THE GREAT WALLY
Trump loves walls. He builds the best walls. But did he bother to visit the world’s longest? Nah. He sent Melania .. while he headed off to meet Putin
DONALD Trump is still planning his own Great Wall – almost a year into his presidency.
And the US president’s fondness for the biggest and the best is well known.
But yesterday Trump passed up the chance to see how the Chinese created the world’s longest wall hundreds of years ago.
Instead, he left his wife Melania in Beijing to view the Great Wall – and headed to Vietnam to catch up with Vladimir Putin and other world leaders.
It was the US president’s first visit to the country after bone spurs in his feet won him a reprieve from being drafted to fight in the war there 49 years ago.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly at a photocall for the leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Danang. The US president was seen giving his Russian counterpart a friendly slap on the shoulder as he greeted him.
And there was no sign of any awkwardness, despite two of Trump’s former aides being charged in the inquiry into Russian tampering with the US election.
The White House said there would be no formal meeting between the US and Russia.
Back in Beijing, the First Lady didn’t appear unhappy at missing the talks as she first visited pandas in the zoo, then the Great Wall.
And Melania’s footwear could have given a clue to why her husband dodged the Wall visit.
Her practical flatties were clearly chosen for strolling the Wall, while Trump never seems too keen on walking, even on the golf course.
And perhaps – as he contemplated his visit to Vietnam – the bone spurs were playing up again.