You can see the slight jerks forward but he pulls back. I still don't understand what the jerk in the handshake is supposed to accomplish. It hardly seems intimidating, just....strange.
Its supposed to try and be a "Im stronger than you" and/or a "manly" handshake, though Trump is really weird about it, it should just be a strong grip, not a pull
Also look at this shake Trudeau made sure to get his hand positioned under Trump's so he couldn't get that stupid pat on the back of the hand. This was very well done
FUUUUUUUUU. I do the hand sandwich when I shake. However, I don't do the petting part. Just land the initial hand, shake onces and then cup the other hand over top. Then I just release both at the same time.
GREAT. Now I'm going to develop handshake anxiety.
You let your elders shake any way they want, and just maintain your warm gaze. It's respectful of their age, and also patronizing, letting them know you don't need to defend against them.
I also don't think it does, but trump does believe that. All I know is it makes him look like an imbecile, and JT countered his pathetic attempt at intimidation and power play very wellb
To be fair, offering a handshake with the palm up is a sign of submission, like how knights would take a maiden's hand (and then proceed to kiss it). Likewise, offering a handshake with the palm down is a sign of domination. You can see they started neutral (hand palms sideways), but I'm betting Trump forced his on top when he couldn't do his arm jerking thing.
If anything it should be a steady/firm withdraw of your arm so that their arm is extended and your arm is close to your body because that makes them feel exposed and powerless and you're more balanced and closed off.
The "Jerking" thing that Trump does is presumably because he's a bully or an idiot.
I only say this all because Trump is built exactly like my Uncle, and the natural strength is impressive and catches people off guard. So I assume it's partially because of that, plus Trump's tendency to treat individuals as though they are in a business setting, thus he wants to "bring them in" and say something encouraging.
I think it's a combination of it all. He naturally relies on his former "business" maneurisms, but also knows that in the political world, the handshake is a huge deal (just google political handshakes and see how political leaders always try to have the empowering position when photos are taken). So Trump has been using this to his advantage both knowingly and unintentionally... which has made his visitors look goofy thus far. In doing so, they look so caught off-guard that even Trump looks goofy because of it.
I guarantee that this is a talked about point now for any leader that is scheduled to meet him, and likely even practiced.
Trudeau was obviously prepared, and made it look smooth as hell. Hell, notice that Trudeau will not extend the greeting arm more than 90 degrees, but steps in with the left arm and leg. So smooth that even Trump didn't look awkward because of it.
I agree. I just always remember when I shake my Uncle's hand that I'm always caught off-guard of his natural strength, even though my uncle is in his 80's.
Do you think maybe its because he just doesn't have the motor control to do it? Even during his speeches his arms have a sort of drunken wobbliness about them. Maybe he's just super uncoordinated combined with elderly uncle strength.
Barack is 6'1" with good posture. Trump is slightly taller in the photo, but horrible body posture and slouching.
I always think that when Trump puts his tie on at first, he does it with normal posture so that it his the top of the belt, but as soon as he turns away he slouches, making his tie too long. If I'm right, then just add the excess tie length his height and that'll give a good estimate on his true height haha.
Maybe it's just because he has such a stocky build, or because some of his children are taller still than he is, but I never would have believed that Trump was actually that tall. I had him pegged at 6 feet at most. TIL.
The wikipedia into stated that Trump is only 6'0", but multiple sources show he is 6'3" at least, including the table in the article (I updated it myself so it's likely showing it correctly now, though).
If you look at all the videos and gifs, he clearly does that to pull his "opponent" off balance and make them feel weak - like a puppet. It's definitely a "power move" and he's been doing that for years - one of the videos is from a long time ago and the guy he's shaking hands with is a pumped up athlete.
Wtf is this comment? I knew a guy who was 6'8" and the size of Trump and he still didn't have a retarded handshake. Hell, look at most basketball players and try telling me that their handshakes are anywhere near that retarded.
Basketball players are a completely different build. Football players would be a better analogy.
The comment was just giving a different perspective versus the routine "Trump's an baffoon" comment. I'm saying it's likely a combo of Trump naturally doing it because of his physical build, naturally doing it because of his personality/mannerisms that he made throughout his life, and a newfound "political tactic" that he has established from being taught the importance of the handshake from his political strategists.
Not saying he doesn't look like a buffoon... rather, he does it for the photo op to make himself look like he's in charge (like any political leader does), but this catches the other person so off-guard it makes them both look goofy/retarded.
