A visual history of Trump's most awkward handshakes

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump.

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

published 4 July 2017

The art of the handshake is a difficult one to perfect. Growing up, we're often taught that the best kind of handshake is one administered with a firm grip, accompanied by brief pump and a quick but direct dose of eye contact. Don't go limp like a fish, they say. But don't squeeze so hard your new acquaintance loses all feeling in their fingers, either. There are a lot of rules when meeting someone new, and in many ways, a handshake is an exercise in moderation and personal judgment. Indeed, your unique handshake style says a lot about you.

Which is why, perhaps, we're so obsessed with President Trump's bewildering glad-handing technique. It's been analyzed and critiqued from all angles, both mocked as weak and lauded as legendary. And since he assumed office, he's had many a strange handshake (and hand-holding) encounter with fellow world leaders.

Some of his handshakes are unnecessarily aggressive, even causing the person on the receiving end to nearly lose their footing. In rare instances, Trump's handshakes are fleetingly tender, like when he held Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hand for a prolonged period and then complimented his "strong hands." And nearly all of the president's handshakes are awkward enough to make onlookers cringe.

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Here, we see Macron refuse to let Trump emerge dominant from this white-knuckled grip. The fact that it's not a one-sided yank of an arm makes it less cringe-worthy than some of Trump's other handshaking experiences, though the begrudging semi-smiles on both men's faces up the ante on awkwardness. The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart reported that Macron had been warned in advance about Trump's handshakes.

What started out as a handshake between Trump and Modi after a joint press conference slowly morphed into a hug, scoring this handshake major tenderness points. Trump gives Modi's arm a slight signature yank before they mutually agree to go in for an embrace, but compared to Trump's white-knuckled grips with other world leaders this is about as non-aggressive as a Trump handshake gets. The tentative back-patting does make this awkward though.

This handshake manages to rate pretty low across two of the three ratings thanks to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's quick reflexes. When Trump goes in for the grab, Trudeau strategically places his other hand on Trump's shoulder, effectively preventing Trump from holding him in too long or too close, or yanking Trudeau's hand too hard. The look Trudeau gives to Trump's extended hand later in their meeting, however, reveals just how weird the whole ordeal really was.

This little encounter happened way back when now-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Trump were just Republican presidential candidates. While onstage at a Republican presidential debate, Trump extended his hand, as if to give Carson a high-five. But then Trump went in for a handshake and ended up grabbing Carson's thumb, which he gave a quick shake before retreating. This one wins extra points for awkwardness because it happened in the middle of a live televised debate.

Trump has a crowd to attend to while he's shaking Vice President Mike Pence's hand, so their handshake is relatively brief by Trump's standards, though perhaps on the longer side for everyone else. Trump does fit in his signature arm-jerk, dragging Pence forward just a step. He turns back to the people before letting go of Pence's hand, letting the vice president escape before Trump doles out a hand pat or a bizarre comment on Pence's grip.

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