President Trump Attends Reception With Japanese Business Leaders….

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend a reception at the residence of Ambassador William F. Hagerty, U.S. Ambassador to Japan. [Note: see the Japanese guest to understand how twitchy Ambassador Hagerty is.]
Accompanying the President and First Lady are: chief of staff Mr. Mick Mulvaney, USTR Robert Lighthizer and Asst to President Mr. Rob Blair (helps Mulvaney).


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The funniest thing about this video is how President Trump (not a politician) is sizing up the room based on executive business acumen; and simultaneously the room is sizing up  Donald Trump based on his status as President Trump.
Japanese Guest List (below):
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President Trump and First Lady Melania Arrival in Tokyo…

With a 13-hour time zone difference, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived in Tokyo shortly after 4:00am EDT this morning (5:00pm Tokyo).
The President was greeted by Taro Kono, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mrs. Kaori Kono
Spouse of Taro Kono; U.S. Ambassador to Japan William F. Hagerty, and several Japanese representatives from the Suite of Honor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As they were coming down the stairs, stunning Melania laughed when POTUS noted she almost had a Marilyn Monroe moment.


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President and First Lady Make Unannounced Visit to Arlington During Flag Placement…

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made an unscheduled visit to Arlington National Cemetery ahead of Memorial Day.  As more than 260,000 flags were being placed at the graves of U.S. service members, the president and first lady visited with U.S. Army personnel who participate in the annual remembrance and solemn event.

The President and First Lady placed flags at headstone of Frank Buckles who was the last surviving World War I veteran before his passing.  President Trump will not be in the U.S. to observe the Memorial Day holiday, as both he and Melania head to Japan for an official state visit on Friday.
While in Japan President Trump and the first lady will be participating in a Memorial Day event at Yokosuka U.S. Naval Base where they will honor our fallen soldiers.
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President Trump and First Lady Melania Celebrate White House Historical Association Dinner…

This evening President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump host the 2019 White House Historical Society Association Dinner.


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[Transcript] East Room – THE FIRST LADY: Good evening. Please, sit down. The President and I are delighted to be with you, all of you, this evening as we celebrate the incredible work of the White House Historical Association over this past year and prepare for our continued work to preserve and restore the People’s House in the years to come.
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The President and First Lady Host the Abe's…

President Donald Trump hosts Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a round of golf today, while First Lady Melania Trump hosts Madame Akie Abe in DC.
The relationship between the Trump’s and the Abe’s goes back quite a while and is rooted in a genuine friendship.  The president and prime minister are strong competitors on trade and economic policy; however, the competition is founded on respect.

Prime Minister Abe’s economic policies are rooted in the growth process taught by Edwards Demming.  If you follow their professional business ideology, it is easy to see how President Trump and Prime Minister Abe would face-off around a standard of excellence.
When combined the economies of the United States and Japan account for approximately 30 percent of all global gross domestic product.
This is really old-school business stuff.  Each leader, is essentially an economic policy coach for his country; creating strategies and championing growth in a challenge to see who can succeed the most.  They respect each-other, but this is old school. PM Abe isn’t about to concede to a deal where Japanese growth is ceded; however, he will not cheat to achieve success (unlike Xi).  So friendly adversarial negotiations continue.  Good stuff.
Meanwhile First-Lady Melania Trump and Madame Akie Abe toured some of the historic sites in the capital, including the Washington Monument and US National Arboretum.
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President Trump and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Oval Office Meeting (Video and Transcript)…

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Madam Akie Abe will be having dinner tonight with President Donald Trump and First Lady to celebrate Melania’s birthday.  The prime minister and the president are close personal friends and will likely play golf tomorrow.
The Trump-Abe relationship existed for many years prior to becoming U.S. President. Their respect for each-other is genuine.  Abe and Trump are competitors on trade and economics and their strategies within that competition are actually fun to watch. The long-standing friendship underpins a very genuine alliance of U.S-Japanese interests.
In advance of the dinner tonight PM Abe and President Trump meet in the Oval Office ahead of a bilateral delegation meeting to discuss trade and regional matters. They also take questions from the media [Video and Transcript Below]


[Transcript] 4:35 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s an honor to have my friend, Prime Minister Abe — Japan. We have many things to discuss, including trade, including some of the numbers that just came out this morning. We had a very big number at 3.2 GDP for the first quarter — usually the worst quarter. That also included the little bit of a dispute we had during the quarter. So 3.2 is far above expectation. I guess many people were thinking it would be in the ones, maybe between one and two. And 3.2 is great.
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President Trump and First Lady Melania Speak at National Drug Abuse Summit – 1:30pm EST Livestream…

President and Mrs. Trump ddress participants of the 8th annual Prescription Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. The summit is “the largest national collaboration of federal, state, and local professionals working to address the prescription drug abuse and misuse epidemic.  Anticipated Start time 1:30pm EST
UPDATE: Video Added


[Transcript] – 1:45pm EDT – MRS. TRUMP: Thank you, Congressman Rogers. It is an honor to be with you. Today, we come together to address an issue that is close to all of our hearts: saving Americans from the disease of opioid addiction.
Before I begin, I want to thank members of law enforcement for all they do to protect us each day. (Applause.) You are each heroes, and this administration will always honor your life-saving work.
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