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn&#8217;t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/esV9iyvMiV">pic.twitter.com/esV9iyvMiV</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2034667305318187239?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Japan and U.S. are very good friends,&#8221; the reporter began. &#8220;But one question: why didn&#8217;t you tell U.S. Allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before attacking Iran? So we are very confused about — we, Japanese citizens —&#8221;
&#8220;Well, one thing, you don&#8217;t want to signal too much,&#8221; Trump replied, arguing that it was unwise to give away too much of the planning before taking military action. &#8220;You know, when we go in, we went in very hard, and we didn&#8217;t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn&#8217;t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay? Right?&#8221;
Prime Minister Takaichi appeared to be slightly uncomfortable as several around the room began to laugh.
&#8220;He&#8217;s asking me — no, you believe in surprise I think much more so than us,&#8221; Trump continued, pivoting back to Iran. &#8220;But we had to surprise them and we did. And because of that surprise, we knocked out — the first two days, we probably knocked out 50% of what we — and much more than we anticipated.&#8221;
&#8220;So if I go and tell everybody about it, it&#8217;s no longer a surprise, right?&#8221; the president concluded.

President Trump Hosts Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi At White House

Trump Defends Keeping Allies In The Dark With Unexpected Pearl Harbor Quip

Media

Military

Politics

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda was smiling for photos and giving two thumbs up as he donned a red “Make America Great Again” hat and a Trump-Vance shirt during an American-themed NASCAR event in Japan over the weekend.
“I’m not here to argue whether tariffs are good or bad. Every national leader wants to protect their own industry,” Toyoda <a href="https://www.autonews.com/toyota/an-toyota-akio-toyoda-maga-nascar-trump-japan-tariff-1116/">said</a> ahead of the exhibition. “We are exploring ways to make tariffs a winner for everyone. The people we want most to be winners are our customers.”
Japan now has a roughly 15% baseline tariff on auto imports, down from 27.5% following September trade negotiations.
The America-themed celebration at Fuji Speedway featured top NASCAR drivers, fans waving American flags, and an appearance from U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass. The ambassador posted photos of himself at the event alongside the caption, “Start your engines! &#8230; Looking forward to celebrating the culture of motorsports again next year, as part of our [America250] festivities in Japan.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda showed up to a NASCAR event on Sunday repping MAGA gear.
BASED 🔥🔥🔥🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/NnkbuJaNfk">pic.twitter.com/NnkbuJaNfk</a>
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1990855538045792277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The event came days before the carmaker announced on Tuesday a $912 million investment in its U.S. manufacturing operations, aimed at expanding hybrid production in Southern states.
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Per Motor Intelligence <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/18/toyota-hybrid-plants.html">data</a>, Toyota currently has more than 51% market share of hybrid vehicles through the third quarter of this year.
“Customers are embracing Toyota’s hybrid vehicles, and our U.S. manufacturing teams are gearing up to meet that growing demand,” Kevin Voelkel, Toyota Motor North America senior vice president of manufacturing operations, <a href="https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-boosts-hybrid-production-with-912-million-investment-creating-252-new-u-s-manufacturing-jobs/">said</a>. “Toyota’s philosophy is to build where we sell, and by adding more American jobs and investing across our U.S. footprint, we continue to stay true to that philosophy.”
Toyota announced last week it will invest as much as $10 billion into the United States over the next five years, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-11-14/toyota-confirms-up-to-10-billion-investment-in-u-s">confirming</a> what President Donald Trump had said in October after meeting with the company’s CEO.

Akio Toyoda

Toyota CEO Goes Full MAGA At NASCAR Event Then Drops $912M On U.S. Jobs

Toyota CEO Rocks MAGA Hat At NASCAR Event, Then Announces Nearly $1B Boost To U.S. Manufacturing

