Trump keeps calling world leaders while they are asleep in the middle of the night because he doesn’t understand the concept of time zones.

Politico reported:
Several times in the first year of his administration, President Donald Trump wanted to call Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the afternoon. But there was a problem. Midafternoon in Washington is the middle of the night in Tokyo — when Abe would be fast asleep.

Trump’s aides had to explain the issue, which one diplomatic source said came up on “a constant basis,” but it wasn’t easy.

“He wasn’t great with recognizing that the leader of a country might be 80 or 85 years old and isn’t going to be awake or in the right place at 10:30 or 11 p.m. their time,” said a former Trump NSC official. “When he wants to call someone, he wants to call someone. He’s more impulsive that way. He doesn’t think about what time it is or who it is,” added a person close to Trump.

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Trump Sold Himself As An International Businessman, But He Doesn’t Understand Time Zones

Trump campaigned on being a big international titan of business who could make deals with the rest of the world, but it turns out that he doesn’t understand that afternoon in Washington is not afternoon in Tokyo or London. Of all the cons that Trump has pulled on the American people, one of his biggest was the myth that he is competent and fit for the world stage.

The story about Trump not understanding time zones underscores the reality that Donald Trump was a small time real estate con man with multiple bankruptcies to his record who happened to stumble into the big time with a lot of help from Putin and his Russian friends. A person who lacks the impulse control to understand time zones and when is the most suitable time to hold discussions with other world leaders should not be sitting in the Oval Office.

Trump’s learning curve isn’t presidential. It’s human, and these sorts of episodes reveal that he is more unfit for the presidency than even his most hardened critics could imagine.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association