japan where it is late at night, as well. thanks for staying up for us. this has been, you know, a ceremonial high point that the president speaks about glowingly, but some real business getting done and undone as he is contradicting the facts of the case on the ballistic missile tests and siding with kim over his host, shinzo abe. reporter: it has been remarkable, andrea. and it has been a trip of contradictions. on the one hand, you have this charm offensive by the two leaders who have engaged in personal diplomacy from playing golf to attending a sumo wrestling match together. and then you had the press conference overnight in which president trump sided with kim jong-un, breaking with japan s prime minister, breaking with his own national security adviser and effectively saying he doesn t think that north
at the sumo wrestling match and papering over the very real differences that are there. what the president is telegraphing is how easily flattered he is, how vulnerable he is to flattery. it s not the first time we have seen it. shinzo abe was the first leader to meet with him during the transition at trump tower. i happen to know something about it. it went around the national security team and was arranged by the then ambassador here from japan calling jared kushner. that s how he got the meeting with president trump for his prime minister and then the golf game, of course, down at mar-a-lago. we know two things about how to deal with president trump whether you are a foreign leader or one of the people in his cabinet or one of his advisers or a senator which is first of all, you just lay on the flattery as thick as possible. and he responds well to that. and the flip side of that is you
debate over impeachment. why it could slow and steady be that way versus now or never. good day, everyone. welcome to weekends with alex witt. we re beginning in tokyo. it is the second day of the president s state visit to japan, a day of golfing, cheeseburger dining, sumo matches as well, where the president presented the winner with a special u.s.-made trophy, all part of an apparent diplomatic effort by prime minister shinzo abe amid some high-stakes trade talks. nbc s kristen welker is there following the president for us. with another welcome to you, my friend. how much of this trip is diplomacy optics versus actual policy discussion? reporter: hi, alex. good to talk to you. this trip is really focused on the personal diplomacy. all of those events and those great optics that you just talked about, the fact that the president and prime minister played a round of golf, attended a sumo wrestling match, their two families had dinner.
with the prime minister, then attending that sumo wrestling match, handing out that 6-foot trophy rp trophy, the presidential trophy, it s being called, the first world leader to do that. on the other hand, potentially undercutting all that diplomacy with his tweets and his taunts. that tweet you focused on, alex, let s just read the whole thing and pick it apart piece by piece. the president tweeting, north korea fired off some small weapons which disturbed some of my people and others, but not me. i have confidence that chairman kim will keep his promise to me and also smiled when he called swampman joe biden, which he originally spelled bid-i-d-a-b- and worse. it is a rebuke of the host country. the prime minister of japan saw north korea s recent missile tel tests as essentially a violation
the president has a busy day ahead of him in tokyo. he s going to be the first foreign leader to meet with the newly crowned emperor at the palace. tonight there will be the banquet. even though much of this trip has been folk used on president trump. he went to the sumo wrestling match where he presented the president s cup. prime minister abe would have extended the same honor to anyone who was u.s. president. diven how important the u.s. japan alliance is, anna. he laid out what he plans to do through the rest of the day there. the president is planning to visit a u.s. naval base. what kind of message is he