# Handshake! Handshake? "They want us to shake hands." Trump refusing to shake hands with Merkel **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436 "2017-03-17T20:28:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/21 "2017-03-17T22:01:05Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > 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. Well, he has a history of being a petty childish asshole, so there’s that. Which is obviously the case here. He hates the press. He hates having to “make nice” with people he disagrees with. So he sits there and looks like a 5 year old pouting. He is unfit. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/22 "2017-03-17T22:07:04Z")
Because Trump is our own ZPGZealot? ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/23 "2017-03-17T22:07:40Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Well, he has a history of being a petty childish asshole, so there’s that. Which is obviously the case here. He hates the press. He hates having to “make nice” with people he disagrees with. So he sits there and looks like a 5 year old pouting. He is unfit. Sorry for saying this, I’m not attacking you my friend, but you illustrate that my answers are rants, not my question, and so my thread should not be shoved into the pit. I’m still 😕 why Trump seemingly refusing to shake hands with the most powerful leader of Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/24 "2017-03-17T22:09:03Z")
He’s also an admitted germaphobe. But I choose to believe that he’s just a petulant five year old. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/25 "2017-03-17T22:17:38Z")
It may be that he knows his base – the Toads of the Short Forest – hate and disdain sophisticated educated and intelligent European leaders. OTOH, he wants to take tea with the Queen of England, because his base just LOVES queens and princes and princesses. They have seen them in th’ Disney movies. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/26 "2017-03-17T22:18:05Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Well, he has a history of being a petty childish asshole, so there’s that. Which is obviously the case here. He hates the press. He hates having to “make nice” with people he disagrees with. So he sits there and looks like a 5 year old pouting. He is unfit. > [@Wakinyan](#): > > Sorry for saying this, I’m not attacking you my friend, but you illustrate that my answers are rants, not my question, and so my thread should not be shoved into the pit. I’m still 😕 why Trump seemingly refusing to shake hands with the most powerful leader of Europe. Uh, yeah, I know. Nothing there is an attack on me. There was also nothing in my post saying your thread did/did not belong in The Pit. That is above my paygrade. I was commenting on the behavior of Trump and how no one should be surprised when he does something like this. But feel free to keep looking for some deeper meaning. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/27 "2017-03-17T22:25:33Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > 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. There’s a picture in this article of them shaking hands when she arrived. [http://www.lbc.co.uk/hot-topics/us-election/awkward-donald-trump-wont-shake-hands-with-merkel/](http://www.lbc.co.uk/hot-topics/us-election/awkward-donald-trump-wont-shake-hands-with-merkel/) And here’s one in the East Room: [http://ktla.com/2017/03/17/no-oval-office-handshake-takes-place-between-trump-merkel/](http://ktla.com/2017/03/17/no-oval-office-handshake-takes-place-between-trump-merkel/) ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/28 "2017-03-17T22:25:57Z")
Yes, well, you’re probably right **leftfield6**. [sigh] Still a bit disappointed because I was hoping to get some ignorance fought. But I guess we all live in a pit these days. Good, good, **Falchion** , all is well. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/29 "2017-03-17T22:28:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > He’s also an admitted germaphobe. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/30 "2017-03-17T22:29:44Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I think we can safely infer that Angela Merkel doesn’t suffer fools gladly. > > You can see how that would be problematic to Trump. Zing! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/31 "2017-03-17T22:32:15Z")
Look at his body language–stooped, pouty. The man is a big baby, without a single diplomatic or humble bone in his body. The man may have a huge ego, but he’s really all id. Or as the joke circulating goes: Today, we saw the leader of the Free World hold court in the Oval Office. And Trump happened to be there, too. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/32 "2017-03-17T23:11:14Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > why is she worse, please? It is hard for me to keep up with the republicans’ presidents animosities, they are so pervasive and irrational. The right loathes Merkel for flooding Europe with immigrants. The vitriol they use against her is fairly impressive, calling her a quisling and a race traitor and so on. I don’t know how much of this Trump is plugged into, but with Bannon in his ear one shouldn’t be surprised. See [Eurabia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurabia) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/33 "2017-03-17T23:16:47Z")
He just didn’t want to rape her, is all. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/34 "2017-03-18T00:18:09Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > 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. Back when I was being taught Comportment (they used to teach manners in schools!) the rule was that a gentleman always waits until a lady initiates a handshake. However, he’s no gentleman, so he was just being a boor, his default mode. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/35 "2017-03-18T01:47:35Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > He should have got up and rubbed those shoulders as Bush did. How the world changes. If you had suggested, ten years ago, that i would someday have nostalgia for the time when the most embarrassing thing the President did on the international stage was give the Chancellor of Germany an inappropriate shoulder rub, i would have thought you were crazy. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/36 "2017-03-18T01:51:11Z")
My first thought was that he is becoming paranoid of being filmed shaking hands. He frequently uses the “asshole bro” style [Washington Post story on his handshaking style](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/10/investigating-president-trumps-weird-habit-of-yanking-peoples-hands-in-photo-ops/) ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/37 "2017-03-18T03:40:57Z")
Well, . . . (cough) . . . that was awkward. > [@Kyomara](#): > > I’m not buying this story. He probably just didn’t hear her. > > There is footage of them shaking hands earlier. . . . As others have observed, he was clearly prompted by reporters to shake hands, and Merkel leaned over to prompt him herself, but he refused to even look at her, throughout the whole clip. Like a petulant child. I have to assume that, for whatever reason, he intended it as a deliberate snub, especially as he pointedly told the reporters “Send a good picture back to Germany, please. Make sure.” > [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > ftr, they ask twice for a handshake, at the beginning and end. On both occasions Merkel tells him what they are asking. It seems that the first part of the clip has been edited in to show the end of the sequence from a different angle. But it is still very clear to me that Trump chose to ignore the promptings from both the reporters and Merkel. > [@Kyomara](#): > > . . . we ought to be focused on shitty things he’s actually doing. Agreed. This is relatively low on the scale of troubling and bizarre things that Trump does, and the media should not get distracted from the more serious dangers of the current presidency. But a rather obvious snubbing of a visiting head of state certainly is significant news, and could be an indication of things to come. Still, seeing as they seem to have gotten onto better terms by the joint press conference, for now I’ll just chalk it up to another display of Trump behaving in his douchnozzle default mode. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/38 "2017-03-18T03:43:42Z")
> [@steatopygia](#): > > My first thought was that he is becoming paranoid of being filmed shaking hands. > He frequently uses the “asshole bro” style > > [Washington Post story on his handshaking style](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/10/investigating-president-trumps-weird-habit-of-yanking-peoples-hands-in-photo-ops/) My thought was one of his handlers advised him not to shake her hand because they knew it would be atrocious to have cameras capture this hulking orange baboob hurking and jerking a small 62-year-old woman across the room like he’s done with every other world leader he’s greeted in DC. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/39 "2017-03-18T03:47:25Z")
My WAG is that he didn’t do it specifically because it was the press corp asking him to do it. Dude does _not_ like the media. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/40 "2017-03-18T04:24:27Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > My thought was one of his handlers advised him not to shake her hand because they knew it would be atrocious to have cameras capture this hulking orange baboob hurking and jerking a small 62-year-old woman across the room like he’s done with every other world leader he’s greeted in DC. Except Justin Trudeau, who clearly wasn’t having any of that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436.md?page=3)