Trump's Paris decision was influenced by an 'aggressive' handshake from the French president
While Trump is pretty unpredictable, there’s at least one thing about him that seems consistent: he is petty and childish as hell. The latest piece of evidence comes from Trump’s strangely grandiose announcement about withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. In his speech, Trump says (emphasis mine):
At what point does America get demeaned? At what point do they start laughing at us, as a country? We want fair treatment for its citizens and we want fair treatment for our taxpayers. We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won’t be. They won’t be.
(I don’t know how Trump doesn’t know that the countries have been laughing at the U.S. since he ever became a contender in politics, but I digress.)
In most cases, this type of rhetoric would not be a part of mainstream politics—but, alas, we are in Trump’s America and almost anything goes. These statements now make a lot more sense in light of news from The Washington Post:
Macron was quoted in a French journal talking about his white-knuckled handshake with Trump at their first meeting in Brussels, where the newly elected French president gripped Trump's hand tightly and would not let go for six long seconds in a show of alpha-male fortitude. ... Hearing smack-talk from the Frenchman 31 years his junior irritated and bewildered Trump, aides said. A few days later, Trump got his revenge. He proclaimed from the Rose Garden, "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/6/2/1668243/-Trump-s-Paris-decision-was-influenced-by-an-aggressive-handshake-from-the-French-president
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