商業メディアは自分たちの論調にそぐわない事実は無視して報道しない。７月18日の共和党大会での１時間半に及んだトランプの大統領候補指名受諾演説でもそれが際立っている。
まず7月22日掲載論考「なぜミッドウェーを挙げ、初めて横田基地から訪日したのかートランプの対日観を探る」で触れずに終わった重要な発言がある。
それは「日本を中国と同様のライバル（脅威）とみなしている」ことだ。以下の部分から読み取れる。
But now we have unbelievable technology. And why should other countries have this, and we don’t? No, no, we’re going to build an iron dome over our country, and we’re going to be sure that nothing can come and harm our people. And again, from an economic development standpoint, I’m going to make it all right here. No more sending it out to other countries in order to help. It’s America first, America first.
We will unleash the power of American innovation, and as we do, we will soon be on the verge of finding the cures to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and many other diseases. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. You remember this gentleman that I don’t want to mention, other than one time I had to, because when you say “the 10 worst,” I had to do it. I didn’t want anybody to be confused.
But this man said we’re going to find a cure to cancer; nothing happened. We’re going to get to the cure for cancer and Alzheimer’s and so many other things. We’re so close to doing something great. But we need a leader that will let it be done.
We will not have men playing in women’s sports. That will end immediately.
And we will restore and renovate our nation’s once-great cities, making them safe, clean and beautiful again. And that includes our nation’s capital, which is a horrible killing field. So many things — they leave from Wisconsin, they go to look at the Washington Monument, they end up getting stabbed, killed or shot. We will be, very soon, very proud of our capital again, Washington, D.C.
America’s on the cusp of a new golden age, but we will have the courage to seize it. We’re going to take it, we’re going to make it a current— I mean, we’re going to bring this into a golden age like never seen before. Remember this: China wants to do it, Japan wants to do it. All of these countries want to do it.
米国が新たな黄金時代を迎えることができるか否か。中国と並んで日本が米国のライバルだとトランプは聴衆に訴えた。彼の脅威感は欧州ではなく、東アジアに向けられている。中国包囲網の重要なコマとなっている日本が同時に米国の封じ込めの対象になっていることが分かる。「アメリカが日本の仲間であり、日本を防衛してくれる」と考えるのは「頭がお花畑」と言わざるを得ない。
以下は「アメリカ人が自由の炎を燃やした」戦場としてヨークタウン、ゲティスバーグ、そしてミッドウェーを挙げた部分である。
They fought so hard, they lost so many. They pushed thousands and thousands of miles across a dangerous frontier, taming the wilderness to build a life and a magnificent home for their family. They packed their families into covered wagons, trekked across hazardous trails. Scaled towering mountains and braved rivers and rapids to stake their claim on the wide-open, new and very beautiful frontier. When our way of life was threatened, American patriots marched onto the battlefield, raced into enemy strongholds and stared down death — and stared down those enemies — to keep alive the flame of freedom. At Yorktown, Gettysburg, and Midway, they joined the roll call of immortal heroes. So many — just so many heroes, so many great, great people. And we have to cherish those people. We can’t forget those people. We have to cherish those people.
注：ニューヨークタイムス掲載の演説全文テキストを参照した。
Read the Transcript of Donald J. Trump’s Convention Speech - The New York Times (nytimes.com)