Melania Trump spent months planning Tuesday’s state dinner for King Charles and Queen Camilla. She selected the menu, the flowers, the wines and her Christian Dior Haute Couture pale pink gown down to the last detail.
Everything about the evening was curated and controlled. Then a video surfaced of her slowly pulling her hand away from Trump’s.
The clip shows them side by side, appearing to pose. Their hands meet briefly before Melania’s gloved hand slips out of his grip, slow and fully in view.
Republicans Against Trump posted it on X with the caption “Melania really hates him, doesn’t she?” and it pulled in over 179K views.
Melania really hates him, doesn’t she? pic.twitter.com/bMna84hXPw
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 29, 2026
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The replies filled in the rest.
Everyone hates him. Everyone but the gullible and the ignorant.
— Athens734 (@Athens734) April 29, 2026
She’s pissed at Jimmy Kimmel for telling the truth.
— C Foley (@CFoley85365382) April 29, 2026
Melania is a complicit and equally vile person; she hates him but she loves her proximity to power
— Frisbee L’Floof (@FrisbeeLFloof) April 29, 2026
Idk what her deal is but at this point it looks like she despises him. So much for marrying for money.
— Principire77 (@Catherine022877) April 29, 2026
She knows what is in the contract.
— Roger Miller (@roger_s_miller) April 29, 2026
The only thing Melania doesn’t hate is money she is no victim. She knows what side her bread is buttered and uses it to her advantage. She tolerates him some days and other days she acts like she’s the dutiful wife. She knows what to do and will do it as long as she is paid.
— PUGSPIRACY (@Pugspiracy) April 29, 2026
The hand-pull has a history.
It dates back to 2017, when a clip of Trump reaching for Melania’s hand on the tarmac and Melania visibly swatting it away became one of the defining videos of the first term.
The genre has continued through two inaugurations, multiple foreign trips and now a state dinner for the British monarch, each new installment finding a fresh audience that reacts with the same intensity.
The evening was otherwise notable for King Charles paying tribute to Trump and Melania for their “courage and steadfastness” following Saturday’s shooting, and Trump calling the special relationship “an eternal bond” with “lot of skill, tremendous skill.”
The body language conversation around Melania has been unusually concentrated this week.
At the First Lady’s Luncheon last Thursday, she walked past Usha Vance without acknowledgment and drew a formal body language expert analysis. At the Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, a photo of her expression after the shooting generated over 8.4 million views.
Featured image via X screengrab
