President Donald Trump said America’s sailors were too ‘good looking’ as he addressed a crowd in a wild speech on board the USS George Washington alongside Japan‘s new prime minister during his trip to the Tokyo region on Tuesday.
Trump made a grand entrance to his event, coming down on a giant lift and strutting out among fighter jets.
He then made it his mission to tell the troops how great they were.
‘You see that nobody makes equipment like we do. Nobody makes the ammunition, the weapons, the missiles, planes, none of it,’ Trump said. ‘And if they do, the American sailor stands ready to crush them and sink them and wreck them and blast them into oblivion, right?’
The president then caught himself, saying that was a ‘terrible statement to make.’ ‘That’s the end of it because everybody said that I should immediately get the Nobel Peace Award,’ he said.
Earlier that day, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said she would nominate him for next year’s prize. ‘With that statement, that takes me out of the running,’ Trump laughed.
The president continued by saying that the Navy’s ‘ultimate strength’ doesn’t come from the equipment.
‘It comes from the men and women of the rank and file,’ he said. ‘It comes from you people, incredible people, good-looking people, too many good-looking people,’ Trump told the crowd of men and women, representing both the U.S. and Japan.
President Donald Trump speaks to sailors on Tuesday on board the US Navy’s USS George Washington aircraft carrier, which is stationed in the Tokyo region of Japan
President Donald Trump can be seen emerging between fighter jets as he made a dramatic entrance to deliver remarks to sailors stationed abroad on the USS George Washington in Yokosuka, Japan
‘I don’t like good-looking people,’ he continued. ‘I never liked good-looking people, I’ll be honest with you.’
‘Never admitted that before,’ he added cheekily.
From there, Trump alluded to how the Pentagon had scrapped diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on his watch.
‘Everything now in our country is based on merit, and that’s why I look at you and see nothing but merit,’ he continued. ‘It’s great to have a country back where we can go by merit. Now we don’t go by anything else except for talent and work and hard work.’
Trump told the crowd he supported an ‘across-the-board pay raise’ for the entire military, an announcement that received loud cheers.
‘But now, all we really have to do is get the Democrats to approve it,’ Trump said. ‘But they’ll come along, they always do.’
He chided his former Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, later in the speech, suggesting that the gaffe-prone Biden had told people he was a pilot.
While Biden has made some dubious claims – including that his uncle was eaten by cannibals after his plane crashed – pretending to be a pilot wasn’t one of them.
President Donald Trump (left) arrives on board the USS George Washington alongside Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (right), which is docked in the Tokyo region
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt arrives on the USS George Washington ahead of President Donald Trump’s remarks on the aircraft carrier on Tuesday in Yokosuka, Japan
President Donald Trump did his trademark moves to the Village People’s YMCA after he wrapped up nearly an hour-long speech to members of the US Navy and their Japanese counterparts
‘And see, Biden used to say he was a pilot. He was a pilot, he was a truck driver, whatever, whoever, walked in,’ Trump said. ‘He wasn’t a pilot.’
‘He wasn’t too much of a president either, to be honest with you,’ the Republican digged.
Traditionally, presidents have avoided giving political speeches in front of U.S. military personnel, but Trump already scrapped that norm several times during his second term.
Trump also admitted during his remarks that he’d ‘like to be an admiral.’
‘I always wanted to be an admiral, to be honest,’ he said, adding, ‘I love those uniforms.’
Trump arrived on the aircraft carrier alongside Takaichi, Japan’s new leader, who was sworn in last week.
Takaichi was a protégé of Trump’s friend, the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022.
That connection set the table for a warm visit, with Trump calling Takaichi up onstage to deliver remarks as part of the programming, announcing to the crowd, ‘This woman is a winner!’
‘So, you know, we’ve become very close friends all of the sudden, because their stock market today and our stock market today hit an all-time high,’ Trump said. ‘That means we’re doing something right.’
