In a now-viral moment, President Donald Trump faced boos, thumbs-down motions and even some middle finger gestures during a Sunday Night Football game between the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions in Washington, D.C.
During halftime, Trump read a roughly one-minute oath as part of a swearing-in ceremony for military members. At times, the booing nearly “overpowered” Trump’s voice, according to previous HuffPost reporting.
While the boos were prevalent in videos of the incident, it’s possible this sound wasn’t as loud for Trump and those in his box. That said, he does appear to be shaken by the interaction, according to body language experts.
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One body language expert who spoke to HuffPost is confident the president heard the booing based on the many microexpressions that can be seen coming across his face throughout the video. More, the thumbs-down motions and middle finger gestures would be visible even if the booing was potentially dampened in the box.
Here’s what body language experts say Trump’s movements and expressions during the moment could mean:
His crooked smile implies “contempt.”
“What’s [notable] is that Trump shows contempt as evidenced by the crooked mouth he shows after he says ‘please raise your right hands’ and after ‘President of the United States,’” said Traci Brown, a body language expert and behavior analyst.
Contempt shows on our faces when our mouths make an asymmetrical line. “Contempt is moral superiority,” Brown explained, meaning that in this particular moment, Trump could have felt morally superior to those around him.
While body language can’t explain what exactly he was thinking, Brown said it’s reasonable to believe that “he thinks that their ‘boos’ are beneath consideration, deserving of scorn.”
“If people are saying, 'No, it didn't bother him at all' — yes, it did," Wood said.”
- Patti Wood, a body language and nonverbal communication expert and author
Experts also say Trump’s “stiff body language” and wave are telling.
Throughout the video, Trump has “very stiff body language posture with his arms close to his body,” said Patti Wood, a body language and nonverbal communication expert and author of “Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma.”
This, Wood explained, shows the booing and negative motions from attendees are getting to him. “You’ve heard of the fight-flight response,” which is your body’s natural reaction to perceived danger, “but actually one of the first responses to stress or danger is a freeze response,” Wood said. Trump’s body language suggests that he was in a freeze response, she continued.
His arms are also tight to the side of his body, which is notable, too. “That’s part of the freeze response because you’re trying to make yourself a smaller target, so that’s what he’s doing with his body,” she added.
Trump does bring his hands up to wave, which is customary for him, but it’s a “more hesitant” kind of wave, Wood said. At about four seconds into the video, he brings up his arm in a straight, stiff manner, “which is a push-away motion,” Wood said.
The flat hand and pushed-out arm are literally pushing the world away. “Instead of doing a soft waving motion with that hand, he does that stiff-arm motion and then he takes his hand and goes back and forth like a windshield wiper,” Wood said. “And body language is highly symbolic, so he’s pushing away, and then he’s wiping away the response from the crowd.”
His micro facial expressions suggest he’s “withholding powerful anger.”
While Trump’s facial expressions aren’t easy to make out, Wood said there are a few telling moments.
A couple of times during the incident, he glares down at the crowd, she said. And in one instance about 22 seconds into the video, he also presses his lips tightly together, Wood noted.
“That pressing of lips tightly together is typically to withhold a strong emotional state,” Wood said. “In combination with the glaring, he’s withholding powerful anger.”
In the second half of the video, as he’s looking down and reading from the folder, Trump’s mouth suggests a “combination of withholding anger and sourness,” Wood said.
At one point, his upper lip folds up inside of his mouth and is “actually hidden,” Wood continued. “Again, that’s suppression, a withholding of emotional state. But here, it’s not just anger — this is a sour experience,” she said.
Toward the end of the swearing-in ceremony, as he puts the microphone down, Trump is seen holding his teeth tightly together and his upper lip is again hidden, according to Wood.
Wood said Trump’s movements aren’t typical for the end of a swearing-in ceremony. “What would be normal is open posture, open body language, waving again, smiling again ... instead, he’s tightly clasping his hands in the handshake and he’s gritting his teeth and he’s glaring out.”
At another point, his eyebrows appear to be in a sharp, arrow-like manner and face downward toward the bridge of his nose, Wood added. This is “also an indication of anger,” she said.
All of these micro facial expressions fit in with the behavior and movements of someone who is knowingly being jeered and upset about it, Wood concluded.
“So, if people are saying, ‘No, it didn’t bother him at all.’ Yes, it did,” Wood said.