Biden Invites Power Brokers to State Dinner for Japanese PM

State dinners in this country have evolved into nothing more than campaign events these days.

It is a chance for the sitting president to invite power brokers and big-money donors to the White House to make them feel more important about themselves.

So, it was no surprise to see people like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos walking the red carpet for the state dinner held at the White House to honor the Japanese prime minister.

Breaking Bread

There was a time when state dinners presented an opportunity to discuss policy, but that has long since passed.

Now, it is about checking a box on your resume and for the sitting president to impress donors and high-profile backers.

This particular dinner was clearly more about Biden drawing in donors and support than it was about improving relations between the Japanese and American governments.

Some of the notable guests for the dinner were Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and actor Robert DeNiro.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida must have thought he was at an awards show instead of a state dinner with all these A-listers at the event.

Biden made remarks earlier in the day regarding the event, stating, “When I became president, I said that the United States would rebuild the muscle of our democratic alliances and we’d stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies again because our alliances are America’s greatest asset.

“The relationship with Japan is powerful proof of that — that in investing in our alliance and raising our collective ambitions, we yield remarkable results.”

Providing entertainment for the evening was legendary singer/songwriter Paul Simon, who the PM was apparently very fond of, as is Jill Biden.

Other notables on the guest list were Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, Democrat Governors Kathy Hochul, Josh Shapiro, Tony Evers, and Roy Cooper.

The GOP was represented by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), but that was likely only because he was a previous ambassador to Japan.