Business

Cars

Economy

MAGA

Tariffs

TOKYO — Long associated with American ruggedness, pickup trucks such as Ford&#8217;s top-selling F-150 have now become a symbol of international trade talks, showing how far countries such as Japan will go to win over U.S. President Donald Trump.
When Trump met Japan&#8217;s new prime minister and first female premier, Sanae Takaichi, in Tokyo on Tuesday, an F-150 was parked prominently outside the Akasaka Palace venue.
Burly U.S. pickup trucks are a rare sight in the Japanese capital, where the streets are narrow and turns can be tight.
But the placement of the F-150, which is not typically available for sale in Japan, sent a clear message about Tokyo&#8217;s willingness to buy more cars from its ally, an issue that has been a sticking point for Trump for decades.
Last week, Reuters reported that Takaichi&#8217;s government was working on a package to buy F-150 trucks, an idea originally floated by Trump, as well as soybeans and gas.
&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s great. She has good taste,&#8221; Trump told reporters on Air Force One, when asked about the report. &#8220;That’s a hot truck.&#8221;
In August, Trump said Japan was ready to purchase the &#8220;very beautiful&#8221; F-150.
It was not clear how many F-150s Japan planned to buy.
Japanese government sources have told Reuters the trucks would probably end up being used as snow plows, given their size.
Japan and Europe, Trump has often argued, refuse to accept U.S. cars even as Japanese and European automakers sell millions of their vehicles each year in the United States.
The F-150 won&#8217;t be the first American car brought in to Japan to help ease trade friction. Three decades ago, Toyota responded to U.S. pressure by selling a mid-sized General Motors car under its own brand in Japan.
The Toyota Cavalier was introduced with much fanfare, sold poorly, and quietly faded after a few years, said John Shook, a former Toyota manager and an auto industry veteran in both Japan and the United States.
A third of the 3.7 million new cars sold in Japan last year were mini or &#8220;kei&#8221; cars, tiny vehicles that are not produced by American automakers.
Foreign cars accounted for 6% of new car sales overall, with European brands among some of the top sellers, industry data showed, while Ford itself pulled out of Japan almost a decade ago.
Separately, Trump said Toyota would open auto plants in the United States to the tune of $10 billion.
A Toyota spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on Trump&#8217;s remarks.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and David Dolan; Additional reporting by Maki Shiraki; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ros Russell)

A Ford F-150 and a Toyota pickup truck are parked outside of Akasaka Palace, in Tokyo

Trump’s ‘Hot Truck’ Becomes Symbol Of Japan Trade Talks

Ford Motor Co.

trade

Newly elected conservative Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the first woman to hold that position, vowed to increase her country&#8217;s defense and security commitments during a meeting with President Donald Trump on the USS George Washington in Japan on Tuesday.
Takaichi joined Trump on the massive U.S. aircraft carrier in front of around 6,000 U.S. service members as Trump continued his week-long Asia tour, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/trump-hails-golden-era-in-japan-relations-63888687?mod=hp_lead_pos5">reported</a>.
&#8220;As the two commanders-in-chief of Japan and the United States stand together once again, I have renewed my determination &#8230; to make the Indo-Pacific free and open so that it will serve as the foundation of peace and prosperity for the entire region,&#8221; Takaichi <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1983075074174238770">told</a> the crowd of U.S. military members. &#8220;Now, we are facing an unprecedented severe security environment. Peace cannot be preserved by words alone. It can be protected only when there is unwavering determination and action.&#8221;
Trump praised Takaichi, whom he called &#8220;a winner,&#8221; and said, “The cherished alliance between the United States and Japan is one of the most remarkable relationships in the entire world.&#8221;
&#8220;Born out of the ashes of a terrible war, our bond has grown over eight decades into the beautiful friendship that we have,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;It&#8217;s the foundation of peace and security in the Pacific.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
&#8220;This woman is a winner!&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> welcomes Japanese Prime Minister <a href="https://twitter.com/takaichi_sanae?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@takaichi_sanae</a> on stage aboard the USS George Washington. <a href="https://t.co/rzOsyQNPd8">pic.twitter.com/rzOsyQNPd8</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1983073765803131230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump also <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-says-missiles-japans-f-35s-arrive-this-week-during-visit-uss-george-washington">said</a> on Tuesday that he had just approved a &#8220;batch of missiles&#8221; for Japan&#8217;s F-35 fighter jets, which are set to arrive later this week. The president has been pushing U.S. allies worldwide to boost their defense spending as he seeks more favorable trade deals and security arrangements for the United States.
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Last week, during Takaichi&#8217;s inaugural address as prime minister, she vowed to ramp up Japan&#8217;s defense spending more quickly. Instead of increasing defense spending to 2% of the country&#8217;s gross domestic product by 2027, Takaichi said she wants to jump to 2% by the end of the upcoming fiscal year in March, The Wall Street Journal reported. Japan currently spends 1.4% of its GDP on defense.
Japan&#8217;s new leader made the security spending promises as the United States and its allies face the continued Chinese threat in the region. Trump is set to meet with Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping on Thursday in South Korea, where he hopes to nail down a trade deal.
The Trump administration is also seeking to secure rare earth mineral supply chains to counter China&#8217;s stranglehold on critical minerals. Trump and Takaichi <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-trump-trade-wins-u-s-and-japan-strike-rare-earth-pact-announce-strategic-investment-deal?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=More+Trump+Trade+Wins%3A+U.S.+And+Japan+Strike+Rare+Earth+Pact%2C+Announce+Strategic+Investment+Deal">announced</a> on Tuesday that they had reached a rare earth deal, which establishes a mutual stockpiling arrangement and stipulates that the United States and Japan will cooperate with international partners to protect the supply chain.
Japan and the United States also released a list of proposed projects to boost Japanese investment in the U.S. economy by more than $500 billion. The proposed investments included projects in the energy and artificial intelligence sectors.

