# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678 "2025-02-22T21:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 188
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3741 "2026-03-20T00:44:19Z")
Maybe Trump is hinting that he will attack Japan next. He might have heard that they don’t have a military beyond their domestic defense forces, and sees them as ripe for conquest. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3742 "2026-03-20T02:27:31Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Maybe Trump is hinting that he will attack Japan next. Would all of Japan be the 51st state, or would each island be one of four 51st states? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3743 "2026-03-20T02:32:33Z")
Was hoping he’d flip and say something like, “ OOOH! You’re the enemy! Democrats must’ve let you in here while you bomb Oregon!” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3744 "2026-03-20T02:38:39Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Democrats must’ve let you in here while you bomb Oregon! The chance that Mr. Potato Head knows about the attacks on Oregon (or the shelling of Santa Barbara) is vanishingly small. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3745 "2026-03-20T03:19:46Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Yes, Japan, why didn’t you tell us about the surprise attack you were just about to inflict on us? They wanted to – about an hour before the attack – but thanks to the lack of a typist-translator with security clearances the meeting with Secretary of State Hull was delayed until a couple hours after. Thanks to the Purple code being broken Hull already knew. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3746 "2026-03-20T05:24:48Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > They wanted to – about an hour before the attack – but thanks to the lack of a typist-translator with security clearances the meeting with Secretary of State Hull was delayed until a couple hours after. Thanks to the Purple code being broken Hull already knew. Except that the 14-Point message was not a declaration of war nor a definitive statement of breaking off of diplomatic relations. It was ominous, and U.S. policy makers thought it was likely to be a prelude to war, so much so that they tried to alert Pearl Harbor to prepare for an attack, but it was not a warning in the classic diplomatic sense. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3747 "2026-03-20T05:27:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The chance that Mr. Potato Head knows about the attacks on Oregon (or the shelling of Santa Barbara) is vanishingly small. The chance he knows about Oregon at all is exceedingly small. He knows what Portland is, but I doubt he could point to it on a map. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3748 "2026-03-20T05:27:46Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Would all of Japan be the 51st state, or would each island be one of four 51st states? A relative of mine (intelligent but not much common sense) seriously believes that Japan rightfully belonged to the Soviet Union from World War II and that we stole it from the Soviet Union by using nuclear bombs to force them to surrender to us before they could surrender to the Soviet Union! According to him our contributions to the fight against the Axis was entirely irrelevant – that the Soviet Union really defeated the Axis and they did not need any help from us to do so! ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3749 "2026-03-20T07:19:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > … He knows what Portland is … Was. Or didn’t you know it was burned to the ground by professional terrorist agitators in the pay of ~~Goldstein~~ George Soros? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3750 "2026-03-20T08:58:54Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Or didn’t you know it was burned to the ground by professional terrorist agitators in the pay of ~~Goldstein~~ George Soros? I’ll repeat an anecdote I previously told last year. Last October, I took my mom down to Portland for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. On a Saturday morning, we parted ways, and I took a van tour out to Multnomah Falls and Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. The driver said that he does all kinds of tours around the greater Portland area, including custom-booked tours. In particular, he mentioned that about a month beforehand, he had done a custom tour of Portland for the federal government, and that his passengers had included Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and Pete Hegseth. It was a couple days after that that Trump issued his tweet that he’d be sending federal troops to “war-ravaged Portland”. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G13CjlUWgAA0DsP?format=jpg&name=900x900) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G13CjlUWgAA0DsP?format=jpg&name=900x900) The tour guide quipped to us that he must have shown them the wrong side of town. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3751 "2026-03-20T11:25:59Z")
