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Social media was awash with jokes Saturday afternoon after the president-elect Donald Trump and the French president Emmanuel Macron exchanged one of their memorably long white-knuckle handshakes as they met France.
In front the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, Trump and Macron greeted each other with a 10-second long handshake in which Trump assertively grabbed the French president’s hand and squeezed it with gusto.
At one point, when Macron appeared to try to pull away, Trump tightened his grip and pulled Macron closer for a photo op. After posing for photos, Macron took a firm hand and shook the president’s hand, ushering him into the Elysée Palace.
It was a familiar greeting that some remember as a staple of their relationship while Trump was president from 2017 to 2020.
“I missed the Trump-Macron handshake,” TV personality Piers Morgan wrote about X.
While meeting in early 2017, Trump and Macron exchanged an equally awkward handshake in front of the press where Trump tried to back down only for the French president to tighten his grip.
Later that year, the two held the handshake for an incredible 29 seconds with both men refusing to break away lightly.
2018 Macron left a visible mark on the hand of the then American president after handling.
“Welcome to the latest round of the Trump/Macron handshake saga…” one person wrote on X in response to Saturday’s handshake variation.
“It’s the handshake again” another person commented.
“Handshake!! I admit I missed *this* part of the circus,” another X user said.
Trump is known for his firm handshake, which some have seen as a method of establishing dominance over another person.
But Macron and Trump’s greeting is especially significant because the French president told the newspaper in 2017 that the handshake was “not innocent” and represented a “moment of truth.”