Dear allies of America, please don’t confuse our president with us ... Robert Reich

Robert Reich

3–4 minutes

Donald Trump is alone.

That’s different from the United States being alone.

We – that is, the vast majority of Americans who were against Trump’s war from the start, and who support Nato and the United Nations charter and the post-second world war system of alliances and rules – are not alone.

Most of the people of the United States stand with most democracies of the world.

When Trump’s call to America’s traditional allies for assistance clearing the strait of Hormuz was rebuffed by those allies, those allies didn’t rebuff the United States. They rebuffed the person in the Oval Office who didn’t even consult them before launching this war.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said his country “will never take part in operations to open or liberate the strait of Hormuz in the current context”. (Trump responded, “He’ll be out of office very soon.”) Canada’s foreign minister, Anita Anand, said that Canada “was not consulted prior to the offensive operation” and “has no intention of participating in” it. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said the UK would not be “drawn into the wider war”.

And so on.

So, like an angry five-year-old whose friends refuse to come to his party because he shouts at them and never shares his toys, Trump exploded: “[W]e no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance – WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea.” He added: “In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”

May I be so bold as to address myself to America’s allies and friends?

In point of fact, we the people of the United States do need your help.

We need your help fighting the global climate crisis.

We need your help heading off pandemics.

We need your help countering global criminal gangs that are trafficking people and dangerous drugs and weapons.

We need your help fighting global poverty, hunger and disease.

We need your help safeguarding freedom and democracy from authoritarian regimes intent on extinguishing freedom and democracy around the world.

It’s important that you, the citizens of other democracies, know that the vast majority of us – the people of the United States – are embarrassed and offended by the oaf who now occupies the highest office in the United States.

He does not speak for us. He is not making decisions based on our welfare, let alone the wellbeing of the rest of you. Please don’t confuse him with us.

We are trying our best to resist him, contain him, protest against him and remove him from office as quickly as we possibly can.

Thank you for your patience.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.

We only confuse Trump with 50% of the population who elected him.

20-30 years ago, America would never have Democratically elected a Trump.

The corruption of both parties on the left and right, has made them turn to an outsider- a populist.

A grifter that has capitalised on the situation of total discontent with the uni-party established order that became stock market traders- and sold out Democracy to the highest bidder (including Israel)

The president brought up the 1941 attack as he fielded questions about Iran with Sanae Takaichi, saying: ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan?’

updated

Susie Coen, New York |

David Charter

, Washington

Thursday March 19 2026, 7.45pm GMT, The Times

President Trump cracked a joke about Pearl Harbor to Japan’s prime minister, evoking the attack in 1941 to argue that the country understands the importance of “surprise” military operations.

During an Oval Office meeting with Sanae Takaichi on Thursday, Trump was asked why he did not warn allies such as Japan before launching strikes on Iran.

“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” Trump said, adding: “Who knows better about surprise than Japan?”

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Takaichi’s eyes widened briefly and she visibly stiffened as he went on, to a mixture of laughter and an audible groan in the Oval Office: “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right?”

He added: “You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us. And we had a surprise, and we did, and because of that surprise, we knocked out the first two days, we probably knocked out 50 per cent of what we — and much more than we anticipated doing. So if I go and tell everybody about it, there’s no longer a surprise, right?”

• Iran war — follow the latest developments

The Japanese attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, killed 2,390 Americans and the US declared war on Japan the next day. President Franklin D Roosevelt called it “a date which will live in infamy”.

Takaichi refrained from commenting on Trump’s reminder, taking a different approach to Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany, when Trump told him last year that D-Day was “not a pleasant day for you”. Merz replied: “In the long run, Mr President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.”

Friedrich Merz with Trump at the start of this month

WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES

Trump maintained during his press conference with Takaichi that he was not sending more troops when asked if he was sending reinforcements to the region, despite reports that 2,500 Marines are on their way and US military planners are considering more.

“No, I’m not putting troops anywhere,” Trump said. He immediately qualified this by adding: “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you. But I’m not putting troops.”

In another mixed signal, he denied a suggestion that his request for $200 billion extra from Congress for the military was linked to the need to supply an extended campaign in Iran. Trump has frequently said that the military action is almost complete.

