Donald Trump meets Barack Obama - five awkward photos

  • Published

When Donald Trump met President Barack Obama at the White House, their antipathy was barely concealed.

Mr Trump has called the president the worst in history, while Mr Obama said the Republican was unfit for the office.

The New York hotel developer, now president-elect, persistently questioned the birth legitimacy of the Hawaii-born president, and was publicly mocked for it by Mr Obama.

The two men spoke for more than an hour in the Oval Office on Thursday and when they emerged, they tried to put their bitter past behind them, speaking warmly about unity and a peaceful transition.

But the cameras told another story.

Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
If I stare into space hard enough, this will all go away...
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Trump's mind seems to stray... perhaps to the humiliation of Obama's birther jokes in 2011
Image source, European photopress agency
Image caption,
OK, here's the moneyshot... but Obama is stony-faced and Trump gives the gritted-teeth smile
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
Nuclear option when discomfort goes off the scale.... Trump decides he just can't look, he just CANNOT look
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
No more handshakes, much to Trump's relief... just a grim upside-down smile

But it wasn't all excruciating...

Image source, European photopress agency
Image caption,
The two shared a lighter moment when Obama told the media that was it

Melania and Michelle had no such problems

Image source, White House
Image caption,
Melania Trump and Michelle Obama in conversation