French First Lady Brigitte Macron was the latest victim of U.S. President Donald trump’s awkward handshake and unsolicited compliment. It seems she failed to watch how Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda avoided last week Trump’s notorious handshake.
Before holding Brigitte’s hand, Trump first told her that she is in such a good shape, and she is beautiful, The New York Daily News reported. The remark was made while Trump, wife Melania, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Brigitte were touring a military history museum, Les Invalides.
Creepy comment
Since the event was live streamed on the official Facebook page of Macron, many netizens heard Trump’s comment which a lot of Twitter users found unimpressive, to say the least. Joy Reid tweeted she just shook her head when she heard the remark from the president. Julie Hiatt Steele asked, “Does he always have to embarrass us?” Mashable reported.
It's OK for Obama to say Kamala Harris is hottest AG in America but when Trump tells Brigitte Macron she's in great shape there's outrage. 🤔
— 🇺🇸 CChiz 👌 (@CChiz5) July 14, 2017
Trump told Brigitte Macron that she was in good shape and looked great because he literally doesn't know how else to look at women.
— Rebecca Carroll (@rebel19) July 14, 2017
I heard Brigitte Macron was hitting on President Trump today. I bet Melania is pissed at her.
— Rich Laskowski (@REGIONRAT) July 14, 2017
The awkward moment did not end with Trump’s comment.
After Emmanuel Macron greeted Trump with a long handshake, he then buzzed Melania, while Donald initially offered a hand to Brigitte. Perhaps he suddenly had a flashback of his embarrassing handshake with the Polish first lady that Trump, at the last minute, opted to hug her.
The particular grossness of Trump telling Brigitte Macron that she's in "good physical shape": https://t.co/cE4eYuED9m pic.twitter.com/n2TeOuo8sj
— Slate (@Slate) July 14, 2017
The American president and the French first lady fumbled to grasp hands while they went near each other.
Brigitte was not fast enough to dodge Donald’s embrace which she endured. Then Trump latched tightly on some of her fingers, and the 64-year-old former high school literature teacher of Emmanuel Macron waved her hand around, while Trump seemed to attempt to pull her closer.
History of commenting on women’s appearances
Fortune noted that Trump has a history of commenting on the appearances of women, Brigitte was just added to his list.
Among the recipients of his negative comment were Carly Fiorina, his opponent for the Republican nomination, and recently “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski whose face he described as bleeding badly from a facelift.
On the positive side, besides the French first lady, Trump noticed the nice smile on the face of Caitriona Perry, the U.S. Bureau chief of the RTE in Ireland. He even mentioned the female journalist’s nice smile while he was in a phone call in the Oval Office with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
The Trumps are in Paris to take part in France’s Bastille Day festivities. During a news conference with the two presidents, Mashable reported that Trump gave a cringeworthy comment on U.S. relations with France by stating “France is America’s first and oldest ally. A lot of people don’t know that.” He added, “France helped us secure our independence, a lot of people forget.”
