Donald Trump used an arrogant speech tactic as he ranted at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky where he appeared to refer to himself like a super-hero.
The US President stunned his allies this week when he appeared to not only brand Mr Zelensky as a “dictator” but also suggested Ukraine was to blame for the war with Russia. His comments were swiftly rebuffed by European leaders.
Speaking in Miami, Florida, this week, Mr Trump said the Ukrainian leader “better move fast” otherwise he might not have a country left, in reference to agreeing to terms thrashed out in a US-Russia peace deal. In typical Trump-fashion, he baselessly disparaged Mr Zelensky as having low approval ratings and having played his predecessor Joe Biden “like a fiddle.”
But body language and language analysis expert Judi James told The Mirror Mr Trump showed arrogant tendencies during his speech about Zelensky. She explained how he moved away from “aggressive” body language to show a state of “implied high authority” and even spoke about himself in a way that made it sound as though he was “speaking of a superhero, not himself.”
“Trump has a few different forms of communication mode and this is his ‘Stream-of-consciousness’ mode where he appears to go into freefall using a relaxed and softer tone of voice,” Judi James told The Mirror. “It’s away from his displays of aggressive arousal where he will growl, shout and display his jutted lower teeth between pouted, open lips.
“This mode suggests the kind of confidence where he feels no need for emotional displays. He also speaks about himself in the third person here, talking about something ‘only Trump is going to be able to do’ which sounds as though he is speaking of a superhero, not himself.”
She continued: “When he refers to Zelensky he performs an eyebrow and a shoulder shrug to look dismissive as he speaks of ‘money missing’. But he uses a similar brow shrug when he quotes Zelensky, implying the same from his responses.
“His eyes then tilt to the side in an expression of authority and his body bristles. When he says ‘Zelensky better move fast or he’s not going to have a country left…’ his pose changes as he tilts his body to rest on one elbow and stretches the other arm out in a casual-looking splay, performing an echo of his own words ‘gotta move’ to add emphasis.
“He makes it sound and look like an observation and an unemotional warning here that comes in the middle of his other stream of thoughts. There’s no ‘chest-banging’ state here at this point, more a state of relaxed, implied high authority.”
Mr Zelensky later responded to the US President’s claim and said the president had found himself surrounded by “disinformation” sympathetic to Russia.
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