"It Was So Horrible I Thought It Was AI"...Sanae Takaichi Slammed After Laughing at Photo Mocking Biden

According to Financial News, controversy has erupted after video showed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi bursting into laughter at a photo mocking former President Joe Biden—an autopen image—during her visit to the White House for a U.S.-Japan summit.
In a video released on the White House YouTube account on the 23rd, Takaichi walks through a hallway where portraits of past U.S. presidents are displayed. When she comes to the photo of the 45th president, Donald Trump, from his first term in office, she looks impressed and raises both hands.
Then, upon seeing the so‐called autopen photo hanging right next to Trump’s portrait, she points at it with her finger and bursts into loud laughter.
When the Trump administration created the Hall of Presidential Honor last year, it hung a photo of an autopen instead of a portrait of former President Biden between photos of President Trump.
The display is widely seen as intended both to highlight the cognitive-decline allegations Trump has repeatedly raised about Biden’s time in office and to mock and disparage the former president.
The fact that the White House chose to release footage of Takaichi laughing at the autopen photo also appears to align with this intent. For Trump, who has faced a series of indictments under the Biden administration and is dealing with "legal risks" as he stands trial before the election, it is also reported to carry a sense of personal revenge.
After the video was posted on the official White House channel, it spread quickly across social networking services (SNS). Trump supporters have been sharing it with captions such as "The whole world is laughing at Joe Biden," while critics argue it is disrespectful toward a former head of state.
Prime Minister Takaichi held talks with President Trump at the White House on the 19th, local time, and returned to Japan on the 21st.
Major Japanese media outlets had barely covered the video as of the 22nd, but some opposition politicians publicly criticized Takaichi’s behavior.
Hiroyuki Konishi, a lawmaker from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "I couldn’t believe my eyes," adding, "At the very least, she could have pretended not to see it. I feel deeply sorry for all the people of the United States."
Yohei Kabasawa, another CDP lawmaker, also remarked, "It is pathetic on a human level that she is willing to do anything just to curry favor with President Trump."
Some online commenters likewise criticized it as "excessive sycophantic diplomacy aimed at pleasing President Trump."
One Japanese user wrote, "Her attitude toward the exhibit of former President Biden is absolutely unacceptable," and added, "We must not overvalue this flattery diplomacy that is all about not upsetting President Trump."
Other users commented, "She must have known about Trump’s vulgar intentions, yet Prime Minister Takaichi joined in and laughed along at the mockery of former President Biden," and, "It was so horrible that at first I thought it was an AI-generated video."

However, neither the White House nor the Japanese government has issued any official statement on the matter.

moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter