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Donald Trump fakes accent to mock leaders of South Korea and Japan, angering Asian-American voters
- The US president imitated Moon Jae-in and Shinzo Abe while cracking jokes at a fundraiser in The Hamptons – a wealthy, mostly white New York suburb
- It is the latest instalment in a long line of racist rhetoric and racially offensive remarks used by Trump to fire up his right-wing base
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When Amanda Berg heard reports that US President Donald Trump had mocked the accents of the leaders of South Korea and Japan at a recent fundraiser, it brought back painful memories from her childhood.
Berg, a Korean-American who grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, recalled kids doing the “stereotypical pulling at the eyes and the mocking accent”. It made her feel like she was a foreigner in her own community.
As a registered Democrat, Berg is among a growing and crucial bloc of Asian-American voters leaning further to the left in the age of Trump, and his stunt, reported by the New York Post earlier this month, angered her and many others.
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“It empowers people who would be predisposed to doing that kind of thing anyway,” said Berg, a high school English teacher in Denver. “And it makes it acceptable to be openly, increasingly discriminating.”
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Trump has used racist rhetoric to fire up his conservative base ahead of the 2020 election – most notably against four Democratic congresswomen. Telling them to “go back” to their home countries triggered a widespread outcry last month, but his reported mocking of Asian accents garnered a more tepid reaction.
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