Internet Culture

Viral photo of Trump dumping koi fish food is not what it seems

Wait until you see the full video.

Photo of David Covucci

David Covucci

Koi fish sticking their heads up out of the water for food

Raise your hand if you had “feeding koi fish” in your “what will President Donald Trump do to spark an international incident on his 12-day Asia trip” pool. You’ve won yourself quite a prize.

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Trump is in Japan as part of a major swing through Asia, and he joined Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Akasaka Palace, where they fed some of the koi at a pond on the grounds.

This happened.

https://twitter.com/PfeifferDC/status/927382075317063680

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Some reporters jumped on the tweet, speculating the president had acted out of turn, and the news quickly went viral.

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https://twitter.com/christinawilkie/status/927392266406256641

Because Trump is known for his somewhat lackadaisical behavior, social media jumped on the photo, assuming he had shown disrespect to both the koi fish and Abe.

https://twitter.com/briandotjp/status/927456132376834048

https://twitter.com/jptoner50/status/927405801198817282

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https://twitter.com/Tomie_Tweets/status/927390525094793216

However, if you want the full video of the experience, it looks like Trump was merely following the lead of Abe, who also tossed his whole box in, albeit with a little more grace and panache.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd-0K2–sEg

So, sorry to disappoint. It appears that this is not the international incident it was originally hyped to be.

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But Trump is heading to South Korea next. Who knows what will happen there?

 
The Daily Dot