ShivaX
5249
This is just the first steps in the creation of Newspeak.
Miramon
5251
Newspeak was introduced by the elder Bush’s administration in the 90s.
We have always spoken in Newspeak.
ShivaX
5253
So apparently Trump is letting donors take selfies with the guy who carries the nuclear football and post them on Facebook.
kerzain
5254
[quote=“ShivaX, post:5249, topic:78530”]
Not a word from him about that (dam problem).
[/quote]It’s California, he doesn’t give a shit. He’ll wait till they need federal money for repairs/reconstruction and tweet pictures of himself pissing on a Bear Flag.
Timex
5255
lol, Trudeau dominates Trump’s handshake.
rowe33
5257
The whole handshake thing mystifies me. This is a man who must have shaken thousands of hands in his business life. And yet, he just can’t do it like a normal adult human. I assume it’s some sort of business tactic. But if he did it to me, I’d just think he’s an imbecile so I’m not sure what advantage it gains for him. I guess it’s meant to show dominance and skew the balance?
I love it. Trump is weak, got dominated by a lefty liberal socialist. DYEL Donald?
You have to understand the mindset of the person doing it. Yes, I think it’s about dominance, as you said. I think he has such low self-esteem that he constantly has to ‘win’ to keep from collapsing inward on himself.
Timex
5260
Oh, it’s absolutely a business tactic. Although Trump pulls it off without any real grace or understanding. He essentially acts like a gorilla.
I’ve encountered folks like this in my own business dealings. The folks who do things like Trump are assholes, pure and simple. They’re like highschool jocks who never grew up.
What’s amusing here, is that you see how Trump reacts to Trudeau not acquiescing to his bullshit… Trump cowers. He realizes that his fake strength has been called out, and so he slinks down.
The handshake dominance that Trudeau exhibited outside led to Trump not really wanting to shake his hand in front of the cameras. He certainly didn’t try to pull the same bullshit on him that he’s pulled on everyone else.
Trump is not strong, just like Trump is not a rich man… Trump is what a homeless person imagines a rich man to be. Trump acts like a tough guy, as an 8 year old child would imagine a tough guy to act.
Is there anything he does like a normal adult human?
You’re exactly right Timex. I’ve encountered these swaggering douche bags too, who give the handshake squeeze just enough to be slightly painful. If you squeeze back, they shrink and cower. It’s fucking absurd.
Business is weird, man.
There’s a reason financial power players are called Big Swinging Dicks.
Timex
5264
It’s funny too, because I was raised that a handshake is in fact important… When you shake my hand, I judge you, as silly as that may be. If your hand feels like a mushy fish, on some level I’m gonna think less of you. Not a TON less… but probably a little bit less.
But the guy who tries to turn it into some kind of power struggle is automatically a dickhead in my book… and yeah, you can usually flip it on them pretty easily by just doing what they are trying to do, because while their macho bullshit doesn’t impact you, it WILL impact them, because of the type of person they are.
The opposite of that is something that I saw in an old WWII vet. Shaking his hand was like shaking a rock. But he didn’t squeeze your hand or anything. He just kind of held it out, you’d grab it, and he’d just go up and down once.
That dude had seen some shit, and he didn’t need to crush your hand to prove it.
Clay
5265
That totally falls apart if you spend a lot of time doing business in Africa or other non-US parts of the world. People tend to have very gentle handshakes in sub-Saharan Africa. If you (or Trump) squeezed hard, you’d probably hurt them. If you think less of them because they have a gentle handshake – well, that’s going to work to your disadvantage because their culture around handshakes is nothing like ours and their handshakes are zero indication of the power they wield in whatever domain.
Timex
5266
Ah, yeah, I was talking mainly about dealing with US folks, but you’re right… once you go into other cultures, it all goes out the window. You also need to be cognizant and not pull a trump and be totally disrespectful of their culture.
To be clear, even in our culture, your handshake doesn’t have anything to do with the power you wield. I’ve dealt with folks who were quite powerful, and had weak handshakes.
Like I said, it’s not something you can put a ton of consideration into. It may just be that it wasn’t something anyone taught them growing up, and really, whatever. It’s kind of an artifact of the old world I think, and means less today. But it’s something that I think I process on a subconscious level.
But the crap that Trump pulls is most definitely an indication that he’s a fucking asshole, and I’ve definitely encountered folks like that. You don’t just “accidentally” do what he does. He’s intentionally trying to assert dominance through a handshake.
Timex
5267
There is a truth to this statement.
Handshakes are weird. All sorts of weird subliminal stuff wrapped up in it.
I was taught, similar to Timex sounds like, that a firm, stead grip conveys confidence and calm. Overdo it and you’re a posturing arsehole. Underdo it and you’re a wuss. Once I started dealing with people from other cultures I quickly realized it’s a lot more subtle than that and have done my best to adjust based on context, but that’s still my default mode.
Years ago, I was a pretty serious bowler, and so my right hand grip and forearm strength was out of proportion to what people expected from a desk-jockey. I had a couple encounters with “squeeze your hand until it hurts to show dominance” dipshits that went differently than they expected. Thankfully, I haven’t run into that kind of behaviour much recently. Still get the alpha-dog posturing aimed at me from time to time, but it’s rarely presented physically.
