Donald Trumpappeared unusually 'timid' when he greetedKing Charles in Washingtonon Monday, 27 April, with a body language expert claiming the US president's movements suggested he saw the monarch as the more important figure. The comments followed footage of Trump welcoming King Charles and Queen Camilla outside the White House at the start of the King's state visit to the United States.
The meeting on the South Lawn marked the public opening of a four day American tour for theKing and Queen, including talks in Washington DC, a visit to New York's 9/11 memorial and community engagements in Virginia. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted the royal couple at the White House before those engagements, in a carefully staged moment watched closely on both sides of the Atlantic.
The encounter has already been dissected frame by frame.Inbaal Honigman, a body language expert speaking to theDaily Starin collaboration with casino.org/us, said Trump's demeanour in front of King Charles looked strikingly different from his usual self.
'As President Trump welcomes King Charles to the United States, he displays body language never before seen during his presidency,' she said. In her reading, the man who likes to project strength suddenly appeared unusually deferential.
Honigman pointed first to the way Trump and Melania approached the King and Queen. She said their heads appeared slightly bowed and their pace slower than usual, while Trump's steps looked 'small, measured, careful', a sharp contrast with the swagger that often defines his public appearances.
His arms, usually in constant motion during public events, stayed still at his sides. For Honigman, that suggested nerves rather than dominance. 'Those small steps, paired with his motionless arms by his sides, reveal a timid Trump, keen to make a good impression,' she argued. 'He feels like King Charles is more important than him, a sentiment Trump very rarely expresses.'
Body language analysis is inherently subjective, and Trump has not commented on what he was thinking or feeling during the greeting. Even so, the contrast with his usual rally stage confidence is clear enough to have fuelled the debate.
Honigman did not suggest Trump stayed in that mode for long. She argued that the moment he saw King Charles step from the car, he moved quickly to reassert himself.
'The moment that Trump spots the King emerge from the vehicle, he steps forward, his head lowered in humility,' she said. She added that he then thrust his arm out for a handshake while they were still some distance apart, as though keen to seize control of the moment.
In Honigman's reading, that move was part courtesy and part calculation. Trump was 'taking no chances', she said, and appeared determined to look every inch the world leader in the presence of monarchy.
Source: International Business Times UK
