Body Language and Behavior Analysis No. 4784: Trump on Tarmac in Scotland – Asked About His Name Appearing In The Epstein Files

Nonverbal and Emotional Intelligence

Trump arrived in Scotland on Friday night. On the Tarmac in Glasgow, he was asked by a reporter, "...were you briefed about your name appearing in The Epstein Files, ever?"

Trump responds, "No. I was never, never briefed. No."

What follows is a body language and behavior analysis of this moment.

Note that Trump looks to his right (primarily with his eyes, but somewhat also with his head/neck turning to his right as well). Crucially, this occurs BEFORE he says, "No" (the first "No") Here you see this behavior at 1/4 speed:

When a person answers a “yes or no” question, and as they do so, they look away, this dynamic is highly correlated with deception. This association with lying is even higher if they look away BEFORE giving their answer.

A split-second after looking to his right, when Trump does say, “No” (the first “No”), note the accompanying configuration of his lips – they're flared outward. This is known as a Lip Curl (an extremely common behavior for Trump).

The Lip Curl is a prevalent body language dynamic often accompanying:

• Hubris
• False bravado/Braggadocio
• Pretentiousness
• Righteous indignation
• Deception/Insincerity
• Agenda-driven/Manipulation
• Machiavellian Personality/Dark Triad/Dark Tetrad
• Pseudo-accent/"Country Club Accent"

When a lip curl is present, it's nearly always a manifestation of an affectation. They are character-acting.

And crucially, acting without consent is deception.

After the first “No”, Trump closes his eyelids and looks ever-so-briefly (only about 0.15 of a second) back toward the reporter (but he does not fully return his eyes to meet hers) before he looks away to his right again.

Here it is at 1/4 speed on a loop:

At the end of his short answer, with this 'look away', Trump's torso also accompanies his eyes along with his head/neck – also rotating to his right – and, crucially, away from the person asking the question.

In addition, note that Trump repeats/stutters “never, never”. In a non-stutterer, this is correlated with deception. He also repeated “No”.

As he continues to turn away from the reporter, Trump displays a classic regret expression.

It's important to note that while many-a-person's reason for regret is very often correlated with remorse or shame – however, just as often, it has nothing to do with remorse or shame.

Individuals with low or absent empathy only regret that they got caught (and/or didn't expertly execute the needed level of damage-control that they wished they had).

While there are a myriad of other means, methods, and sources indicating Donald Trump's deception in this particular matter, this body language analysis serves both as a stand-alone confirmation of these lies – but also as a nonverbal tutorial which, of course, can be applied to completely unrelated scenarios and individuals.

SUMMARY: Donald Trump's body language in this clip indicates he was lying. Trump knew fully well that his name was included in the Epstein Files.

More specifically, Trump's look-away upon being asked a yes-or-no question, and lack of eye contact after the question was asked, is particularly telling.

Inquiries regarding consulting, teaching (online or in-person, one-on-one or groups), keynotes, and press: Jack@BodyLanguageSuccess.com

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