Body Language and Behavior Analysis No. 4759: Donald Trump's Sadistic Pleasure and Predatory Behavior Tell

Nonverbal and Emotional Intelligence

On Friday 9 August 2024, after a significant delay, Donald Trump held a political rally in Bozeman, Montana.  

Approximately 13 minutes into Trump's 'speech', a person in the audience suffered a medical event. They were relatively close to Trump's stage, in front of him and about 45º to his right. 

Trump paused several times, of varying length, during the next three minutes. The above video clip shows a 26 second segment near the end of this 'medical-incident interruption'.

Near the end of the above video segment (at the 17 second mark), Trump says, "Thank you, darling. Thank you. Yay. [pause] Wow. [pause] Thank you, honey. [pause] That's great."

Just after Trump says, "Thank you, honey" (beginning at the 23 second mark), Trump displays a rapid set of tongue movements.

These tongue movements vary in magnitude and have two primary directional components: lateral (side-to-side, more prominent at the beginning) and anterior-posterior (in-and-out, more prominent towards the end). Here is the behavior slowed down to 1/4 speed:

This tongue movement also involves Trump licking (almost exclusively) his upper lip (although his initial lick/tongue jut is to both lips, as his mouth was not more widely opened). 

Alternatively, this behavior can involve primarily the bottom lip, but with this specific nonverbal, licking the upper lip is significantly more common.

Earlier in this same video clip (at the 8 second mark, just after Trump says, "we're gonna not have a country left"), Trump displays a shorter version of this same behavior.

These specific tongue behaviors are sometimes displayed a good bit slower, however in these examples, Trump's tongue movement is rapid. 

This specific tongue movement pattern is a profound red flag. It indicates sadistic pleasure as well as a signal of predatory behavior. The underlying sadism may or may not have a sexual predatory component as well (as well as an anticipatory component).

Sadistic personality disorder and similar predatory behaviors are usually 99.9% clandestine to all but unfortunate victims or the most observant. Thus this body language display may act as a warning signal and/or confirm your underlying suspicions.

Although it happens very quickly, upon seeing this tongue display, most people become alarmed and many become nauseous. Additionally, the majority of us have never witnessed another adult do this.

Moreover, note a largely corroborating predatory verbal behavior – Trump's conspicuous and painfully out-of-place use of the words "honey" and "darling". 

These are terms of endearment – and appear to be directed at the medical professional and/or other audience member who was rendering care. In this scenario, these are examples of (forced) verbal false-affections and are used completely out-of-context. 

Note Trump's vocal tone as he says, "Yay" and "Wow" – these paralanguage tells are obviously insincere and completely contradictory to any sincere use of these exclamations.

And you may have seen Trump's display of disgust, just after he says, "Yay" (Partial or full eyelid closure, while not a required component of the disgust expression, is a disgust-amplifier).

SUMMARY: Donald Trump displayed signals of sadistic pleasure and/or predation towards one of his audience members (and/or toward those helping her) as they were suffering a medical event during his rally in Bozeman on Friday.

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

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