What the body language of Barack Obama and Donald Trump says about their meeting

Awkward. Forced. Uneasy. The Victor and the
Vanquished.
That’s what the body language of President
Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump
shouted at their meeting in the White House
today.
If ever there was a set of images that parallels
Russell Crowe as the gladiator standing over the
loser, this was it.
It’s hard when two people who clearly don’t like
each other have to meet publicly while displaying
civility and a sense of unity towards each other.
When you listen to the words of this meeting you
can be left feeling that these are two friends who
are trying to encourage a happy outcome. But
watch them on TV with the sound turned off and
you’ll get a very different perspective.
Body language reveals how people really feel
about things and it accounts for 60 per cent to 80
per cent of all face-to-face interaction between
people.

During this brief encounter, both men sat with
their legs spread just as alpha-male apes do to
display their masculinity and to prevent the other
guy from getting into a one-up position. They
both minimised mutual eye-contact, opting to
look at the reporters instead.
Trump sat forward the entire time in order to
show dominance and displayed his classic
trademark gesture of superiority — the Hand
Steeple. People who feel confident, superior or
authoritative often use this gesture.
Trump traditionally holds the Hand-Steeple higher
at chest level in order to give him an air of
confidence and even arrogance, but in today’s
encounter he kept it subtly low.
He also used his typical tight-lipped-smile,
revealing he was withholding some strong words
and emotions about his meeting with Obama.

Under pressure — such as in this staged meeting
— our real feelings and emotions are often
revealed through our gestures and expressions.
Obama — like Hillary Clinton — is a seasoned,
polished career politician who is excellent at
giving persuasive, convincing speeches to his
audience.
It’s really not much different to professional
acting and can make it difficult to pick whether or
not that person is being genuine. While Obama
generally put on an upbeat ‘brave face’ for the
audience, his body language leaked a story of
defeat.
Not so with the comparatively inexperienced
Trump however — while he has a limited range of
repetitive gestures and expressions, what you see
is what you get. He says what he feels and his
body language is congruent with what he is
saying — whether you like it or not.
In other words, everything matches.
Trump is a businessman, cut and dry, black and
white.
In today’s White House meeting, Obama, despite
his best efforts, revealed a rare display of
emotional defeat while Donald Trump was a well-
contained version of his usual, dominant self.