A lip reader has had a crack decoding Donald Trump’s five-word ‘threat’ to Emmanuel Macron.
The US president brought back his infamously lengthy, weird handshake when he met with the French president at a global summit in Egypt yesterday (13 October).
Lasting approximately 26 seconds, the bizarre handshake took place while posing for photos and wasn’t just a simple, straight-up shake, but had the leaders changing grips, pulling at one another and well, at some points, just holding hands.
It almost seemed to be a bit of a battle for who could be the most physically dominant, following years of a rollercoaster of tension between Trump and Macron.
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And a professional lip reader reckons they were making subtle comments and even threats towards each other during that tense moment.
Monday’s summit saw global leaders discussing the future of Gaza, following the ceasefire.
The two leaders had recently had a rather hostile interaction last month when Macron joined other nations in recognising the state of Palestine while Trump suggested doing so ‘honours Hamas’.
And when they met with others yesterday as hostages were released, they apparently ended up agreeing to continue their chat privately.
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“Nice to see you, so you agreed,” Trump asked the Frenchman, according to lip reader Nicola Hickling (per Mirror US).
Macron responded facing away from the camera as the American seemed to ask: “Is it genuine?”
“Of course,” the French president responded, as Trump appeared to continue: “Okay, so now I want to know why. You hurt me. I already know. I am making peace.”
Then as Macron tapped the leader’s hand, looked down at it and apparently said ‘excuse me’, Trump seemingly tightened his grip and kept the handshake going.
“Let’s handle this behind closed doors,” the Frenchman seemed to say.
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“I only hurt the other,” Trump is said to have fired back.
But Macron apparently had hostile words of his own as he went on to say: “I see. We will see about that – you will see what is about to happen.”
And the US leader is then said to have jousted: “I’d like to see you do it.
“Do it. I’ll see you in a bit.”
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The nearly half-a-minute long handshake isn’t exactly a new thing for Macron and Trump and users on social media were quick to poke fun at the ‘tradition’.
“Diplomacy, but make it WWE,” one wrote as others said they were having an ‘arm-wrestle battle’.
Topics: Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron, Politics
Jess Battison