East Asian culture usually stresses respect for the elderly, which is what this lady is doing. When she hosted Trump before, she patiently guided him and kept him from wandering off. She probably regarded Trump’s remark about Pearl Harbor as yet another symptom of senility. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3752 "2026-03-20T12:51:48Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Reporter: Why didn’t you tell your allies before the strike on Iran? > Trump, sitting next to the Japanese PM: Who knows better about surprise than Japan, why didn’t you tell me\* about Pearl Harbor? One of the news sites labeled this as a joke that Trump made. It made me wonder “what makes it a joke?” ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3753 "2026-03-20T13:52:44Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > One of the news sites labeled this as a joke that Trump made. It made me wonder “what makes it a joke?” A clown said it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3754 "2026-03-20T14:08:20Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > One of the news sites labeled this as a joke that Trump made. It made me wonder “what makes it a joke?” I remember one of his press secretaries trying to brush off something he said by telling reporters he was just joking. Trump, not understanding that she’s trying to help him told the press that he never jokes. If they’re going to play this off as a joke, someone needs to dig up that clip and ask them about it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3755 "2026-03-20T14:41:30Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Trump, sitting next to the Japanese PM: Who knows better about surprise than Japan, why didn’t you tell me\* about Pearl Harbor? Saying this to the Japanese PM isn’t what galls me, that’s just typical Trump classlessness. What kills me is that he seems to think that _surprising your allies_ is the same as _surprising your enemy_. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3756 "2026-03-20T15:17:10Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Except that the 14-Point message was not a declaration of war nor a definitive statement of breaking off of diplomatic relations. The 14th part, the part that was delayed, did sever diplomatic relations with the U.S. The concluding sentences were, > Obviously it is the intention of the American Government to conspire with Great Britain and other countries to obstruct Japan’s effort toward the establishment of peace through the creation of a new order in East Asia, and especially to preserve Anglo-American rights and interest by keeping Japan and China at war. This intention has been revealed clearly during the course of the present negotiation. > > Thus, the earnest hope of the Japanese Government to adjust Japanese-American relations and to preserve and promote the peace of the Pacific through cooperation with the American Government has finally been lost. > > The Japanese Government regrets to have to notify hereby the American Government that in view of the attitude of the American Government it cannot but consider that it is impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations. It was a clear _casus belli_ basically all but declaring war without actually saying it. Even Nazi Germany and imperial Japan had a fig-leaf _casus belli_ – albeit with incidents instigated by themselves (Gleiwitz and Lugou Brigde respectively) starting World War II. The current US regime hasn’t even bothered with that. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3757 "2026-03-20T16:31:37Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > What kills me is that he seems to think that _surprising your allies_ is the same as _surprising your enemy_. It makes more sense if you remember that Trump doesn’t have friends or allies - just enemies and employees/servants. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3758 "2026-03-20T16:33:18Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > What kills me is that he seems to think that _surprising your allies_ is the same as _surprising your enemy_. I don’t think he’s even thought that much about it. At this point he’s running on brain stem alone. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3759 "2026-03-20T17:01:16Z")
The head of FEMA’s rapid response office claims he once involuntarily teleported to a Waffle House and that his car once spontaneously started flying. > **[A Top FEMA official has history of violent rhetoric threats and said he once...](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/20/politics/fema-official-gregg-phillips-violent-rhetoric-teleported-kfile)** > > As millions of Americans braced for a series of brutal storms this winter, the senior official in charge of the federal government’s disaster response had been on the job only a few weeks — and had previously claimed on podcasts that he once... ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3760 "2026-03-20T17:11:35Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It was a clear _casus belli_ basically all but declaring war without actually saying it. Right, and the U.S. interpreted it as such - Roosevelt, having read the first thirteen parts of the message on December 6th, said “this means war.” Policymakers knew the history of Japanese belligerency, and knew they had attacked the Russians at Port Arthur three hours before the actual declaration was issued. But it wasn’t the same as, say, Britain’s declaration of war against Germany in 1914: > Our Ambassador at Berlin received his passports at seven o’clock last evening, and since eleven o’clock last night a state of war has existed between Germany and ourselves. If the Japanese had said “our ambassador is coming home and as of time X we are at war with you”, _that_ would have been definitive. As it was, the final part of the message breaks off negotiations rather than relations - in a vaccuum, it invites (though it does not anticipate) the U.S. to change its attitude and negotiate further - though of course we know that was never going to happen both because America’s stance was firm and because of Japan’s surprise attack. So I think we’re in violent agreement except about just how _definitive_ it was, which may be more of a question of terms than of impact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=187) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=189)