U.S. President Trump Visits USS George Washington In Japan

New Japanese Prime Minister Vows Stronger Defense As Trump Hails ‘Cherished Alliance’

Global Politics

Speaking aboard the USS George Washington at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, President Donald J. Trump delivered a thunderous message on combating crime in American cities.
“We have cities that are troubled,” Trump declared, his tone equal parts steel and resolve. “And we’re sending in our National Guard — and if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard, because we’re gonna have safe cities. We’re not gonna have people killed in our cities. Whether people like that or not, that’s what we’re doing.”
In September, Chicago suffered one of the bloodiest Labor Day weekends in its recent history — nearly 60 shot, at least nine killed — under Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson’s watch. For the thirteenth straight year, Chicago topped the nation in homicides, with 572 murders in 2024 alone. Yet, instead of seeking help, Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker continued to defy federal offers of assistance. “Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis,” Pritzker had claimed, while insisting that “big cities have crime.”
But the Trump administration wasn’t buying it. “Despite pleas from residents, city council members, and even MSNBC hosts,” the White House stated, “Governor Pritzker is too blinded by Trump Derangement Syndrome to act in the best interest of his constituents.” Trump put it bluntly: “We’re going in. I didn’t say when we’re going in. This isn’t political — I have an obligation.”
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By early October, that obligation took form. The War Department, under Secretary Pete Hegseth, authorized 300 Illinois National Guard troops to protect federal agents and facilities under siege in Chicago. Pritzker immediately dubbed the move “Trump’s Invasion,” railing that “federalized members of the Illinois National Guard” were being deployed “against our wishes.” The administration responded that the troops would defend ICE agents and federal buildings under violent threat — a duty clearly allowed under 10 U.S.C. §12406, which authorizes the president to act when federal law cannot be executed by regular forces.
“Everybody knows Chicago is a hellhole right now,” Trump said. “We’re going to straighten it out.” Operation Midway Blitz followed — a sweep that netted hundreds of illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds, including gang members and murderers. Meanwhile, the Texas National Guard began preparing to bolster the Illinois deployment.
Trump didn’t stop there. As riots erupted in Portland, Oregon, he authorized the deployment of 200 California and Oregon National Guard members, describing cities like Portland and Chicago as “burning.” When a federal judge blocked the order, Trump fired back, calling the decision “shameful.”
“I believe the politicians are under threat,” Trump said. “There’s no way someone can say things are wonderful in Chicago. We’re going to straighten it out. And I think Pritzker — he’s afraid for his life.”
Trump’s message from Japan was unmistakable: under his leadership, law and order will no longer be optional. “We’re gonna have safe cities,” he vowed. “Whether people like that or not.”
&nbsp;

Trump: ‘We’ll Send More Than The National Guard’ To Keep Cities Safe

American Cities

Crime

Executive

National Guard

U.S.

