# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/41 "2017-03-18T04:35:55Z")
The man has the manners of a gnat. He was raised in a barn. A very expensive barn, but a barn all the same. How many days until November 2020? ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/42 "2017-03-18T09:16:18Z")
> [@Not\_Carlson](#): > > Well, . . . (cough) . . . that was awkward. > > 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.” > 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. > 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. Merkel is not a head of state, so maybe that’s why she was not worthy of a handshake. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/43 "2017-03-18T09:36:32Z")
Merkel is 1. A woman 2. Who he is not capable of expressing dominance over Simple as that. ---
**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, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/44 "2017-03-18T12:43:15Z")
> [@Uniqueorn](#): > > Merkel is not a head of state, so maybe that’s why she was not worthy of a handshake. 😛 Ignorance fought! And it was mine! Thank you. I did find this of interest in my hurried Wikipedia checking. [Leader of the Free World:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_World#Leader_of_the_Free_World) > [@](#): > > Following 2016 United States presidential election, Merkel has been widely ascribed the title of “leader of the free world” by opinion pieces in the American news media, following the diminution of worldwide respect for the office of the President after the election of Donald Trump. This could go some way to explaining Mr. Pouty’s behavior. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/45 "2017-03-18T13:20:11Z")
> [@Not\_Carlson](#): > > Ignorance fought! And it was mine! Thank you. > > I did find this of interest in my hurried Wikipedia checking. > > [Leader of the Free World:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_World#Leader_of_the_Free_World) > This could go some way to explaining Mr. Pouty’s behavior. Wait until tonight when Agent Orange Jackass watches the [CNN report on The Most Powerful Man in the World](http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/03/17/exp-cnn-creative-marketing-putin-replay.cnn). I hope he blows a major artery. On second though, perhaps he’ll simply nod in agreement. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/46 "2017-03-18T13:29:18Z")
My guess is the meeting didn’t go the way he wanted. Maybe she wasn’t having the Trump charm? Or maybe she didn’t suck up enough? Or at all? And maybe he doesn’t fancy a mature woman trying to school him, no matter how minimal or needed, on some of him questionable stances? So he was pissy at the end and wouldn’t shake hands. Like a petulant child. An embarrassment, on the world stage. Can you image the outrage if OBama had done such a thing? Sometimes it seems like they almost _need_ to parade their hypocrisy, for all to see. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/47 "2017-03-18T13:41:57Z")
> [@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. Also, because it would show that her hands were bigger. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/48 "2017-03-18T15:38:12Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > As she’s a middle-aged woman? And she’s about a million times smarter than he is. She probably even reads books that aren’t all about her. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/49 "2017-03-18T16:00:47Z")
I wonder if Merkel warned or made a comment about Putin to Trump. Merkel and Putin are two years apart in age. Merkel grew up in East Germany. Putin lived and worked in East Germany as a KGB agent. Merkel is fluent in Russian. Putin is fluent in German. They speak fluently without the need for translators, often able to correct translators. [Merkel and Putin have a long standing political relationship](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-merkel-putin-insight-idUSBREA260E120140307). I have no evidence, but it wouldn’t come as a complete surprise to me if Merkel said something to Trump about the games he appears to be playing with Putin. Perhaps suggesting that Trump is being naive, even stupid, in his approach to Russia. Perhaps Merkel knows something of Trump’s financial involvement with Russia. I can image Trump becoming offended and afraid of what Merkel might know. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/50 "2017-03-18T16:28:52Z")
My own thought about all this, is that it’s confusing to pretty much the whole world, especially the Press, and the experienced politicians. But the thing I keep coming back to, is that Trump came into the Presidency of the most powerful nation on Earth, with absolutely zero experience or training about the ways and means of standard international (or national) political behaviors. In other words, if this WASN’T Trump, the handshakes and when they did and didn’t happen, would have all sorts of meanings. But since this is a guy who is completely out of his element, attributing any thought or intent or political craft to his actions, is probably a mistake. Oh, and by the way, all the claims we’ve heard for decades now, that Business training and experience translates easily to success in political activities, is rapidly and thoroughly being proven to be the complete delusional bollocks I’ve always told people it is. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/51 "2017-03-18T16:52:20Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Perhaps Merkel knows something of Trump’s financial involvement with Russia. I suspect most of the major Euro nations know way more about Trump’s involvement with Russia than he wants to have advertised. Today, Trump’s on Twitter, whining about how Germany owes the US a load of money. I suspect yesterday’s pout was because he tried to shake Merkel down over NATO and she told him a few facts of life. > **[Trump: Germany Owes 'Vast Sums Of Money' To NATO, U.S.](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-germany-nato-funding_n_58cd3ec9e4b0be71dcf52c51?qc6xmw9wgs98uxr=&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009)** > > His demands came the morning after he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (Tweets aggregated at that site) > [@Huffpo link above](#): > > ``` > Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Germany owes..... > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017 > > ...vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany! > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017 > > ``` Link to Twitter feed - > I like that Twitter is gradually ceasing to be a safe space for Donald. ---