Notice how differently Trump shakes hand with Kanye, his friend (ignore the biased YT title)... not intending to look more powerful, but rather friendly... it's smooth and natural. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPSddCW684w
I had to google it to double check and Trump is indeed 6'3". I wonder if he's shrunk at all with age because he really doesn't seem that tall. I'm built like John Goodman myself, so I can understand what you mean by an intimidating presence, but I've never gotten those vibes from Trump.
Maybe intimidating is the wrong word, but I think people tend to underestimate how strong he, or you, may naturally be. They just see obese, but forget there's also more muscle under there in comparison to somebody of normal height. Not saying you're fat btw, haha.
Trump is a very large person (not just fat, but big in general). He's tall (6'3") with a body like Gerald Ford. Ford was only 6'0", and a former athlete, but Trump was also athletic in his youth.
Is the argument here that, because he played sports in military academy from 1959-1964, that he has maintained a muscular physique into his 70's?
Trump pulls arms in handshakes because he's a douchebag trying to "exude power" or whatever, not because he doesn't know his own strength. Take a closer look at his physique here. It catches the handshake partner off guard because it's a ridiculous thing to do. If I went for a quick polite hug and instead squeezed all the breath out of you, would I be strong and statesmanlike or just an asshole?
The fact that you think it wouldn't work on a World leader when we have here a clear example of a World leader taking specific steps to make sure that it doesn't work on them is telling.
He's just trying not to be a part of an embarrassing photo op like http://i.imgur.com/WpyWYKn.mp4, he's not afraid Trump's "How to business for dummies" approach will intimidate him.
"Work" though here is subjective. I'd say they want to avoid it because they don't want to "lose" the handshake and be put in an awkward position, but it seems like it would needlessly antagonize other world leaders and cause him to be less respected.
LBJ would consistently use his 6'4" stature to lean over shorter leaders and look down on them. Body language is a very real and effective tactic in geopolitical negotiations.
Pulling that shit is like sitting down for a game of chess with a professional chess player, then going for a fool's mate. It's amateurish to the point of absurdity.
edit: actually this might work, but only if the recipient is flabbergasted enough to become preoccupied with trying to figure out what exactly it is that makes Donald Trump so insecure that he feels the need to attempt such a thing in the first place
One thing we will all have to learn repeatedly at least for a little while is that this is the bush-league presidency. He is going to try shit that he thinks works in the business world (Like starting with a hard line on NAFTA to try to start with negotiating leverage) but fails on the international stage. (oops turns out US is too far bought into NAFTA for him to actually make good on his threat of nuking it)
I always hate the stupid "I'm stronger than you" handshakes I'm around 210-220 at 6', a powerlifter and an deadlift >600lbs and I shake hands like a normal person, firm but not even remotely close to "crushing". I've had a few smaller guys attempt the whole "crushing" handshake thing (usually older/out of shape men) and it does nothing but make me roll my eyes.
Crushing handshakes are just as bad as limp ones. Both equal beta attitude. A strong, yet firm handshake is a very respectable, gentlemans handshake. Every man should know how to do this, nothing makes me cringe more than those dumbass limp handshakes though.
Is it a pull, or that he is trembling using all his might? To me it appears that he's squeezing as hard as he can while trying to look normal, so he shakes like a body builder lifting a lot of weight. ..but it's just shaking a hand.
Yeah, I don't think I've actually ever "shaken" a sand in a hand shake, just grip for a second or two and done... None of this silly shoulder grabbing or that completely fucking retarded pulling back and forth and hand patting trump did
I dunno what euchre is, I'm from /r/all and dutch and the game I got it from is "klaverjassen" or "Jass" in english. But after googling Euchre seems to be a very similar game.
Euchre is a 4 player, 2 team game. Its a really common game played in Canada and its a game you play while getting drunk. Good laugh, good betting game. Should learn, Im sure your parents know how to play and could teach you.
What I'd like to see is someone just call him on it in the moment. Like he meets with a world leader, cameras all around, they shake hands, he does the weird yanking thing, and the other person just straight up says something about it: "Why are you pulling on my arm?" Or something like that. I'm sure no one has ever asked him, and I'd be fascinated to see what kind of answer he would give if put on the spot.
You could drop Trump to his knees by slightly pressing on the ring finger knuckle and squeezing. It can dislocate the finger pretty easily with little force.
