I’m not suggesting that president Trump is a reasonable person, but honestly what is the reason he will not shake hands with the Chancellor of Germany in front of the cameras? It’s not the ayatollah of Iran we’re talking about here. 
For Trump, she’s worse.
As she’s a middle-aged woman?
why is she worse, please? It is hard for me to keep up with the republicans’ presidents animosities, they are so pervasive and irrational.
I’m not buying this story. He probably just didn’t hear her.
There is footage of them shaking hands earlier. Can we please stick to shitty things he’s actually done? There are plenty.
[quote=“Wakinyan, post:1, topic:782436”]
I’m not suggesting that president Trump is a reasonable person, but honestly what is the reason he will not shake hands with the Chancellor of Germany in front of the cameras? It’s not the ayatollah of Iran we’re talking about here. 
There is a lot of tension between the two. The reason he refused to shake hands seems to be he’s pissed off at her over her criticisms of his policies, especially his attempted Muslim ban (he of course probably has forgotten that he’s been highly critical of Germany her Merkel’s actions as far back as the election). It’s not that big a mystery…he’s an ass and thinks he can do things like this if he wants too (and never considers the difference between ‘can’ and ‘should’, apparently).
If you do a quick Google search there seems to be a lot of articles on this. Here are a few. Granted, all of these sites have a certain political slant, and the story essentially happened today, so perhaps there is no fire with all this smoke…but seems likely something happened.
He’s not in control of this. And he hates it.
ftr, they ask twice for a handshake, at the beginning and end. On both occasions Merkel tells him what they are asking.
Well, at first he loved her.
Then, TIME picked her as Person of the Year in 2015, which led to
Twitter crying.
Then there was her catastrophic mistake.
But hey, he’s doubling down on OBAMA TAPPPED MY PHONES!
No I understand that it’s getting news coverage. It was all over my Facebook feed when I woke up today. And as your cites demonstrate, no one has a story bigger than “He appeared to refuse her handshake.”
I’m saying that it’s most likely that it’s being misinterpreted, and just gives us all something pointless to yell about when we ought to be focused on shitty things he’s actually doing.
He should have got up and rubbed those shoulders as Bush did.
He should have gone All-Trump and gave her a ‘pussy-shake’.
He shook hands with Abe and Trudeau. He was hosting her- he should not have to be asked to extend a handshake to a visiting dignitary, a greeting he’s extended to others.
Little things like this in isolation is no big deal. Together they are indicators of how ill prepared he is to be the face of the US and how he is eroding good will from our allies, while saber rattling.
Rant. Pit.
My google-fu is failing me but there is a quite amusing photograph of Merkel adjusting President Bush’s tie at one of the summits, like he’s an untidy schoolboy.
And yes if Trump really did refuse to shake her hand that’s frankly unbelievable behaviour from a head of state, differences between them or not.
I don’t think that is true. There are as you know if you seen the footage numerous suggestions or call outs that they shake hands so the journalists can take a photograph of the handshake, which are ignored, while questions put forward in lower volume are answered (by both).
And then Merkel (who obviously hear the journalists) points out within talking distance to Trump that “they want us to shake hands”, but this is ignored by Trump.
Look at Merkel’s face when her suggestion is ignored. It’s not like “Oh, he can’t hear me”; it’s like “Oh, goodness, the president is ignoring me, well then.”
I would insist that Trump is aware of the fact that the journalists and the chancellor is suggesting a handshake for the cameras, and is ignoring it.
I did not know that there are footage of them shaking hands earlier. Thank you for pointing that out. Please provide links, not because I do not believe you, but because Google is presenting hits where they’re not shaking hands for my key words.
This footage of the leaders of two of the most influential leaders of the democraties of the world is flabbergasting to me. Please allow me to create a room on the internet to discuss it, more or less shitty.
As a matter of fact, I don’t think you realize the importance of diplomatic code. I think this behaviour on the part of “leader of the free world” may be of vast importance, much more so than a ten year old “pussy grabbing” content or a casual tweet.
That is why I’m asking. Not because I have any interest to bring attention to “shitty things the American president did today” – we have an infinite stream of those and I don’t play a part of that – but because this is something else. This seems to be footage of the President of America refusing to shake hands with the Chancellor of Germany. Do I really need to explain why this would be important?
Childish jackass.
This is what we can expect from a man who is unfit to stand shoulder to shoulder with actual world leaders.
Unfortunately, based on Trump’s past behavior, it’s all too believable.
No, this is not a rant. I’m honestly and sincerely wondering why the president of America is refusing a handshake with the chancellor. – My entrance into this question, so to speak, is that there must be a political or historical issue here that I am not aware of. (I’m not talking about America’s history, but rather Trump’s, or his campaign’s, or whatever’s.) But I put my factual question in Great Debates because I assumed that there is not possible to get a factual answer to my question, but knowledgeable speculation from especially Americans.
I am disappointed that this was put in the pit. It was not a rant.
I think we can safely infer that Angela Merkel doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
You can see how that would be problematic to Trump.