President Trump had his first face-to-face meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday - and considering the fact that he's previously accused her of "ruining Germany," and has repeatedly bashed Germany's immigration laws, we didn't necessarily have high hopes. Spoiler: it was every bit as awkward as we'd expected.
While in the Oval Office posing for photographs and questions from the press, reporters and photographers asked the two world leaders to shake hands. As far as we can tell from video footage, Merkel quietly repeats the question to Trump - who appears to either a. not hear her or b. completely ignore her. Awk.
The.
Looks.
On.
Their.
Faces.
Merkel: “Do you want to have a handshake?”
Trump: [crickets. scene.] pic.twitter.com/LLFxuyGDY0
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 17, 2017
In fairness, according to CNN, Merkel and Trump did shake hands when the Chancellor arrived at the White House and following a news conference. However, as the Internet quickly noticed, he had no problem taking photos shaking hands with other world leaders such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Having given Shinzo Abe a 45 minute handshake, Donald Trump refuses to shake hands with Angela Merkel pic.twitter.com/l7jAnhiSvD
— Nick Hilton (@nickfthilton) March 17, 2017
When asked about his meeting with the Chancellor, Trump vaguely said that it was "very good," and that they discussed, "many things." (Typical.) As for Angela Merkel, we're guessing she (along with the rest of us) is missing former POTUS Barack Obama more than ever right now.
