U.S. President Donald Trump, known for his firm handshakes, has gone viral on TikTok after receiving a dominating handshake from the king of the Netherlands.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima met Trump at a NATO Summit in The Hague on June 24.
Máxima’s own reaction to Trump previously caused a stir after some felt she had mocked the president’s mouth movements.
Why It Matters
The Dutch king’s reaction to Trump has also gone viral after it was compared to past moments when the U.S. president treated other world leaders to a commanding handshake. French President Emmanuel Macron and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among world leaders who have previously tried to beat Trump at his own game.
Experts have opined for years on the strategy behind Trump’s handshake technique, with Florin Dolcos, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, telling the Huffington Post in 2017: “It goes down to asserting dominance. Why he wants to do that? I don’t know. It looks, to me, like he is trying too hard.”
What To Know
A video of the Dutch king appearing to yank Trump’s hand has received 4.2 million views and 400,000 likes since being posted on TikTok last week.
The footage begins with a series of Trump’s past handshakes with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
The tough handshakes typically involve Trump yanking the other person’s hand toward his body, sometimes pulling them off balance in the process.
Willem-Alexander appears to have come prepared, however. He managed to pull Trump’s hand toward him, replicating the president’s technique.
The Dutch king’s handshake with Trump came on the same day that the queen caused a stir by appearing to mock the U.S. president.
Footage of the moment has appeared on X, formerly Twitter, with one user writing, “Queen Maxima mimicking Trump’s mouth movements really got me.”
What People Are Saying
The TikTok video has received more than 2,000 comments, with one user writing: “Imagine having to have a dominate handshake to feel powerful.”
Another wrote: “He understood the assignment.”
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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