Dear ladies and gentlemen, social manners are critically important in diplomatic occasions. For politicians, being exposed to cameras and examined by critics are their routine. Today, we will have a special analysis of the social manners of American President: Donald Trump. How many mistakes can you recognize?
Curtsy or Salute?
When you have the chance to meet Queen Elizabeth II, you should curtsy to the Queen to show proper manners. But last month in Windsor Castle, the Trumps didn’t follow this protocol (so the Queen had to give her hands to engage a handshake first to defuse the embarrassment), which arouse great disputes among western Social Media.
However, if the curtsy is too much for Trump, then how could he salute to a General in the Singapore summit? As the commander in chief of the American army, he doesn’t even need to salute to any leaders from the US army, let alone to do it to a foreign General who serves in a country that has no diplomatic relations with America. The proper response for Trump should be: nod to him as greeting and then offer a handshake.
Trumpish handshakes
Speaking of handshakes, Trump is famous for his trumpish handshake: always engage the handshake first; with his right hand shaking and pulling the other one’s hand over himself; left hand patting on the shaking hands, or the other’s arms/shoulders. A handshake for politicians is more of a competition of power and authority, and Trump seldom loses these competitions.
In terms of etiquette, Trump is too aggressive when he has handshakes with other people.
Trump refuses to shake hands with Merkel?
Although Trump seems to like shake hands with other people, he once refused to shake hands with German Chancellor Merkel, even when there were media around and a clear request was made for them to shake hands.
The awkwardness of this moment was recorded by cameras and reports. And Trump made a response on Twitter later to clarify his meeting with Merkel.
And later on, when Merkel visited America for the second time, Trump showed her the warmest welcome in the world he could offer.
Trump: I like to stand right in the front!
It seems that Trump likes to stand right in the front and in the spotlight. When he was in Windsor Castle, he walked in front of the Queen and blocked her way. The protocol says that: you should never ever walk in front of the Queen! Even Philip Duke of Edinburgh should also follow the rule.
It’s not the first time for Trump to do something like this. Once in NATO summit, the harmonious atmosphere was interrupted by a small incident: Trump pushed away Prime Minister of Montenegro and forced into the front row! This behaviour was considered very arrogant and impolite.
The inappropriate cheek kissing
The rule is: couples don’t do cheek kissing towards each other. However, Trump tried several times to engage cheek kissing with his wife Melania, and they did it in the wrong way: they didn’t touch each other’s cheek.
The correct way to do cheek kissing is: you have to touch the other’s cheek and do a light “smack” in the air.
Ladies and gentlemen, have you noticed other mistakes that Trump made? Do you know any other stories about anyone in regard of social manners? Please share with us!
