The jury is out on who won the handshake round — Putin or Trump?
President Donald Trump greeted Russian president Vladimir Putin with a handshake that was watched closely by the world and decoded instantly by the social media body language experts as the ‘alpha-male’ power move. As the two leaders shook hands, Trump pulled in Putin’s hand in his characteristic way of shaking hands to show dominance, though many said Putin had the “alpha top dog, knuckles up” hand, proving dominance over Trump as his hand was over Trump’s hand and not the other way round.
How tall is Putin?
The height difference between Putin and Trump was another stark feature that caught attention as the two leaders met after 2018. Vladimir Putin is officially 5 feet 7 inches tall, while Trump is 6 feet 3 inches tall. But the visible height difference was not as much as their recorded heights. This triggered theories that Putin uses lifts to increase his actual height which could be as low as 5 feet 2 inches. “Trump is 22 cm taller than putin (190 vs. 168), yet in the photo they appear almost the same height — Putin wearing heels again?” one wrote. “Putin is supposed to be 5’7 and Trump 6’3. One of them is lying about their height…” another wrote.
B-2 bomber steals the show
Social media pundits noted that the handshake of the two world leaders was overshadowed by the flyover of American military planes including B2 stealth bomber that passed overhead. Putin joined Trump in his presidential limo as they head to their meeting. “The move is unusual, particularly for an adversary. When Trump wanted North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to join him in his car during their meeting in Singapore in 2018, aides talked him out of it,” CNN noted”But this is a different era for Trump, with different advisers and objectives. And while their actual face-to-face meeting has been expanded to include advisers, it’s an indication that Trump and Putin will still have a moment to themselves — even if it’s only for a short car ride,” CNN added.