“We’re asking for a lot of reasons beyond even what we’re talking about in Iran. This is a very volatile world,” Trump said. “You could end this thing in two seconds if you wanted to but we are being very judicious.”

• Trump is angry over Iran. Japan’s leader is first in the firing line

He then launched into a critique of his predecessor, Joe Biden, for leaving billions of dollars of equipment in Afghanistan and “giving so much to Ukraine”.

He added: “We’re in very good shape but we want to be in the best shape, the best shape we’ve ever been in … it’s a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy-top.”

After the rise in oil prices and the plunge in global stock markets after Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars oilfields, leading to retaliation against gas production in Qatar, Trump insisted there would not be any more bombing of Iran’s crucial fuel sites. He said he had spoken to Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, saying: “I told him, ‘Don’t do that’, and he won’t do that. We didn’t discuss — you know we do — we’re independent. We get along great. It’s co-ordinated. But on occasion, he’ll do something and if I don’t like it, and so we’re not doing that anymore.”

• What Iran’s attack on the source of Qatar’s wealth means for the war

Takaichi had said as she set off for the US that she expected her meeting with Trump to be “very difficult” given his repeated demands on social media for Japan to provide military assistance safeguarding the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan has a modern mine-sweeping fleet but its constitution only allows for them to be deployed after active conflict has ended or if an ally is under attack, posing an existential threat to Japan. The Japanese government has maintained that this conflict does not meet these criteria.

Trump, who praised Takaichi as a “popular, powerful woman”, avoided confrontation in public.

“Based on statements that were given to us yesterday … having to do with Japan, they are really stepping up to the plate,” he said, without giving further details.

Takaichi told Trump that Japan had opposed Iran’s development of its nuclear programme and appealed to his desire to be seen as a peacemaker, telling him through an interpreter: “I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world.”

In more mixed signals about what Trump now wants from its allies, Trump said: “I expect Japan to step up because, you know, we have that kind of relationship and we step up … we have 45,000 soldiers in Japan, we spend a lot of money on Japan. So we’ve had that kind of a relationship. So I’m not surprised that they would step up.

“We don’t need much. We don’t need anything. I mean, honestly, we don’t need anything from Japan or from anyone else. But I think it’s appropriate that people step up in the case of Japan. I hear they get more than 90 per cent of their oil through the strait. So that’s a big reason to step up.”

Allies? It doesn't look like a reciprocal relationship to me...allies might not be the correct word...

Putin & Netanyahu are his bros-in-arms

The USA's traditional allies, all of em, are now dogshit

I spent a good solid 10 minutes laughing at the Pearl Harbour gaff, it was like that Fawlty Towers episode 'Don't mention the war!'

Allies? It doesn't look like a reciprocal relationship to me...allies might not be the correct word...

It was a fine until a certain mob boss showed up trying to shake down his allies while insulting them as he did so.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right?”

Japan is toast. It is loaded with US debt, and now Japan is trapped. They are impoverished. Trump's answer is another typical Trump's statement of power: it means nothing. It is supposed to mean nothing.

The Japanese leader felt uppity not to use another word starting with n and Trump put her in her position.

She had to endure. Because Japan is toast.

Allies? It doesn't look like a reciprocal relationship to me...allies might not be the correct word..

It is another example of liberalised speech. Contrary to the claim made on this board, the free press is friendly to Donald Trump. His words on NATO allies are' self contradictory and the free press has not not confronted him about it, they let him vent his frustration at will.

NATO has failed members in the past, but never the US. The US is in fact the only member that activated NATO with success. NATO merely does not apply to the current war against Iran. Allies must not answer the call. It is known of course and the very fact Trump can run around blathering his non sense is an evidence of support from the free press.

As to allies, the difference of treatment between the israeli ally and other supposed allies is staggering. Trump can not even let it know if he knew and consented to the attack on the iranian gas infrastructure.

Is Reich an American or like a lot of the Demcorats corrupt traitors with no interest in protecting their own country/ Th ey spent years spreading lies about Russian C ollussion and seling the interests of he USA b their open borer policy and destroying the USA Defense F oprce -causng the USA being despised by countries worldwide,

With the Startegic Oil Reserve in serious trouble heyw ere seling il from he reserve to China abnd the westion is that it caters for kickbacks to the A utpen Presidency. When Iran ask for money the Autopen unroze dollars to Iran all together going woh kick backs, .