Trump pushed Melania's hand away, then shoved her offstage

[bigtree]

Kenny BooYah! @KwikWarren 1h
Lots of people missed that trump shoved his wife while leaving the debate stage last night.

Link to tweet

...I totally missed this, turned the thing off after the last word. What a dick.

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Okay, I hate Trump,

but she pulled her hand away, move ahead of him, and put his hand on the middle of her back to hide the fact that she pulled away from him. He did not "shove" her. Let's stay in reality.

[JenniferJuniper]

2. Yes. That was much more a pat than a shove.

There's so much on this dick, we don't need to add this to the pile.

[Miguelito Loveless]

10. Exactly.

It makes us look petty and irrational. I have patted my wife's back like this many times, though I have an ulterior motive in being ready to steady her due to her MS.

[bdamomma]

58. I think

he likes patting Ivanka's backside more.

[onenote]

3. +1

[lagomorph777]

4. I disagree. Looks like he pushed her hand away and then lightly shoved her in the back.

He must have realized he did a bad job in the debate.

[Botany]

19. I think she pulled her hand away from his and he gave her a little push

I hope Melania has a way to attach some of Donny's assets after they get divorced in Jan.

BTW Trump is no 6' 2" or 6' 3" in her heels she is taller than him.

[marybourg]

29. That's how I saw it too. She pulled away.

He shoved.

[Doodley]

5. Okay, but what was he doing? I ask because I would never do that to my wife or another woman.

[Miguelito Loveless]

20. The hand thing is a bit ambiguous

She may have been pulling her hand away, and he didn't let go, so he patted her back to make it look like he was guiding her ahead of him, or he was just pathetically touching her stinging from the rejection. Melania has, on multiple occasions, yanked her hand away from him, so it fits her behaviour.

Another possible way to look at it is he shoved her hand away.

The touch on her back is not a shove, as her body shows no sign of force being applied to the back, she does not stumble or show any signs of her balance being disrupted..

Geez, are we going to turn this thing into the Zapruder film.

I have put my hand on my wife's back many times when she precedes me through a door. I have two reasons: I love my my wife, and she has MS and an unsteady gate. Neither of these apply to Trump/Melania, obviously. But I have observed this sort of contact many times between spouses/partners.

[Doodley]

51. I can only see these through the prism of seeing and hearing the type of person Trump is.

We know he is controlling to the extreme, bad tempered, angry, lacking in empathy, misogynistic, and everything is about him and how he feels. In that context, I don't have enough goodwill to think these were affectionate acts or he was somehow helping his wide, as you would help yours. Based on all we know of Trump, there is no way on Earth that he isn't a very controlling and unpleasant husband.

[Miguelito Loveless]

61. Oh, I didn't see it as an affectionate act

But as a kind of pathetic attempt to save face when she pulled away, or simply a pathetic attempt to touch her when he was rejected.

[bigtree]

6. I've sat and stared at the thing and that's what I saw

...you want your opinion respected, don't disrespect mine.

[Miguelito Loveless]

13. My analysis of the video will stand on its own merits

as will yours. I respect your right to an opinion, I am not required to agree with it.

[bigtree]

15. as long as you 'stay in reality'

...and aren't "petty and irrational."

[Miguelito Loveless]

21. You are correct,

That was uncalled for. I apologize for saying "petty & irrational". If you wish I will edit the post and remove it, or simply leave it with this apology.

[bigtree]

22. don't do that, Miguelito L.

...no need.

Thanks for the nod.

[Miguelito Loveless]

25. The rebuke was warranted

I will be glad when this monster is gone.

[bigtree]

28. we're all very tense

...so much gaslighting, I can understand why you're concerned with misrepresentations and such.

Few more days.

[Doodley]

50. Thank you for your civility. How different it is on the other side.

[Miguelito Loveless]

62. I am chagrined

It was thinking of those folk that made me realize my response was disrespectful and rude.

[Pacifist Patriot]

46. That's the difficulty with observing behavior and applying interpretation and motivation to it.

We all see things a little differently and cannot get inside the mind of the people engaging in the behavior.

I once showed a class of graduate students five short video clips from a woman picking up a sandwich off a plate and taking a bite out of it to a man decking another with one hell of a punch. Then asked them to report on their observations.

For each clip there were at least 3-5 interpretations, often surprising the daylights out of the people who didn't share the same observation and sometimes resulting in heated debate. Anywhere from 80-95% of the class was dead wrong regardless of which interpretation they had when shown the bigger context, the scene from multiple visual angles, and the participants in the video explained their motivation.

Even though I think I saw a woman pull her hand away from a man and the man put his hand on her back with perhaps a nudge rather than a push, that doesn't mean I think the two aren't in a dysfunctional relationship and have no respect for one another. Their body language and facial expressions throughout the years speak volumes to me on that point.

We could both be wrong and what actually happened physically and in the minds of the participants is something altogether different.

[Pacifist Patriot]

38. Completely agree. That's exactly how I interpreted what I saw.

[Ms. Toad]

54. I agree. n/t

[beaglelover]

56. Agreed.

[groundloop]

7. That was a touch, not a shove.....

there's plenty of ammunition to use against tRump without stretching things this far.

[bigtree]

11. It's not ammunition, it's an observation

...and it's on you whether or not you want to defend him to me here.

[Iliyah]

8. He did not shove her . ..

[bigtree]

12. indeed he did

...he shoved her hand away and would have made more contact with her if he could have.

