President Donald Trump has been out of the US for nearly a week, gracing with his presence Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, and now Belgium. In just a couple of days, the US president has met with a long list of foreign leaders—from King Salman of Saudi Arabia, to Palestinian authority president Mahmoud Abbas, to Pope Francis, to the leaders of NATO. Since May 19, he’s visited some of the most strategic locations for today’s international affairs.
His trip has been fodder for plenty of commentary, but beyond the many elements worth analyzing—the meaning of the speech on Islam, the note at the Holocaust museum, the Pope’s somewhat cold demeanor—there is perhaps a way to summarize what happened through something that speaks for itself: GIFs.
This has been a spectacularly gif-worthy trip. If a picture is worth a thousand words—then perhaps an animated photo is worth all of the words. Decide for yourself, and we’ll keep updating the post as more iconic images emerge.
Trump dances with a lot of men (and their swords) in Saudi Arabia
Trump loses a round of handshake with Emomali Rakhmon, the president of Tajikistan
Trump and several other leaders place their hands on a glowing orb for some reason.
Trump tries to hold hands with his wife Melania as they deplane in Israel
Trump tries to hold hand with his wife as they deplane in Rome
Trump meets the Pope, and makes a visible impression
Trump plays handshake with the new president of France, Emmanuel Macron (the winner is unclear)
Trump moves Montenegro’s prime minister, Duško Markovic, out of the way at NATO
Trump and Macron play a second round of handshake (Trump wins)
Donald Trump delivers a speech at NATO, and makes a visible impression
Correction: An earlier version of this story misnamed the Montenegrin prime minister as Milo Đukanović, who was the predecessor of Duško Marković. It also inaccurately called Emomali Rakhmon the “de-facto” president of Tajikistan.