Liberal Media Brags About Getting ‘Revenge’ on President Trump with Awkward Handshake Photo

The American media has been trying to undermine the success of President Donald Trump’s 12-day Asia tour with dishonest reporting about fish feeding, Japanese cars, grandstanding reporters at press conferences and now “revenge” photography.

The Washington Post headlined an article about a photograph of Trump awkwardly shaking hands with leaders at the ASEAN summit in the Philippines on Monday that was posted to Twitter by New York Times photographer Doug Mills, “News photographer who protested White House restrictions on access gets revenge with revealing shot of Trump”.

The photo is not the one in the Post tweet of the article. Here is the Mills photo, which appears to show Trump grimacing, “.@realDonaldTrump joins other leaders in a handshake with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, right, during the opening ceremony of the 31st ASEAN Summit”

A cropped version was quickly posted in four minutes by NBC’s Frank Thorp V with the cheering message, “And @dougmillsnyt does it again:”

Of all the mocking comments below Mills’ tweet of the photo, one contrary comment from an experienced hand stood out, “A better question may be to ask why this photo of hundreds of clicks was used.”

Video posted by ABC News shows Trump was actually jovially smiling and speaking to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte as he stretched to reach over and take his hand while holding on to the hand of leader on his right, Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang. Both men are shorter than Trump which added to the physical awkwardness for Trump.

Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs explained the handshake, “Emcee said now for the “ASEAN handshake—right hand over left.” Trump shook hands with Quang to his right then realized it was supposed to be a double grip. “Oh!” Trump said, realizing his mistake. He twisted and stretched so he could connect hands with Duterte to his left.”

How the Washington Post reported the handshake:

News photographer who protested White House restrictions on access gets revenge with revealing shot of Trump

By David Nakamura November 12 at 10:38 PM

…On Friday, Mills was part of the small group of traveling “press pool” members shadowing Trump in Danang, Vietnam, when he tweeted a “photo” of a black box to protest the White House’s decision to shut out the pool from any coverage of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings.

“This is what our coverage … looks like today,” he wrote in the tweet. “Blank. No coverage.”

On Monday, Mills got his revenge at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit here with Trump in Manila. Admitted with the pool for a few minutes to observe the annual ritual of the ASEAN leaders’ “family photo,” Mills snapped a quick frame that spread quickly through social media after he posted it online.

Political pundits quickly made hay of the photo and poked fun at Trump and the whole tradition of the family photo…

…Critics of the media, perhaps including Trump himself, might point to Mills’s photo as evidence that the “mainstream media” is out to undermine the president in an unfair and biased manner. Surely there were many other frames Mills could have chosen that made Trump look more distinguished. Yet Mills and other pool photographers published the awkward ones”…

And here is how American media played the handshake to make Trump look foolish.

The Associated Press:

The New York Daily News:

The Hill:

This was the other dominant take by the media:

https://twitter.com/ZABulletin/status/929940986167463936

This group of photos by the Manila Bulletin News shows the smile on Trump’s face as he stretched for the handshake.

The UK Daily Mail was one of the few outlets to acknowledge Trump’s humor in the group handshake with the headline, “Where does that hand go? Trump laughs through awkward Asia leaders’ group photo as everyone except the Russian PM crosses arms in traditional handshake ceremony”

https://twitter.com/RRISC01/status/929955245916004352

The Association for Southeast Asian Nations conference in Manila opened with a bass-thumping, pageantry-rich ceremony that included an unusual group photo of world leaders.

Instead of standing on risers, heads of state lined up for a traditional cross-body handshake, which appeared to baffle Trump until he figured out what to do with his arms.

‘Give us your brightest smile,’ a master of ceremonies intoned as camera flashes popped. ‘It’s the ASEAN handshake: right hand over left.’

Trump gamely played along and laughed at the silliness of the situation, but ultimately he got it right – unlike Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who grinned broadly and opened his arms wide while everyone else crossed theirs”…

Interesting that a British outlet focused on reporting the news while the American press focused on getting “revenge” on President Trump.

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Kristinn Taylor has contributed to The Gateway Pundit for over ten years. Mr. Taylor previously wrote for Breitbart, worked for Judicial Watch and was co-leader of the D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com. He studied journalism in high school, visited the Newseum and once met David Brinkley.

You can email Kristinn Taylor here, and read more of Kristinn Taylor's articles here.

 

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