French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte’s visit to the White House on Tuesday turned out to be an eventful and incredibly awkward day for US President Donald Trump. In turn, talk show hosts and social media comics had a field day.
The most painful moment to watch – we’ll go in order of most awkward to least – was certainly when Trump brushed dandruff off Macron’s shoulder (video above). The moment occurred when the pair were addressing the press at the Oval Office before a meeting.
“They’re all saying what a great relationship we have, and they’re actually correct,” Trump said to Macron. “We do have a very special relationship. In fact, I’ll get that little piece of dandruff off – we have to make him perfect. He is perfect.” And then Trump turned towards Macron, and brushed his shoulder. It happened.
But before Trump attempted this puzzling display of dominance MSNBC’s cameras captured another excruciating moment for the US President. This time he was trying yet again to take his wife Melania’s hand. Let’s just say Trump really tried his best. She resisted with all her might (video below), but ultimately Trump succeeded, though only after some fumbling fuelled by a never-say-die attitude.
Trevor Noah, from The Daily Show, edited the footage to create a more “accurate” video (below) by dubbing it with music from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.
It wasn’t the first time Melania has resisted Trump’s attempts to take her hand. There have been several such efforts captured on camera before, during their visit to Israel and to Rome.
Naturally, the late-night talk-show hosts milked these moments and dished out joke after joke about Trump’s cringeworthy day. While Noah took on Trump and Macron’s “Brotherhood of the travelling France”, Jimmy Kimmel focused on the now-infamous dandruff moment. “That’s really what orangutans do, they groom each other,” Kimmel said, noting that “a little touch of dandruff-shaming didn’t put their love-fest to an end”. You can watch their segments below.
Stephen Colbert quipped, “Mr President: Macron is still standing next to you smiling after hanging out with you for two days. That’s not dandruff. That’s cocaine!”
He didn’t let the hand-holding incident slide, either. “Trump tried to hold Melania’s hand and she is not having it man,” said The Late Show host. “He’s like trying to arouse a dead trout. You can’t blame her though. I mean, she watches 60 Minutes, she knows where that hand has been.”
However, as a person on social media pointed out, perhaps it wasn’t such a bad day for Trump. After all, Macron very willingly agreed to take his hand, as you can see in the video below. Though, of course, we should point out that this was before Trump decided to groom Macron.
And finally, here’s some of the wit on Twitter:
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