Handshakes, hugs and dandruff: When Donald Trump met Emmanuel Macron

The meetings followed a pomp-filled welcome ceremony on the South Lawn. Highlights included a 21-gun salute and Melania Trump's wide-brim white hat, which drew more comments than all the rest of the pageantry.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: April 25, 2018 08:38 PM IST

6 min read

This is the first time that Donald Trump is hosting a state visit since he took power in January, 2017 and pictures of him with Emmanuel Macron are breaking the Internet. (Source: AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, along with his wife Brigitte, is on a three-day state visit to the United States. And their interactions with President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are already breaking the Internet. The visit is mainly about the US-European differences on the Iran nuclear deal and souring trade relations. It is also the first time that Trump is hosting a state visit since he took power in January 2017.

With exaggerated handshakes and a pair of kisses, US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron professed sunny, best-friend relationship and the pictures seem ready to be meme-ed by people on social media. And much like in the past, they have not disappointed.

Melania Trump kept her hat in place as the group moved indoors and also at the National Gallery of Art for a Cezanne break with Brigitte Macron, who wore a creamier shade of white, but no hat. (Source: AP)

Differences aside, Trump and Macron lavished praise and even a pair of kisses on each other on Tuesday (April 24). “It’s an honor to call you my friend,” Trump said, after predicting Macron would be a historic leader of France.

Trump, who announced weeks ago that he would withdraw American troops, said Macron reinforced the idea of a potential Iranian takeover of territory liberated from the Islamic State group. (Source: AP)

And soon there were jokes and memes comparing it to The Simpsons.

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In one light moment, Trump sought to demonstrate some of the personal chemistry he claimed. The US President brushed something off Macron’s suit jacket, saying, “We have a very special relationship; in fact, I’ll get that little piece of dandruff off. We have to make him perfect — he is perfect.”

And the apparent awkwardness of the moment did not escape the attention of people on social media.

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The meetings followed a pomp-filled welcome ceremony on the South Lawn. Highlights included a 21-gun salute and Melania Trump’s wide-brim white hat, which drew more comments than all the rest of the pageantry.

Trump said before an audience of U.S. soldiers and members of his Cabinet that the relationship he forged with Macron at the start of his presidency was a testament to the “enduring friendship that binds our two nations.” (Source: AP)

Macron, who calls Trump often, has emerged as something of a “Trump whisperer” at a time when the American president’s relationships with other European leaders are more strained. Trump, who attached great importance to the optics of pageantry and ceremony, chose to honor Macron with the first state visit of his administration as he woos the French president.

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Macron told reporters that he and Trump would look at the Iran deal “in a wider regional context,” taking into account the situation in Syria. (Source: AP)

The first state dinner of President Donald Trump’s administration had 123 guests in attendance. The tally does not include Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron or his wife, Brigitte. Former President Barack Obama had more than 330 guests at his first state dinner, which honored India.

As he gave a toast at the dinner, Trump hailed the bonds between the US and France, saying, “May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger and may our sacred liberty never die.”

Pictures of Trump and Macron are a hit on social media. (Source: AP)

Trump ended his first year in office without receiving a foreign leader on a state visit, the first president in nearly 100 years to fail to do so. He was Macron’s guest last July at the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, also took Trump and his wife on a tour of Napoleon’s tomb and whisked them up in the Eiffel Tower for dinner overlooking the City of Light.

Donald Trump removing dandruff from Emmanuel Macron’s suit has become a hit meme. (Source: AP)

The Presidents also planted an oak sapling together which Macron had brought from a historic battlefield. Tweeting about that Macron wrote, 100 years ago, American soldiers fought in France, in Belleau to defend our freedom. This oak tree (my gift to @realDonaldTrump) will be a reminder at the White House of these ties that bind us.” And yes, it became a meme too.

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What did you think of the pictures? Tell us in the comments below.