PARIS — If you have “world leader” as a job title, your daily responsibilities will include a lot of smiling in front of the cameras and shaking hands with your fellow leaders of the world. It’s apparently not as easy at it sounds: that simple gesture can sometimes produce extra long squeezes, clumsy clasps and unintended fist bumps.
French President Emmanuel Macron experienced a particularly bizarre moment on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Albania last week. In the now-viral footage that began circulating Monday, Macron is seen shaking hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (so far so good). But as he tries to let go, Erdoğan grabs the French leader’s finger (it appears to be the middle finger on his left hand) and holds it… for 13 seconds, as he casually continues the conversation.
French daily Le Figaro reports that beyond the awkwardness of the gesture, the finger grabbing may have been a way for the Turkish president to assert his dominance and power amid strained relationships between the two countries. Public speaking expert Adrien Rivière tells the daily that Erdoğan was probably aiming to keep Macron’s whole hand and “crush it like Trump” but accidentally “only managed to get the finger.”
And about the world leader named Donald Trump: the U.S. President is one of several leaders to have offered over the years some shudders during his not-exactly-diplomatic encounters. From his never-ending shakes with late Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and Macron, to Raúl Castro dangling Barack Obama’s arm in the air and Justin Trudeau’s failed three-way handshake, “enjoy” the above cringe collection of the weirdest diplomatic greetings.