**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, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/52 "2017-03-18T17:21:55Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I wonder if Merkel warned or made a comment about Putin to Trump. > > Merkel and Putin are two years apart in age. > > Merkel grew up in East Germany. Putin lived and worked in East Germany as a KGB agent. > Merkel is fluent in Russian. Putin is fluent in German. They speak fluently without the need for translators, often able to correct translators. > > [Merkel and Putin have a long standing political relationship](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-merkel-putin-insight-idUSBREA260E120140307). > > I have no evidence, but it wouldn’t come as a complete surprise to me if Merkel said something to Trump about the games he appears to be playing with Putin. Perhaps suggesting that Trump is being naive, even stupid, in his approach to Russia. Perhaps Merkel knows something of Trump’s financial involvement with Russia. > > I can image Trump becoming offended and afraid of what Merkel might know. I had a snarky post lined up, but I’m an old Cold Warrior and find that chilling. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/53 "2017-03-18T17:54:57Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > 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. > [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > My own thought about all this, is that it’s confusing to pretty much the whole world, especially the Press, and the experienced politicians. But the thing I keep coming back to, is that Trump came into the Presidency of the most powerful nation on Earth, with absolutely zero experience or training about the ways and means of standard international (or national) political behaviors. > > In other words, if this WASN’T Trump, the handshakes and when they did and didn’t happen, would have all sorts of meanings. But since this is a guy who is completely out of his element, attributing any thought or intent or political craft to his actions, is probably a mistake. Yeah, it may be more of a matter of that he’d rather not do something that others tell him, and thinking I didn’t have to when I was a mere business owner why \*should \*I now that I’m POTUS? Also, he is of the philosophy that getting away with being dismissive of others is proof of your power. > [@](#): > > Oh, and by the way, all the claims we’ve heard for decades now, that Business training and experience translates easily to success in political activities, is rapidly and thoroughly being proven to be the complete delusional bollocks I’ve always told people it is. Well, I’ll hold out for the possibility that a _really_ self-made business magnate who had to make his first sales out of the trunk of the car he lived in, or a star CEO who had to be answerable to boards and stockholders on his way up, would know and do better. ---
**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 18, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/54 "2017-03-18T18:02:43Z")
Didn’t Dubya and his Harvard MBA already prove that theory to be horseshit? ---
**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 18, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/55 "2017-03-18T18:04:34Z")
…and before him, Herbert Hoover was the only Prez with a big business background. I seem to recall reading about some economic unpleasantness during his term, too. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/56 "2017-03-18T18:36:56Z")
Obviously he is very deliberately refusing to shake hands. He doesn’t even look at her, let alone smile. I’ve never been the bigliest billionaire deal-maker in the galaxy, so I don’t know what clever strategic ploy his refusal accomplished that couldn’t have been done in other ways. If he lost his temper in private, wouldn’t it be best to cover it up with smiles afterword? Does he think Merkel will cave in on negotiations so she can get a handshake next time? If he just wanted to insult her, he could have Tweeted “Merkel’s pussy is so old, I didn’t even want to grab it! SAD!” — his fan club would have lapped it up. It’s just too much to believe the President of the United States would behave like a petulant toddler throwing a tantrum. Now I’m starting to get afraid that the whole pantomine was directed at Kim Jong-un — Trump wants Kim to think Trump really is a petulant toddler, thus giving his upcoming nuclear bluff(?) more credibility. But was it just an act? Where’s the Doomsday Clock sitting now? Has the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists adjusted it for the risks of the Trump-Bannon temperaments? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/57 "2017-03-18T18:37:03Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > …and before him, Herbert Hoover was the only Prez with a big business background. I seem to recall reading about some economic unpleasantness during his term, too. Fake news. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/58 "2017-03-18T23:33:42Z")
> [@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. Don’t worry; even in the Pit if there is real analysis to be done, it will be done. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/59 "2017-03-19T03:13:53Z")
Was his attempt to get her to either laugh or join in on the ‘Obama wiretapped us both!’ dialog before or after his refusal to shake her hand like a decent and civilized person? B/c the more I read about this visit and his boorish behavior the more I suspect he hoped to use her having been spied on to bolster his story about being wiretapped. Her look of surprise when he mentioned it didn’t do him any favors and he prefers women who do what he wants. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handshake-handshake-they-want-us-to-shake-hands-trump-refusing-to-shake-hands-with-merkel/782436/60 "2017-03-19T06:31:39Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > 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) He spent a period of the campaign saying Hillary Clinton would be “America’s Angela Merkel,” so I’m sure he’s plugged into it. (There’s no other reason to say that. Nobody else in the USA cares about Merkel one way or the other. There weren’t, like, people who heard that as meaning that Hillary would handle eurozone crises poorly.) [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=2) [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=4)