‘Home Alone’ at White House: Vance jokes as Trump visits China for key talks – The Times of India

Holding fort at the White House, vice president J D Vance compared his situation to Macaulay Culkin in the 1990 film Home Alone.US secret service rules do not allow the president and vice president to travel abroad together, in order to protect the line of succession.US President Donald Trump is currently on an official visit to China and is expected to return on Saturday.“As you know, the president just landed in China a few hours ago. You may know that because of Secret Service protocols, I don’t travel outside of the country with the president of the United States,” Vance told reporters on Wednesday.“So on days like today, I sometimes feel like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. I walk into the White House, and it’s very quiet, and no one’s there, and it takes me a second to realise exactly what’s going on,” the vice president said, drawing laughter from reporters.Vance, who leads the Anti-Fraud Taskforce, also warned that the administration could “turn off” federal funding for government health insurance programmes in states that do not cooperate with the Trump administration’s crackdown on suspected fraud.Directed by Chris Columbus, Home Alone tells the story of eight-year-old Kevin, who protects his home from burglars after being accidentally left behind when his family goes on a Christmas holiday abroad.Meanwhile, Trump was welcomed by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for key talks.