doc-ravenbe:

odinsblog:

A little background

Here’s how pool reporter Phillip Rucker of The Washington Post, who was in the room, described it: “They shook hands for an extended period of time. Each president gripped the other’s hand with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening.”

Steve Holland, who covers the White House for Reuters, tweeted this: “The photogs noticed that Trump and Macron were gripping their hands hard and in photo below. Trump seems to just want his hand back.

“Handshakes are a very big thing to this president. Trump seems to view the handshake as a sort of battle of wills and a battle for power all wrapped into one.

Trump’s go-to handshake move is the tug-and-pull – as demonstrated in these handshakes with Vice President Mike Pence and Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch (also shown here).

Trump also tends to hold the handshake for about 5 seconds longer than you might expect – as in this shake with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe (which also features a “hold and tug” right in the middle!).

BOTTOM LINE: Trump’s tug-and-pull handshake is a childish display of what he thinks “power” and “manhood” are. It’s the epitome of the “loud, pushy, ugly American” image that permeates a lot of the world (with good reason).

But Donald Trump just got his ass (and his tiny little hands) handed to him. By a French man. Who Republicans seem to think are wimpy.

But look again: Macron was crushing it, and Trump couldn’t let go of Macron’s hand fast enough. Trump looked like he was on the verge of passing out.

and remember he couldn’t look at Merkel nor shake her hand. He looked like a petulant child who had been caught red handed.