During her speech yesterday, Hillary Clinton said that Donald Trump's attack on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, was racist in nature. Today Mr. Trump defended himself against her accusation. The above video is an excerpt from an interview Mr. Trump gave today with CNN's Jake Tapper. What follows is partial nonverbal analysis of this video.
At multiple times during the interview, Donald Trump displayed a Jaw Jut. To many body language novices - a jaw jut automatically indicates anger - but this is not always true. Here we see an exception. The Republican candidate shows a jaw jut - yet there is no anger (How can we exclude anger in this moment?).
To nuance this body language expression a bit further - when a jaw jut is made in the absence of anger with the lips are pulled back to significantly expose the lower teeth - it's a strong nonverbal signal of both Hubris and Insincerity.
Another particularly telling nonverbal moment occurs during 0:32.3 - as Mr. Trump said, "... He's a Mexican ..."
And about tenth of a second later, during 0:32.4 - as Mr. Trump finishes the word, "... He's a Mexican ..." we see the remainder of this expression.
These last two image capture two slit seconds of what is known as a microexpression - and this one, sliced more specifically, illustrates a microexpression of contempt.
Contempt is a very specific emotion wherein the person feeling it places another person (or group of people) at an unworthy place, beneath them. It overlaps significantly with anger - and indeed some define contempt as anger directed at someone (or group) of lower status. Moreover, contempt is a very damaging emotion - so much so that within the context of marriage, contempt is the number one predictor of divorce (The worst John Gottman's Four Horsemen of Marriage Apocalypse). If seen in the workplace displayed by one's supervisor - it is portends a very high likelihood of being fired. The recipient of chronic contempt will even experience a down-regulation in their immune system, significantly increasing the chance of infection and even malignancy.
This website serves as an objective reference source for the science and art of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3578: Megan Fox, Body Language and Dismissive Emotions
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3577: Tape Face - America's Got Talent 2016 Auditions
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3572: Bernie Sanders on Jimmy Kimmel - regarding Donald Trump Debate
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3565: Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens, Archie Williams and Body Language
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3538: Barack Obama, David Cameron, Number 10, Brexit and Body Language
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3517: Before His Walk Back, Donald Trump "There Has To Be Some Form of Punishment" to Women who have Abortions
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3470: Taylor Swift's Speech at 2016 Grammys
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3432: Leonardo DiCaprio reacts to Lady Gaga at Golden Globe Awards
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