Early Monday morning, CNN posted a video of what they believed was a horrific faux pas on the part of President Donald Trump, now visiting Japan — but the network, whose new slogan is “just facts,” appears to have deliberately failed to tell the whole story.
As Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Akasaka palace in Tokyo on Monday, they were given boxes of food to feed the palace’s Koi fish, considered a de rigeur activity, and one which confers certain blessings. According to the CNN video, which focused only on the president, Trump shoveled a few spoonfuls of fish food into the pond before unceremoniously — and wrongly — dumping his entire box of food directly into the water.
Trump joined his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in feeding fish, emptying the whole box of food into a koi pond https://t.co/Aho7J2YUru pic.twitter.com/dPB9xwKNOB
— CNN (@CNN) November 6, 2017
Since the video shows only Trump — deliberately — and only pans out to Abe once the fish segment is concluded, it appears that Trump defied his host’s home tradition, insulting the entire country of Japan.
Leftists on social media pounced. Oh, that Trump! What an uncultured swine!
We’ve reached the stage of Trump’s senility where “Donald Trump pours entire box of fish food into koi pond as Rex Tillerson looks on in horror” is a true headline.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 6, 2017
“While his host, prime minister Shinzo Abe, sprinkles small spoonfuls, Trump dumps entire box of fish food into precious Japanese koi pond.” pic.twitter.com/4FfBLvxwBw
— Ryan Adams (@filmystic) November 6, 2017
Shows what a moron Trump is. Dumps a whole box of fish food. Who does that? PM Abe tried to show him how to do it but buffoon Trump…SMH.
— rick obermeyer (@ObermeyerRick) November 6, 2017
But, once video of the full scene emerged, it became clear CNN was endeavoring to tell only half a story. See if you can spot the difference between AFP’s fish-feeding video and the “facts” network’s:
Abe dumped his fish food first. pic.twitter.com/dWZf2IDrPL
— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) November 6, 2017
You see, Abe dumped his fish food into the pond first, and Trump just followed suit — although in a less delicate manner. He even seems to have fun imitating Abe.
The president receives a lot of flack for calling CNN “fake news,” but in this case, the network appears to have gone out of its way to change how its own story was presented — allowing viewers to believe that Donald Trump had made a serious fish faux pas when, in fact, he was only following the example of Japan’s own leader. CNN zoomed in on Trump, and failed to tell the full story, then gave the video an odd headline, implying Trump was the only fish over-feeder on the trip.
In fairness to the fish, neither PM should have dumped his box into the pond. Overfeeding is the top cause of death among Koi fish, and these Koi are precious to the nation. But at least tell the whole story.