Thread by @DrGJackBrown

1 of 31/  THREAD: Body Language Analysis No. 4692: A Crucial Set of Behavior Tells Conveyed by Donald Trump's Handshake
#BodyLanguage #BodyLanguageExpert #EmotionalIntelligence #BehaviorAnalysis #NonverbalCommunication

2 of 31/  Last week, to no one's surprise, Donald Trump used CNN's "Town Hall" as a 70 minute infomercial, reiterating his Fascist stances.

3 of 31/  Captured in the above image, at the conclusion of the approximately 70 minute event, Donald Trump initiated a handshake with the moderator, Kaitlan Collins.

4 of 31/  The body language of handshaking is often grossly oversimplified — and can truly fill a book. Donald Trump has several types of handshakes. What follows is a body language analysis of a crucial characteristic of one of Donald Trump's more common handshake variations.

5 of 31/  Note how Trump pulls the hand of Ms. Collins towards him — in close proximity to his torso. Trump exhibits this same characteristic when shaking hands with all genders — but much more often — and with other additional behaviors with women.

6 of 31/  This sub-behavior of pulling the other person's hand is a dominance display. Men who *routinely* pull another person's hand close to their torso during handshaking are signaling an extremely high preponderance of Narcissist Personality Disorder.

7 of 31/  Here, Trump shakes James Comey's hand in 2017, three days after Trump's Inauguration — pulling the taller man's hand close to his torso.

8 of 31/  Note also how Trump also touches Comey on Comey's shoulder/upper back. This is a classic false affection.

9 of 31/  It's one thing if you know someone well (AND affection has been established), but such a relationship is not true in most political contexts and it's certainly not true between Trump and Comey.

This adjunct behavior is another classic dominance display.

10 of 31/  In this moment, Trump shakes-pulls Neil Gorsuch's hand in this same manner on 10 April 2017, just after Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court.

11 of 31/ Trump pulled Gorsuch (mildly-to-moderately) physically off-balance during this narcissistic, dominance display.

12 of 31/  Trump shook Boris Johnson's hand in a similar pulling-yanking Johnson's hand in this close-to-his-torso manner at the UN in the month prior to Johnson becoming Prime Minister.

13 of 31/ Note also how Trump elevates Johnson's arm. This weakens Johnson's position grip and puts Trump in more control.

14 of 31/Trump even uses both of his arms to do so. Trump doesn't have the arm strength to lift most other people's hand-arm with his hand on top (if he did, this would give him an even greater dominance-control), so he nearly always has his hand on the bottom.

15 of 31/Now let's go back and look at Donald Trump's handshake with Kaitlan Collins at the end of CNN's recent "Town Hall" event in more detail (and his handshakes with other women).

16 of 31/ Compare the angle of extension of both Trump's and Collin's elbows. Collin's is nearly straight (~170º) while Trump's is considerably bent (~115º).

17 of 31/ Trump is pulling Collin's arm-hand close to his torso. He's also weaking her grip (and demonstrating his dominance) by elevating her arm-hand.

18 of 31/ Note how in this moment, when Trump is shaking then Prime Minister Theresa May's hand, he's again, pulling her hand close to his torso. Notice also, Trump's bending the then Prime Minister's wrist.

19 of 31/ This is not a gentle hand-holding which men often exhibited toward women from yesteryear — this is a tight grip with forced flexion of Theresa May's wrist.

20 of 31/ This wrist-bending is a sometimes-additional component of a Narcissistic, power-display handshake. Forced bending the wrist further subordinates the other person, and, depending on the other person's age, angle of wrist, force applied, etc., is often painful.

21 of 31/ Here, Trump shakes hands with then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel — pulling her arm to his torso (and as he did with James Comey [above] and many others again displays shoulder touching-false affection-dominance adjunct).

22 of 31/ Note Trump's simultaneous jaw-clenching, nostril flaring, and lip-thinning (adrenaline surge associated with his frustration and anger).

23 of 31/  Yet another example of this narcissistic-dominance handshake — Trump pulls Hillary Clinton's hand-arm close to his torso during their second debate at Washington University (9 October 2016).

24 of 31/ In this bizarre left hand handshake (occurring immediately *after* another initial handshake — and a hug + a kiss), Trump pulls Brigitte Macron's hand — not only pulling it toward his shoulder/torso — but lifting her arm-hand much higher and squeezing her hand/fingers.

25 of 31/  This next image of Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi was taken on 20 January 2017 just prior to his inauguration.

26 of 31/  Donald Trump performs the triple manipulatory tactics of pulling Nancy Pelosi's hand-arm close to his torso, lifting her arm to considerable and uncomfortable height, and bending her wrist in two planes (both in flexion and laterally). This photo is painful to see.

27 of 31/  Trump also invades Nancy Pelosi's personal space (intimate space) by first standing too close (which he does with many/most women) — as well as leaning forward with his waist/torso and neck/head (note Pelosi's backward lean).

28 of 31/  SUMMARY: When men shake hands by pulling the other person's hand-arm close to their torso, they're exhibiting an overt dominance/power display.

Such behavior, consistently displayed, is a strong indication of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

29 of 31/  Crucially, men who display this behavior when shaking women's hands are not only narcissistic — but with extremely high incidence are misogynistic and view women as objects to be used and manipulated.

30 of 31/  More specifically, men who shake women's hands in this manner exhibit a very high correlation with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of women.

31 of 31/ Interested in learning Body Language/Nonverbal Communication & Behavior Analysis in Group-Zoom sessions? We'll be meeting the 2nd & 4th Tuesday of each month (90 minutes/session for 1 year, 36 hours total). Please email me at [e-mail] for details.

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