When Donald Trump traveled to Asia a few weeks ago to meet with leaders in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, you figured it was going to be a shitshow, or awkward at best. Turns out, for Trump, the trip gave him license to mock Asians after the fact, several weeks later.
On Wednesday, during a speech in St. Charles, Missouri, Trump said he told several Asian leaders that they need to increase their defense spending. Then Trump imitated what he claimed was their reaction, hunching and giving a look that he described as meaning "they know they're getting away with murder."
It's not mocking Chinese accents or anything -- that's certainly not above Trump; he's done it before -- but it's clear that Trump buys into and perpetuates the insidious and time-tested western view of Asians as sneaky or inscrutable. And using language that invokes murder helps crank up that yellow peril fear just a little bit more.
But really, by now, literally none of this should surprise you.
