President Donald Trump once again commented on a woman’s physical appearance, on Thursday during his visit to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron. He and Melania Trump met with Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, in Paris.
He looked the first lady of France up and down before telling her, “You’re in such good shape.” In a video posted on Macron’s Facebook page, Trump turned to Emmanuel and said of Brigitte, “She’s in such good physical shape.”
“Beautiful,” Trump added, as Brigitte took a step behind Melania and put her hand on Melania’s elbow.
Trump tells the First Lady of France, Brigitte Macron: “You’re in such good shape … beautiful”pic.twitter.com/tKCzX15cPl
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 13, 2017
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Earlier in the day, the couples shook hands and exchanged cheek kisses. Some Twitter users said they thought Trump’s handshake with Brigitte was awkward.
Live television. Trump just yanked Brigitte Macron’s hand. What’s wrong with this guy?! pic.twitter.com/zGiwc2wlzn
— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) July 13, 2017
Trump and President Macron famously exchanged an awkward handshake earlier this year, and following their exchange Macron admitted the aggressive handshake was “not innocent.” The French president said he wanted to show that he won’t “make small concessions, even symbolic ones.”
Here’s a look at the full video of the two couples greeting each other.
On Thursday night, the late-night hosts teased Trump for his comment to France’s First Lady.
On CBS’ Late Show, Stephen Colbert said when Trump met Brigitte Macron he treated her like any other woman, “by objectifying her.”
“Bad Donald,” said Colbert, pointing to the camera and addressing the president after playing a clip of Trump’s “in good physical shape” remarks. “This is not one of your European-wife-shopping trips, this is business.”
On ABC, Jimmy Kimmel said, “Only Donald Trump would treat a meeting with a world leader like it’s a swingers’ key party or something.”
Kimmel’s theory is that Trump was thrown off because the French first lady is older than the French president, and Trump is accustomed to men being older than women in relationships. (President Trump is 24 years older than Melania, while President Macron is 24 years younger than Brigitte).
Kimmel said he thinks the age gap between the Macrons has to be “making Trump’s crazy orange head spin.” He added, “For him that’s about as backwards as it gets.”
Trevor Noah joked that Trump’s comments were his way of seeking revenge on President Macron for taking him to a museum.
Noah said Macron “declared war on Trump by making him go to a museum with him.” He added, “And President Trump retaliated by hitting on the French first lady in full view of everyone.”
“I spent the entire afternoon trying to figure out how in that moment Macron didn’t punch Trump right there,” said Noah, before introducing a segment on translating Donald Trump.