It was a petulant act, and it's not the first time.

[Ms. Toad]

55. Think back to all of the handshake videos of Trump.

He was doing the same thing with her.

She tried to pull her hand away from his and he held on long enough for there to be a sharp movement away when he released his grasp that you are interpreting as a shove. (He didn't hold on as tightly as he did with the politicians, but that is the dynamic.)

As for the "shove" - (1) you don't shove with a hand cupped around her side - look at how he is holding his hand (2) there is not movement of her body that would be a response to a shove. She is walking along at an even pace throughout his contact with her side - no hint of additional forward momentum, as there would be in response to a shove.

[Roland99]

31. agreed...not even close to a shove.

a light tap on her back

[demmiblue]

48. I know, right?!

Making up shit is what the right does.

[Siwsan]

9. I thought it looked more like she jerked her hand out of his.

Either way, the contrast in body language between the trump*s and the Bidens is extreme.

[bigtree]

17. I thought so at first

...but it appears to me he was petulantly urging her offstage.

I've seen him do this before., and yes, the contrast is striking.

[Siwsan]

23. I'm wondering if her pre-nup contains a 'triggering' clause

and she's praying he loses so she can take advantage of it and move back to New York. I doubt she'd ever return to Slovenia, full time.

[bigtree]

34. I can't see her separating until it's clear she's paid

...

[Siwsan]

43. Oh oh, because given his track record, she's stuck. Which is what she deserves.

[MoonRiver]

14. They definitely aren't a loving couple, as opposed to the Bidens, who couldn't wait to embrace.

Sad

[lanlady]

16. Looks like he pushed her hand away

Whatever the case, these two have never exuded any affection toward one another in public. Behind closed doors, he's probably verbally and mentally abusive toward her.

I was wondering about her choice of black dress, though. Symbolic of his campaign, their marriage, or both?

[bigtree]

18. that he's abusive toward her in private

...I think that's a given.

As for her dress, she's going to need more than neutral colors to wipe his stink off of her.

[lanlady]

60. I hope she divorces him--

--and runs off with the hot young heir to a Mediterranean shipping fortune, whereupon we never hear from or see her again.

[backtoblue]

24. Looks like he pulled her hand toward him and she yanked it back

Then he patted her on the back.

Holding her hand wasn't enough for him...he just had to try to pull her even closer.

[JDC]

26. It looks like she yanks her hand away from his.

[BlueStater]

27. Oh, come on.

That was a pat.

There’s about a billion legitimate reasons to despise the asshole. We shouldn’t have to make things up. 🤦?♂️

[bigtree]

30. here's the thing

...defending Trump to me on anything leaves me cold.

If he wants to make like it was a pat, let him do that, I saw a shove.

No one needs to defend him against my opinion on that, but ridiculing me for it appears irresistable to some.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

33. There's enough crimes to hang tRump for; you don't need to turn a pat into a shove

She was walking on very high heels. Any hint of a shove would have made her stride go a bit wonky at the least. It did not.

It was clearly Melania who dropped his hand

You are trying to turn a tiny molehill (dropping his hand) into a mountain. We're not defending tRump; you are making a distraction we don't need.

[bigtree]

36. I made a simple post, not a manifesto

...and you distracted YOURSELF to defend Trump to me .

That's on you.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

37. No, you distracted me. I thought your OP might have something. It had NOTHING.

I'm not defending tRump. I'm rebuking you for making the distracting OP post.

[bigtree]

41. lol

...

[cwydro]

40. Well, here's another thing. Who the hell cares?

I know he’s a cretin. I think she’s as bad as he is, and there are a million things more important than his “relationship” with his trophy wife.

[bigtree]

42. well, I care.

...I like presidents who aren't abusive toward their wives.

[cwydro]

44. I honestly don't think it looked anything like a shove.

It looked like he was trying to cover for the fact that she jerked her hand away.

I don’t see a shove at all.

[bigtree]

45. and you're not alone in that

...people disagree.

[cwydro]

47. Yes indeed.

I think we all agree he needs to be out of there. ASAP.

I’m terrified.

[Docreed2003]

32. What a ginormous dick

My wife would have whipped my ass right then and there. Such a total asshole move, but I can't say I'm surprised

[SlogginThroughIt]

35. She is a horrible person too

I really don’t give an ounce of fuck about her. They deserve each other.

[bigtree]

39. the thing about defending Melania against Trump

...is that she's likely so complicit in that abusive relationship that it would be useless in any real sense.

It's just that Trump is projecting his abusive nature toward the nation, and it's more than just concern for Melania to point out his abusive relationship with his wife as an example.

I saw the slights and I responded to them, just as I'd respond to any other abuse I encounter. I don't need to like or respect the person at the recieving end.

[Doodley]

52. Agree 100% Based on all we know about Trump's character, of course he's abusive.

[FakeNoose]

49. I guess we can tell for sure it's the "real" Melania

If that were the "fake" Melania she never would have pulled her hand away.

[Lars39]

53. More like a "prod"

[bdamomma]

57. tRump

just hates women.

Well that's what Melania signed up for. No sympathy for her. Lay down with with dogs wake up with fleas.

[LizBeth]

59. I noticed last night. It was more aggressive, forceful than a mere laying hand on back to guide.

I do not think he was pleased and resulted in a little more forceful touch to the back. I cannot see exactly who pulled away with the hand. I have looked both with Trump pulling away and Melania. It could be either. but I tend to go with Trump pulling away, then wanting her to get going off the stage.