title:  Trump Went To Japan And Immediately Proved He Knows Zilch About How Missiles Work
text: Who knew that Donald Trump would humiliate himself and us as soon as humanly possible with his trip to Asia? There was really no way to know that   this is one of the smartest men on the planet oh wait. This is Donald Trump. And in discussing North Korea s decision to fire ballistic missiles over Japan, he wondered why Japan didn t just shoot those missiles down.That, in turn, shows a complete and total lack of knowledge about how missiles work, about even our own military s capabilities, and about the optics of such an endeavor on ours and Japan s part. First off, it would have been extremely difficult for Japan to shoot them down due to their altitude and speed. Japan does have missile interceptors, but North Korea s missiles were very likely out of range.Then there are the optics: Japan would have been embarrassed alongside us. Our own capabilities to shoot down missiles are also limited, and tests on both systems have failed consistently. Watching us and Japan embarrass ourselves would have emboldened North Korea because it would have told them that we can t stop their missiles. An emboldened North Korea is the last thing the world needs right now.But that s not all. Trump also insulted all of Japan by saying that he couldn t understand why a country full of samurai warriors wouldn t want to shoot down North Korea s missiles. While the samurai are a part of Japan s long and rich history, Trump calling them  a nation of samurai warriors  just reinforces the rest of the world s belief that Americans are too stupid and too arrogant to bother learning about anyone else, and would rather just fall back on ethnic stereotypes.These remarks took place well before Trump actually headed to Japan; however, the news of it came out as he was en route. So, just like every other international trip on which the walking racist presidential impostor has gone, we have been embarrassed on the world stage. Again.Featured image via Mario Tama/Getty Images