INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

What The Justin Trudeau, Donald Trump Handshake Says About Each Leader

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 07:03 PST, Mar 8, 2017

People questioned the overly alpha handshake of Donald Trump, particularly with other leaders, but until the meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Donald Trump was able to yank the other person, nearly throwing them off balance. But Trudeau seemed prepared to not allow Donald Trump to get the better of him, the way he had the week prior with Japanese Prime Minister Abe. Videos of Donald Trump make it appear as if he is challenging the other person to some odd form of arm wrestling.

[Video] Neil Gorsuch Yank Onstage

And perhaps what makes it worse is the ill-fitting suits that Trump wears, with the ties that are six inches too long, and Scotch-taped together, says the Inquisitr. GQ put together a video that they believe would help Trump look more presidential. First, they suggested that Donald Trump needed to find a new barber, as his use of the hair-growth product, Propecia was making his comb-over look more pronounced. At the State of the Union speech, many though that Trump had turned a corner, wearing a Joseph Aboud suit, with a thinner blue tie, but the next day, Donald Trump was back to looking rumpled.

The Huffington Post Canada said that it was if before the Donald Trump/Trudeau meeting, Justin Trudeau decided that Trump was literally not going to be able to strong-arm him. Prime Minister Trudeau must have known that the Twitter-verse would be watching, and they didn’t disappoint.

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To date, Justin Trudeau was the first to avoid what Twitter and the media called “the yank.” Even VP Mike Pence seems to fall for it each time, like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football in the Peanuts comics. But obviously, Justin Trudeau got the memo.

“Many on Twitter noted how Trudeau seemingly avoided Trump’s infamous, uh, yank. One person also described it — extremely accurately — as ‘the biggest display of dominance’ in Canada’s history.”

And Trudeau also perhaps bonded Canadians and many Americans, at least on Twitter.

“Trump tried to pull his standard pull ’em in handshake and Trudeau literally pushed him back to stop him. I’m dying.”

“Trudeau resisting Trump’s weird handshake is the biggest display of dominance in the history of Canada.”

After the initial meeting handshake, Trump gave Trudeau a tour of the White House, and then asked for another handshake in front of the fireplace, Trudeau was said to sit in silence, and once again, let Trump know that at least figuratively, he had the upper hand.

The Guardian refers to Donald Trump’s strong arm handshake as an animalistic show of dominance. Nothing in Trump’s greeting is subconscious, but it is a well thought out assertiveness, that on an international stage seems a bit crass, and petty. One of Trump’s tricks is the shake and pat. When people pat a hand, it is often seen as affection, but experts say that obviously, that is not what Trump was showing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“One couldn’t help noticing this when he met Shinzo Abe, because during the 19 seconds that they were shaking hands, Trump managed to pat the Japanese prime minister’s hand no less than six times. Patting someone’s hand in this way pretends to be an affectionate gesture of approval, but its real purpose is to remind the other person who’s actually in charge. It’s what psychologists call a ‘status reminder.'”

The Washington Post calls the President Trump handshake “super-awkward,” and it doesn’t seem to be awkward for Trump, but it is for the rest of America, including his supporters. The handshake seems to vary, depending who is on the receiving end. In business, everyone has had a handshake that lasted a bit too long, or the other person squeezed too hard, but Trump seems to adapt the handshake based on what will irk the other person.

But by now, Trump must know that the Twitter handshake police are watching him and keeping score.

“Did they have the stiff arm handshake like Gorsuch or awkward escape-attempt like Abe? Hard to avoid the Trump filth.”

“Must see. Trump frowns or pouts when he loses the handshake game! Lost to Hillary & Trudeau, beat Abe & Gorsuch.“

What do you think of the Trump handshake? Do you think Justin Trudeau beat Trump at his own game?

[Featured Image by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images]

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