‘Always Touching People!’: Trump Accused of Growing More Unhinged by the Day as Cameras Catch His Uncomfortable Comments and Bizarre Gesture Toward Iraqi Leader on Live TV
President Donald Trump‘s awkward interactions with other world leaders often end up as über-viral videos.
The 80-year-old MAGA chief’s recent sitdown with Iraq’s new prime minister at the White House turned into another buzzworthy clip that has the internet in a frenzy.
Trump is accused of growing more unhinged after a meeting with Ali al-Zaidi, 41, in the excessively gold-decorated Oval Office on July 14.
The two heads of state of their respective nations spoke to the press via interpreters.
“I just want to say it’s a great honor to have the prime minister of Iraq with us. He’s been a great fighter. He’s been a great fan of America,” Trump stated.
Not long later, cameras caught his uncomfortable comment about al-Zaidi and his bizarre handshake.
“He’s a young man,” Trump jokingly stated before dropping an insulting remark. “He’s young, and he’s handsome, which I don’t like. I’m not happy about it.”
Other people in the room lightly chuckled as al-Zaidi smiled at his host’s playful remarks.
Trump then quickly tapped the Iraqi leader on the knee before al-Zaidi gave him a stern yet shocking look for several seconds.
As the translator interpreted his words into Arabic, a stern-faced Trump continued to look intensely in al-Zaidi’s direction.
The Iraqi leader had no immediate reply to the awkward praise, but later he said, “Thank you for the warm welcome by his excellency President Trump. This is my first visit to the United States of America. … My thanks to his excellency, the president, for the warm welcome.”
Trump’s backhanded compliment didn’t go over well online, as viewers shared their takes on the complimentary yet rude comments.
“What a stupid, old fool he is. An embarrassment to our country,” an X user declared after watching the clip of Trump and al-Zaidi’s exchange.
“Oh, how inappropriate. National humiliation has never been so widely experienced. Make it stop,” shared a like-minded Trump critic.
One individual pointed out, “Just can’t keep his hands to himself, can he?”
“Why is he always touching people?” someone on X wondered about Trump. One annoyed commenter wrote, “So tired of his unending ego issues and his inability to keep his mouth shut.”
Trump’s tendency to voice his thoughts about male counterparts came up when one person tweeted, “He sure comments a lot on the way men look. Is he doing that to score points with them?”
But it’s not Trump’s first time putting his hands on someone during an Oval Office meeting.
During his 2025 meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, an overly giddy Trump praised the controversial heir apparent to the Saudi throne.
However, he apparently could not stop himself from repeatedly touching MBS, who was seated next to him.
Trump playfully slapped the prince’s arm and laughed so hard that viewers instantly noticed what looked like his teeth appeared to “slip” or “fall out” of his mouth.
View on Threads
But the president has had several on-camera moments in which he did or said something inappropriate about another man’s appearance.
At the inaugural session of his Board of Peace in February this year, Trump stopped mid-speech to single out “young, handsome” Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
“It’s always nice to be young and handsome. It doesn’t mean we have to like you,” he admitted. “I don’t like young, handsome men. Women, I like. Men, I don’t have any interest.”
While speaking at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement in May, Trump called on distinguished graduate Matthew Lanzilada to join him on stage.
Lanzilada shook hands with the commander-in-chief in front of the crowd assembled in New London, Connecticut. But Trump reacted to the greeting by saying, “I hate good-looking men.”
Trump also has a long history of turning public meetings with other world leaders into uncomfortable displays of ungraceful affection or targeted coldness.
The reality television star-turned-political powerhouse infamously clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February 2025, igniting widespread outrage.
Plus, a major headline-grabbing feud between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has played out at several international events, such as this year’s G7 Summit and NATO Summit.
Even when the “Art of the Deal” book author plays nice with his global partners, the public response is often negative because the engagement still comes off as embarrassingly cringeworthy to many observers.