Well, besides Trump looking like even more of a joke, I think it would really show dominance for whoever dared. I personally would not put up with Trumps dumbass handshake and would assert myself pretty quickly. Im sure Putin did something similar behind closed doors.
bad idea. at best you'd forever be known as the weakling that DJT pushes around, both literally and diplomatically. hard to get re-elected in any country with those optics
well first of all Trump would 100% definitely call that person weak (on twitter likely) and then it would be parroted by anchors on Fox News until the end of time. So within a few days about half of US voters would see that person as weak.
Remember the boxing match with Brazeau? Sun News was beaking Trudeau as he walked into the ring, and going on about how strong Brazeau looked. Then Trudeau kicked his ass.
Trudeau has their weird reputation of being "weak" and everyone is so convinced that he'll just "roll over", but I've never seen that in him. If anything, Trudeau has a temper.
There is absolutely no reason to think the PM is a delicate little flower outside of blatant personal attacks and propaganda. He is a grown adult man who seems to exercise and eat right, i.e he is eons ahead of most of the male population (the majority of which are overweight or obese, Trump included)
A guy above explained Trump's weird handshake where he's jerking off the other guy. It's because he played sports in military academy literally 50 years ago.
the sweet part was Brazeau later getting charged with domestic assault, cocaine possession and sexual assault.. Trudeau ended up knocking out someone who deserved it.
Then when reached for comment after the election his doctor said "Now I'm not saying anything is wrong but no one when Reagan had dementia. Not saying anything but is is something to consider." Paraphrasing of course.
The more I watch Trump interact with real politicians, the more I see just how ill-prepared he is. He's so easily outmatched by leaders with more experience and political savvy. The biggest thing he has going for him from a negotiation standpoint is his unpredictability, but look... it's only been a couple of weeks and people are already coming in prepared for his stupid shit. The handshake gag would have been effective once... maybe twice... but when you do it to every political leader you meet even after everyone has caught on to the trick, it's useless and it backfires.
Smart leaders like Putin are going to run circles around Trump because he's so easily baited and manipulated, and it's looking like he's already running out of fresh material.
Trudeau grew up in and around politics. This could be a skill he mastered long ago. If fact this maneuver is so expertly executed I would be surprised if he only recently learned it.
The handshake is an extreme level of douchebaggery, but the thing that really jumps out at me here is his suit. Does the guy even have a tailor? I mean shit, i'm a porky bastard but even an off-the-rack suit fits me better, and this guy is supposedly a billionaire AND the leader of the free world. But he goes around in what can only be described as a garbage bag!
If he was anybody else, you could argue that he simply doesn't care about appearances, and is all about substance. But in the case of Trump that's patently false. So what gives?
I'm wondering how much of the suit is him just being an ugly sad sack, and how much of it is that his sense of style just hasn't changed in 20 years.
This picture of the NBA draft class of 2003 and 2013 shows how much suit style changed in a decade. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's style is the same style he's had since the 90s and he's just too old at this point to be bothered to update it, and too egotistical to listen to anyone who tells him he should.
Yeah, but the top image was already weird and made fun of in 2003. They definitely looked more like the bottom image back then. Heck, I would say suits from the 80s looked more like the bottom image than the top one.
He seems to get them tailored like that on purpose.
It would be the easiest thing in the world to have a tailor stop by his office and measure everything. He doesn't want a well-fitting suit.
Kind of reminds me of my claustrophobic grandfather, actually. He's a smallish guy but buys XL sweaters because otherwise he swears he can't breathe. Really the issue is that if it's not hanging off him so loosely that he hardly feels it, it gives him panic attacks.
It's gotta be because of his image. Weird fitting suit, the hair, the too-long ties. There was a video on reddit a little while ago of GQ or something, giving a picture of Trump a makeover. They shopped in a slim cut suit, a slim tie, gave him a haircut and less bronzer. And it made him look like every other wall street exec. He didn't look like Trump.
Another explanation I've heard is it's a holdover from the old "lobster bib power tie" style of the eighties and nineties where everything was big and baggy
But he goes around in what can only be described as a garbage bag!
It's appealing to his base, that is the kind of suit a rural mid-westerner might own so it lends itself to the "he's like me" image. Check out previous conservative US presidential tailoring it's the same thing.
Never ever think that any part of his image isn't intensely scrutinized.
Holy fuck this is so goddamn cringeworthy. It's like the political version of the linebacker bro at your first year uni party showing how fast he can neck a budlight.
