No diet for these carp as Trump goes all in on fish food

FILE: President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan briefly took a turn from formal to fishy. (Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

TOKYO — President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan briefly took a turn from formal to fishy.

Amid the protocol and pageantry Monday, Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paused for a lighter moment — to feed Asian carp fish in a koi pond. Trump concluded the activity by theatrically holding out his wooden box of feed and dumping it into the water packed with bright yellow and orange fish.

On the scene the move drew smiles and chuckles, including from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Then as photos circulated, Trump’s critics quickly seized on it as an example of his impatient style. But a closer look at the video of the moment shows that both leaders started gently spooning feed into the pond and then Abe lightly tossed the rest of his box in. After that, Trump more dramatically tipped his over.

Finished with the fish, both men smiled and waved.

Visiting the fish came amid two packed days for Trump, with a casual burger lunch and golf on Sunday and formal meetings and a news conference Monday.