Why does U.S. President Donald Trump keep mispronouncing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's name as "Abi?" On Monday, he mistakenly wished Prime Minister "Abi" a happy birthday, when in fact Monday was Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday. Abe's birthday is Sept 21.

The guy can barely speak English, so a little understanding of the basic pronunciation of another language is a lot to ask from him.

LOL, this guy is losing it. He's going to burst a vein one of these days! You wanted to run for president? Well, enjoy the job.

To get attention. From the looks of it, Trump's tactics seems to be working.

Because he's addled. It's amazing that so many in the US seem to be rewarding his incompetence.

He had a pretty average or maybe slightly above average mind which is clearly deteriorating.

and yet Abe wants us to believe that they are such good friends...

He's a moron what do you expect?

He doesn't believe people actually use other languages, or have names based in other languages. He always looks embarrassed when having to pronounce anything not based in English. Such an idiot.

He's seeing a plus be? But a can't be sure.

Same reason why many Americans pronounce Sake as "Saki" ?

From where did this POTUS graduate; a "college mill"? What does this say about his standard of education and the fact that he is a "graduate". How did  he even graduate from high school? I thought the US had a reasonable standard of education.

Torampu-san has no understanding of the concept of foreign languages.

Most Japanese cannot determine the pronunciation between "L" and "R". But it's no big deal. We all know what we mean.

The current occupant of the White House is clueless ... period!

This guy can't even differentiate between the words oranges and origins. What do you expect?

He doesn't care and as a Russian asset, Putin is very much on his mind, hence the slip.

Or, it could be the drugs - or, sadly, it could be the dementia.

Whatever the case, the man is unfit to be PotUS.

Do you really have to ask?

Most Japanese cannot determine the pronunciation between "L" and "R".

That's becomes those phonemes do not exist in Japanese. The phonemes in Abe's name do exist in English, so it's not a problem of lack of ability to speak the phonemes used to pronounce Abe's name, therefore it must be a lack of willingness to learn it correctly.

Same reason why many Americans pronounce Sake as "Saki" ?

Heck, Sean Connery pronounced sake "saki" in You Only Live Twice.

Hey all the Trump haters -

Trump 2020 :D

Those of you defending Trump on this really need to be a bit more objective. There is no excuse for him is pronouncing Abe's name, especially when they are together at a press conference. Someone from the State Department should brief him before he meets another country's leader on the correct pronunciation. It's protocol. Nothing difficult about it.

Heck, Sean Connery pronounced sake "saki" in You Only Live Twice.

Surprising given that he claimed to hold a degree in Japanese at the start if the movie.

No-one around him knows or cares. Close enough, they are thinking. ‘Abi’ is surely better than nothing, etc. Maybe PM Abe takes it as his nickname(?).

And Abbey is a word in English.

(Kobe “Koby beef” is another difficult one for those who know no Japanese.)

If he wanted to learn it, he could play with the sound of Abé Maria to lock it in.

Does he have other word with which he does the same mistake ? As the one pointed out. for example : Kobe, sake

If not, I will tend for the "he does not care". He do not think of Abe are significant enough for caring. Perhaps, he had some Abi in his life and is associating them together.

Just because he is unable to do anything right because he has no respect for anyone, period.

Westminster Abbi!

Respect my authorite!

From where did this POTUS graduate; a "college mill"? What does this say about his standard of education and the fact that he is a "graduate". How did he even graduate from high school? I thought the US had a reasonable standard of education.

Donald Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the eight "Ivy League" universities in the United States along with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth. That ought to be enough information to let you know that academic pedigree in the United States means absolutely nothing (but people should have already known this, given that George W. Bush graduated from Yale and Harvard Business School). Nobody in this world should feel inferior to an Ivy League graduate.

Trump was admitted to UPenn as a transfer student in 1966 from Fordham University. The admissions officer at UPenn was apparently a good friend of Trump's older deceased brother Fred. The story is that Fred told the admissions officer at UPenn that he needed a favor done for his younger brother. Not a case of a transfer student being admitted by merit, I would guess.

We, the people of the USA (apart from Hollywood, etc.) love him and what he has done

Trump has be we been the choice of more than a minority of the voters. Clearly not loved by “The People”. But it’s good when you post things like this as it exposes your lack of usage of critical thinking in making the comment, calling into question the contents of anything you post. So the red flag is appreciated.

Hey, it could always be worse. At least he didn't pronounce it like "Abe" Lincoln.