U.S. troops

The consequences of the government shutdown rear their ugly heads, a congressional hearing to examine the origins of political violence, and Trump continues his Asia tour as the Left melts down over his East Wing renovations.
It’s Tuesday, October 28, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251028">the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Government Shutdown Repercussions</h2>
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Topline: The government shutdown is dragging on, and pressure is mounting on Democrats to end it.
About 13,000 air traffic controllers are set to miss their first paycheck on Tuesday, which is bound to make a bad situation significantly worse. Some reports say air traffic controllers are taking second jobs as DoorDash drivers to supplement their income.
Roughly 18,700 flights were delayed on Sunday. On Monday, more than 3,000 flights were delayed, and more than 100 were canceled. Airports have become a flash point of the shutdown. Air traffic controllers and TSA agents were some of the first employees to see their pay disrupted, and Americans are generally united in hating flight delays.
Uh-oh, Democrats: A couple of major airline pilot unions last week called for an end to the shutdown, and that turned out to be only a precursor of what was to come. Now, the largest union representing 800,000 federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees, has issued a statement calling for the Senate to pass a continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
Union President Everett Kelley said it&#8217;s time for leaders to focus on solving problems for the American people rather than on who is going to get the blame for the shutdown. He is calling for back pay for every single employee who has been forced to stay home.
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AFGE is a Democratic stalwart. It pushed to stop the Trump administration from making federal workers return to the office, it endorsed Joe Biden for president, and just last week, it blamed Trump and congressional Republicans for keeping the government closed. But while this statement doesn’t lay the blame on one party in particular, the union calls for a clean CR, which Republicans have put forward over a dozen times and Democrats keep rejecting.
Oh SNAP: In addition to flight delays and organized labor turning against them, Democrats also have to contend with the fact that food stamps benefits will lapse starting on Friday.
The expiration of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will impact 40 million people. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said on Monday that not only is this affecting airports, but that some states, such as his own, will now have to be forced to cut off SNAP benefits—an example of SNAP becoming one of the big talking points this week.
Food stamps are not an explicitly partisan issue, and lawmakers from both parties will have to explain this disruption in benefits to their constituents. Democrats are working to shift the blame to Republicans. The California Department of Social Services is texting residents, blaming the imminent SNAP disruption on Trump and the GOP.
Republicans dismissed the attack, as California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is using taxpayer money to spread political propaganda. But each new disruption is likely going to hit Democrats harder than Republicans, increasing the likelihood that some members of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s caucus break ranks in the coming days.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Hearing On Politically Violent Attacks</h2>
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Topline: The assassination of Charlie Kirk has prompted a congressional hearing for Tuesday, organized by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), on &#8220;Politically Violent Attacks.” The hearing seeks to examine the origins of political violence and extremism, which have come mainly from the Left in recent years. 
Morning Wire spoke with Sen. Schmitt and Michael Knowles, host of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show">The Michael Knowles Show</a>” on The Daily Wire, about the nature of political violence in the United States today. (The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)
Morning Wire: Senator, you’ve organized this hearing, and this issue is obviously a high priority. What are the goals of the proceedings today?
Schmitt: The assassination of Charlie Kirk brought left-wing political violence really front and center, and I think it needs to be exposed. This isn’t a one-off thing. This is sort of an ideology that’s taken hold now. When you have 25% of those who describe themselves as “very liberal” believe political violence is justified, over 55% of those on the left believe it&#8217;s at least somewhat justifiable to assassinate President Trump, there’s a problem. And I think if we’re ever going to get on the other side of this and get to healing – where we can say, free speech, yes, political violence, no – we have to expose the truth, which is that this is overwhelmingly coming from one side.
Morning Wire: Senator thanks for joining us. Among those testifying at the hearing today is Daily Wire host Michael Knowles. Michael, good to have you back on. You obviously were invited to this hearing for specific reasons – tell us about that, and what you plan to address.
Knowles: I was invited largely because I was the target of leftist violence on a few occasions, but of organized leftist violence, specifically two years ago. This was at the University of Pittsburgh. I was doing a debate on the topic of transgenderism, and there was a large demonstration. They burnt me in effigy, lit the street on fire, and then two Antifa operatives showed up and threw smoke bombs at the attendees and the police. And then threw a large explosive firework at the police and seriously injured one female police officer, gave her life-altering injuries that took her out of work for at least a year – and also injured other police officers as well. … Happily, there was one intrepid FBI agent in the crowd, and he had noticed the uptick in left-wing violence at these conservative speaker events. … It was only because he really pushed this up through the DOJ that any charges were brought at all. … So these are two people who are members of an anarchist cell, part of the Torch Antifa Network. The guy had set off TSA scanners with explosive material multiple times. It’s an illustrative example of violence because if you look up left-wing ideologically motivated violence in any of the databases that concern it or at the federal government level, you won&#8217;t find it. It won&#8217;t turn up. That just doesn&#8217;t exist, and this is true for a lot of examples of left-wing violence, perhaps most notably the BLM riots, which are just simply not classified as left-wing violence. … So we’re going to call attention to that fact, as well as to the fact that now even the honest liberals can not hold up the lie that the violence is coming from the right.