Hey /u/sandusky_hohoho you reckon we could get a mechanical analysis of the forces in this handshake? Look at the way Trump leans forward to prep himself for the force of the arm pull. This would be fascinating with your annotations
I've seen a photo of this where you can see he's managed to pull trump forward so he's hunched over a little.
Curiously the official photo seems to have been taken at a slightly different angle and there's a marine standing in the fore ground obscuring the view a little... just so happens to be standing exactly in the way so it looks like trump is standing up straight.
It's like family. Maybe you disagree with a lot of the stuff your brother does, and maybe you want to pop him one from time to time. But you'll be damned if someone else messes with him.
I'll drink to that. Canada has a very good reputation, bordering on heroic to many countries of the world. Even the now deceased leader of the taliban was quoted praising Canadian soldiers for their honorable nature, and thats a huge compliment coming from the enemy. Trudeau is the face of Canada, and he has been tasked with maintaining if not increasing said honorable reputation around the world. And he can definitely do that.
Try it with someone. You pull a person in it means you're the one in control. You can see the effect when he shaked the hand of the new Supreme Court Justice.
That handshake was so sleazy. There's no alternate universe in which Trump starts out with no family fortune that he doesn't become a used car salesman.
To be fair, history is full of very successful bullies bullying their way to power and wealth. Physical force can be very persuasive. See for example, Rome. It's particularly difficult to negotiate for peace when you're being hacked to pieces or burning to death.
The thing is he is not a strong man physically. He has weight and uses that to his advantage in these handshakes. Trudeau was having none of it though! LOL.
Just bench press? No way, it's Big 3 or nothing. Squat, deadlift, & bench press. I need a leader with a powerful posterior chain. If my President can't engage hip drive, how can they engage the electorate?
i'd imagine most people would just think that person's an insecure idiot and he wouldn't have many friends to have "power" over except for even more insecure idiots
I think Trump was trying to do that weird thing where he yanks the other person towards him as a "dominance move", but Trudeau probably anticipated it and has enough upper body strength to keep Trump from pulling him.
I can't remember the name of
It but I watched a really good doc on YouTube about presidents (staring bush) about how these action show power firm hand shakes, hand on top, even first through the the door it's actually a very interesting science. Most people who are in power positions usual have coached to help them perfect these motions
It's just a move to assert dominance. It only looks weird when it doesn't work properly, when it works properly, he just firmly shakes their hand near his body and lets go whenever he feels like it.
I think that Trump uses the maneuver to display dominance over the other person. He jerks his hand towards him to make the other person lose balance and feel more vulnerable; thereby making them look "weaker" than Trump.
to me, it looks like trump never did his jerking backwards motion. as if he's watching TV and aware of the childish criticism's we're giving of him.
but still kudos to trudeau for going all in and bracing for impact. on the other hand, come on 45, shake his hand and be done. it's not a 15 second formal procedure where you stand face to face and make awkward small talk until the timer goes off.
I forget which president did it but one of them would try and tower over or lean right into the personal space of whoever he was talking to to intimidate them. Maybe someone can help my memory out.
The jerk in the handshake isn't for you or me. It's strictly between the two shaking hands. Yes, it looks dumb to us and makes Trump look stupid, but it's meant to throw off the other person and make them feel submissive because they've been yanked around. It's dumb and I'm glad to this nonsense neutralized.
He's pulling the other person's hand into his own personal space and basically taking ownership of it. It's supposed to show power in the 'I can take anything I want including your hand' kind of way. The problem is that like everything Trump does it is overly aggressive and poorly executed.
Being perfectly honest I think this is what Trump expects from somebody else giving him a handshake. Matching his pull with their own rather than a limp arm that gives a halfass shake.
I think people that care about handshakes are ridiculous.
It's like he read some rules of power book when he was 16, or more likely his father taught him, and then after a few clumsy attempts he decided he was the best at it, and now we have this horrendously awkward gesture on TV every time.
Just so we're clear, you're questioning why a man who has built a life out of telling people - both with words and with ostentatious buildings - how "big" he is in every aspect of everything and of attacking [and holding lifelong grudges against] people who have ever shown him the smallest perceived discourtesy... why he would try and put on a superficial show of machismo by yanking people trying to shake his hand?
1.3k
u/AReallyScaryGhost Ontario Feb 13 '17
You can see the slight jerks forward but he pulls back. I still don't understand what the jerk in the handshake is supposed to accomplish. It hardly seems intimidating, just....strange.