President Donald Trump received special golf-related gifts while visiting Japan.
On Oct. 28, Trump, 79, met face-to-face with the recently elected Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, after attending the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.
Takaichi, 64, rolled out the red carpet for her American counterpart. The Liberal Democratic Party leader spoke with Trump about improving U.S.-Japan relations.
Additionally, the right-wing prime minister presented Trump with a golf putter once owned by the Asian country’s late leader, Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022.
The putter was displayed in a glass case. Trump was also given a golf bag signed by Japanese professional golfer and 2021 Masters Tournament champion Hideki Matsuyama.
“Did he play with it?” Trump asked when he was shown Abe’s putter. After learning that Japan’s longest-serving prime minister did use the item, the president added, “Such a wonderful man.”
Video of Takaichi gifting Trump the golf club and golf bag drew mixed reactions on social media. The MAGA faithful celebrated the presentation, but critics of the POTUS took issue with the move.
“A masterclass from the Japanese. Their thoughtfulness in gift giving is unsurpassed,” read a tweet praising Takaichi and her nation.
Another X user posted, “Trump admired and liked Abe a great deal. This was a meaningful and thoughtful gift. Japan and the United States are great allies and friends.”
Another critic said, “He looks like he won the lottery.”
In contrast, someone expressed, “While Trump clutches a putter like it’s a talisman against his endless scandals, Abe’s real legacy was building alliances, too bad you’re too busy swingin’ for photo ops to honor it.”
“The U.S. president is so easy to bribe. Pathetic person. History won’t be kind to him,” a second Trump critic proclaimed.
Trump has faced significant backlash for accepting presents from other world leaders throughout his second term in the White House.
While diplomatic gift-giving is a long-standing tradition, the polarizing Republican has been accused of essentially taking personal payoffs for instituting certain policies.
Most infamously, Qatar’s royal family offered a luxury Boeing 747 airplane to Trump during his May Middle East trip in May, setting off alarm bells among the president’s detractors.
In August in Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Trump with a golf club that had belonged to a Ukrainian serviceman wounded in combat.
Zelenskyy’s trip to the American capital included Trump taking him to a room in the White House that houses MAGA merchandise, such as “Four More Years” and “Trump 2028” hats.
Like Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron was also provided a tour of the MAGA merch area at that time. Both European statesmen were photographed checking out the red caps with Trump.
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