Trump

King Charles becomes latest public figure to 'win' the Trump handshake battle

Related video: King Charles and Queen Camilla visit White House beehive with Donald Trump and Melania

Margo Martin

There are many things which make US president Donald Trump, Trump – such as his orange complexion, his social media rants, and his intense handshakes.

And in terms of the latter – a sharp tug considered by many to be a way of asserting dominance – people eventually cottoned on to the Republican’s approach, with French president Emmanuel Macron playing the 79-year-old at his own game across multiple meetings.

Now, Trump has faced a new challenger: King Charles III.

The King and Queen Camilla are currently in America on a four-day state visit, and when Donald and Melania Trump greeted the monarchs at the White House on Monday, the Republican once again deployed his usual handshake.

However, in footage shared online, Charles was seen fighting against the tugging from the US president, at times pulling Trump’s hand towards him.

Political commentator Adam Schwarz shared the video on X/Twitter and said: “Trump is trying his toxic beta-male handshake, and Charles is having absolutely none of it”:

“Trump really tried hard with his gangrenous hand to do his stupid hand shake pull s*** and the King f***ing clowned him,” tweeted one user:

Another said Charles “showed [Trump] who’s the boss”:

And a third wrote that they “love how Charles gives Trump’s alpha male handshake short shrift”:

But that’s not all, as people also believe Trump bragged about work on the controversial White House ballroom during their interaction, too:


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