You gotta ‘hand’ it to him
TRUMP. Fascinating combination of power and unexpected delicacy.
A recent BBC “soft news” feature made viewers’ day with its unique and perceptive focus on US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s “signature” hand gestures. Some months ago, The Donald’s hands were focused on in a decidedly negative and disparaging way, when a political rival, Marco Rubio, sneeringly observed that he had relatively “small” hands—and everybody knows what that insinuated.
People were outraged at the childish effrontery, and Rubio eventually took back his petty and ill-advised “joke.”
Last week, however, Trump’s hands were again the topic “at hand,” but in a less silly and relatively more objective light—as “body language expert” Mary Chevello shared with BBC viewers her “interpretations” of The Donald’s hand gestures.
This time around, she sought to help viewers understand what his favorite gestures meant, and what they reflected about his character and temperament:
She began her analytical exegesis by citing his most unique combination of gestures and “finger positions”—an “L” sign, immediately followed by a “pinch.”
Something important
This combination is unique to Trump, and is intended to first point something important out (the “L” says, “Now take particular note of this”) and then doing the “pinch” with the other hand, meaning “This is an even more pertinent detail.”
It’s the sort of “gesture combo” that we would expect a chef or maître d’ to make, as he waxes eloquent and effulgent about the specialty of his maison, which is très, très delish!
Next and more expectedly, Trump likes to use his hands palms out, in big bold gestures that indicate importance, force and confidence. “I’m an action man who tells it like it is,” the gesture subliminally “says”—
“So, you can trust me to fix everything that’s wrong with this country.”
Another favorite Trump gesture is his penchant for pointing at the audience for emphasis and personal connection—and then jabbing that finger up in the air forcefully (to establish a divine connection?).
He also uses his hand to slice down in a decisive way (“Heads will roll!”).
Once in a rare while, when he feels particularly frustrated by the country’s many unsolved problems, he waves his hands “wildly” in the air, indicating that the mess is so “crazy-mixed-up” that only he can sort it out!
Finally, toward the end of the “illustrated demo,” Chevello showed a clip with Trump using all those signature gestures
—and then topping them off with a new variation: both of his hands made the pinching, “pursing” move, then he waved them sideways away from him. —Even Chevello couldn’t figure that “airy” variation out!
So, what do Trump’s favorite gestures tell us about him? From where we stand, he comes across as an interesting combination of power and unexpected delicacy. If his presidential bid isn’t successful, he could still make it big—as the conductor of a symphony orchestra!