Morning Wire: What do you think the federal government’s role should be in addressing politically motivated violence — is there a line which they should not cross?
Knowles: I don’t think we’re at fear of over-policing left-wing terrorists, okay? I think we’re barely policing them at all. And so then the question becomes, well, what tools are at the federal government&#8217;s disposal? And there are plenty. You know, President Trump has said that he will classify Antifa as a domestic terror organization. Now, the government is more limited in its resources to go after domestic terrorists as opposed to foreign terrorists. However, we&#8217;ve done it before. The federal government has successfully dismantled the Ku Klux Klan, has successfully dismantled organized crime using all sorts of statutes; going after them for RICO, for conspiracy, for all manner of things all the way up to tax evasion, I suppose. President Trump putting this renewed focus on it is very important because the Left has dismissed this as a concern by lying and saying that the political violence is a right-wing phenomenon, and it has allowed this problem to fester so much so that we saw its tragic apotheosis in the murder of Charlie Kirk – and we cannot allow that to continue anymore.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Hunts For A Deal</h2>
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Topline: President Trump continues his swing through Asia as Democrat and media backlash builds following his White House renovation.
Japan: After signing a big peace deal Sunday between Thailand and Cambodia and rolling out new trade deals elsewhere, Trump headed to Japan, where he received royal treatment. Famous landmarks across Tokyo were lit up with red, white, and blue displays.
The Trump administration and Japan reached a deal on rare earth minerals on Tuesday and unveiled a list of projects included in a $550 billion investment proposal stemming from a July trade agreement.
The rare earth deal, which President Donald Trump signed alongside Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, establishes a mutual stockpiling arrangement and stipulates that the United States and Japan will cooperate with international partners to protect the supply chain, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-takaichi-agree-rare-earth-critical-minerals-supply-2025-10-28/">reported</a>. Trump has been pushing to better secure the rare-earth supply chain and cut into China&#8217;s stranglehold over rare-earth minerals.
Along with the rare-earth deal, the United States and Japan released a list of proposed projects to boost Japanese investment in the U.S. economy. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1983119054983287061">said</a> at a press conference alongside Trump on Tuesday that the proposals &#8220;are driven by the Japanese strategic investment initiative, which was created by [Trump&#8217;s] tariff policy and by [Trump&#8217;s] historic trade agreement with Japan.&#8221;
The White House credited the threat of tariffs with pushing our trading partners to make deals favorable to the United States. Deals were announced with Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam on Sunday, and now Japan has been added to the list on Monday. But the world is still waiting to see what will come of this meeting with China on Thursday. 
China: Officials from both sides have continued to meet to hammer out the framework of a deal. The White House says it&#8217;s confident both sides will agree to dramatically lower tariffs and possibly strike a permanent solution to the battle over TikTok ownership.
Trump put it more bluntly: “I think we&#8217;re going to come away with a deal.”
While Trump’s optimism has not always preceded deals, investors seem to think this is good news. Gold, cryptocurrency, and oil prices all spiked on Monday as global markets rallied to all-time highs across Asia.
On Wall Street, the DOW, NASDAQ, and S&amp;P 500 all hit record highs on Monday. Leading the way were tech companies like Nvidia, which have been hobbled this year by massive tariffs on semiconductors. Stateside, shares of domestic mining companies fell, a sign that investors believe China is about to reopen the flow of rare earth minerals as part of a looming deal.
White House remodel: The East Wing of the White House has now been demolished to make way for a 90,000 square foot ballroom. The administration says it’s a matter of practicality and safety, noting that in the past, if a president wanted to hold a large event honoring foreign dignitaries, they were often forced to erect makeshift tents on the White House lawn.
Former presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, FDR, Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama added items to the White House, made renovations, or removed items. Though that has not stopped criticism from being leveled at Trump over his plans for a ballroom.
There are already some on the Left attempting to mount a legal challenge to block the project. A Virginia couple filed a motion in a D.C. federal court last week seeking a temporary restraining order against the demolition, arguing it violates the National Historic Preservation Act. The administration says it’s well within its authority to make renovations, the same way so many presidents have done before.

MRN_251028_V1

Morning Brief: Shutdown Fallout Mounts & Congress Probes Political Violence

Morning Brief: Shutdown Consequences Coming, Leftist Political Violence, And Trump's China Deal

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