Today in the Rose Garden, President Donald Trump held a joint press conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, at whom Trump has directed some Twitter vitriol in the past. (Which, tbh, whom hasn’t he?)
While the conference brought about several bug-eye emoji moments (like Trump saying Barack Obama didn’t call the families of soldiers killed in action), it was the end of it that set everyone asunder.
Looks to me like they're friends again. (h/t @EliBWatkins @jmoorheadcnn) pic.twitter.com/Z5loEYzYgO
— Brenna Williams (@brennawilliams) October 16, 2017
Huh. What’s with the hand-holding? Were they celebrating the success of their press conference? Or was McConnell helping Trump because of somewhat specious rumor that Trump is afraid of stairs?
Either way, Twitter adored it.
https://twitter.com/jaystebbins/status/920000829373014016
That’s a reference to the news today that Trump said his vice president wanted to hang gay people (what a day).
You: Did Trump and McConnell just holds hands?
— Roberto Aram Ferdman (@robferdman) October 16, 2017
Narrator: Yes, they did pic.twitter.com/8W28syymkU
And when I touch you
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 16, 2017
I feel happy inside
It's such a feelin' that my love
I can't hide
I can't hide
I can't hidepic.twitter.com/mQfE8rnAHD
But a lot of people went the stairs route. (In March, Trump held British Prime Minister Teresa May’s hand while walking down a ramp, prompting speculation that Trump was afraid of stairs and inclines.)
TRUMP'S AFRAID OF STAIRS!! TRUMP'S AFRAID OF STAIRS!! WHAT A LOSER!! @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/xe8em75v5d
— PatentlyCorrect 🌹 (@PatentlyCorrect) October 16, 2017
the president is incapable of stairs without assistance, but we're made to think he should have a nuclear arsenal https://t.co/um1g1nJTOe
— shaunheiser.bsky.social (@shaunheiser) October 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/Alicia_Smith19/status/919996224811528192
TFW you see the rumor is true. #TrumpStairs https://t.co/2qQZgVKVZ1
— #PlanYourVote (@myminutia) October 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/caycoomar/status/919997389238341633
Either way, it’s clear it is McConnell offering Trump a hand. Did he know something? Or was this McConnell—forever painted as a Machiavellian political operator—trying to embarrass Trump, knowing this would become a meme? We’ll never know.