Maybe it's something they teach you at 1980s Business Tycoon School. Maybe it's out of Roy Cohn's Guide to Making a Few Friends But Mostly Alienating People. Wherever he got it, President Trump has a seriously bizarre handshake. But "firm" doesn't seem to do it justice. Trump is only satisfied with a handshake if he feels like he just crushed the other person's knuckles—and, transitively, their spirit—with his Tremendously Normal-Sized Hands. That was on display again this morning, when Trump met newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron, and the two were halfway to arm wrestling while the assembled press cameras flashed wildly:
If it's hard to see how tense it was there, here's an account from a reporter in the room:
Perhaps a seasoned political pundit with a sophisticated understanding of geopolitical dynamics might say this was an attempt to intimidate a man who just trounced a would-be ally of Trump's, Marine Le Pen of the National Front, who also ran on a racially charged brand of populism. They would be wrong. This is solely about Trump's crippling need to dominate people.
How do we know? He does it with, like, every world leader—and even his own Supreme Court nominee:
Seriously, though. What is this guy's deal?
Update (1:57 PM): This is insane. At a follow-up meet and greet with a larger group of NATO leaders, Macron opted to greet German Chancellor Angela Merkel first. When he got to Trump, the President of the United States attempted to amputate his arm at the shoulder:
This is not how people act. Saying it's childish is unfair to children.
Jack Holmes is a senior staff writer at Esquire, where he covers politics and sports. He also hosts Unapocalypse, a show about solutions to the climate crisis.
