When Donald Trump met Angela Merkel at the White House, there was an awkward exchange noted by everyone, and that was Trump’s refusal to shake the German chancellor’s hand, a snub for all the world to see:
The exchange, according to BuzzFeed‘s David Mack, went like this:
Photographers: Can we get a handshake?
Merkel (to Trump): Do you want to have a handshake?
Trump: *no response*
Merkel: *makes awkward face*
The Guardian interpreted Trump’s expression, as a “half-smile, half-grimace.” Anyone who does not see the petulant child either has no children or no experience of them.
Salon’s Amanda Marcotte observed,
“Standing near Merkel must be Clinton-level uncomfortable for Trump. All that time around a smart, capable woman, when he has neither virtue.”
After all, as former Jimmy Kimmel writer Rick Rosner quipped, “Angela Merkel has a PhD in quantum chemistry. Donald Trump misspelled ‘tap.’”
For her part, Merkel was likely amused. She’s dealt with would-be tough guys all her political life and Trump is no tough guy. He just plays one in the reality show called The Trump Administration.
