President Donald Trump hosted moderately a singular joint press convention along billionaire Elon Musk on the Oval Place of work on Tuesday, and frame language mavens assume the development published moderately so much.
Trump started the convention by means of giving Musk, his maximum tough adviser, the ground to discuss efforts to downsize the federal government by means of the Division of Executive Potency (DOGE), an initiative the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is main.
Trump claimed all through the convention that DOGE has discovered “billions and billions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse” in executive spending — regardless that neither Trump nor Musk presented specifics.
The president signed an government order later that day to proceed downsizing the federal team of workers and to extend executive hiring energy for DOGE. The Musk-led initiative has already confronted a number of court cases and courtroom orders because it used to be established remaining month.
However the one-of-a-kind convention spurred a large number of reactions on social media. Trump used to be seated on the Resolute Table in the course of the dialogue, whilst Musk — who used to be no longer elected to place of job by means of American citizens, and who has been criticized for the loss of transparency into DOGE operations — stood close by together with his 4-year-old son. Clips of the preschooler’s standard 4-year-old habits all through the convention, similar to selecting his nostril, made rounds on the web.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell mentioned on Tuesday night time that Trump’s convention with Musk — the richest guy on this planet and now a “special government employee” — displayed “the most powerless image of a president of the United States ever created by a camera.”
Learn on to listen to what mavens have to mention about Trump’s frame language all through the convention, and what it would imply.
Trump used to be seated all through the convention whilst Musk stood close by. What may those other positions show?
Patti Picket, a frame language and nonverbal communique knowledgeable and writer of “SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma,” advised HuffPost that she thinks Musk’s status “shows a certain level of power over Trump, who is sitting.”
Picket additionally identified that Musk’s informal apparel (he sported a black “Make America Great Again” cap) in comparison to Trump’s extra formal apparel additionally despatched a message.
“Musk wearing a T-shirt, coat and a cap shows he doesn’t feel a need to dress up or honor Trump by wearing professional clothing,” she mentioned.
Karen Donaldson, a communique and frame language knowledgeable, advised HuffPost that she believes Trump and Musk’s other positions confirmed the “trust and respect” that the president has for the billionaire X proprietor.
It conveyed that Trump has no wish to “pronounce his authority or position” over Musk.
Denise M. Dudley, a psychologist and writer of “Making Relationships Last,” advised HuffPost that the status vs. sitting positions may have been deliberate so that you could display Trump in a extra dominant place with Musk status a number of ft in the back of him.
JIM WATSON by means of Getty Pictures
Elon Musk and President Donald Trump photographed in combination within the Oval Place of work of the White Space on Feb. 11, 2025.
What do mavens make of Trump’s general frame language whilst Musk used to be talking to journalists?
Dudley thinks the president seemed “bored” whilst Musk spoke.
“He nods his head in agreement at semi-appropriate moments, but he mostly just sits there with his hands folded,” she mentioned, including that she thinks Trump used to be in an “unnatural” place having to take a seat quietly whilst somebody else talked — and with no need the “limelight directed toward him.”
She added that Trump’s frame language confirmed that he used to be “fake listening” as a result of his nods had been “totally random” and he sported a “vague, fixed” facial features whilst Musk used to be talking.
Donaldson pointed to the temporary moments wherein Trump gave a slight smile at Musk, pronouncing it perhaps conveys slightly of a “proud papa moment.”
Mark Bowden, frame language knowledgeable and writer, mentioned that once Trump smiled and laughed whilst Musk shared quite a lot of claims about Social Safety fraud, it confirmed that the president loved Musk’s remarks and that “he knows that these exaggerated examples will resonate most with the public.”
Bowden advised HuffPost that he thinks the president exhibited a “protective gesture” — having a look away, analyzing his fingers, overlaying his knuckles and pursing his lips — when Musk mentioned, “Obviously, we want to make sure that people who deserve Social Security do receive it.”
There have been “mistimed and miscommunicated regulatory signals between them,” he mentioned, including that “Regulator signals are gestures that help us understand who should speak when.”
“Unfortunately, the optics of this could suggest that Trump fundamentally disagrees with Musk — or at best, is visibly indifferent to Americans receiving the Social Security they deserve,” Bowden mentioned.
Andrew Harnik by means of Getty Pictures
Musk introduced his 4-year-old son to his joint press convention on the Oval Place of work with Trump on February 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Picket thinks that Trump and Musk’s other status/sitting positions put the president within the much less tough place — and Trump, in consequence, exhibited tension.
“Musk standing behind him, making Trump have to turn around awkwardly to interact, immediately reduces Trump’s power,” she mentioned. “You can see Trump’s stress by the way he holds his own hand.”
She mentioned that Trump protecting his proper hand down in a comfortable fist whilst his higher hand clamped over this is a “gesture that indicates he wants at some level to fight Musk (the fist) but is keeping himself from doing it.”
Picket additionally identified that all over the convention, Trump made the hassle to nonverbally have interaction with Musk, and no longer essentially the wrong way round.
She mentioned that this sticks out as a result of normally, when persons are talking to Trump, they flip to stand him, and the president hardly bodily turns his “body windows” — which means that, for instance, his center, neck, mouth and eyes — in opposition to folks he’s interacting with, Picket defined.
What are we able to remove from Musk bringing his 4-year-old son to the convention?
Other folks on social media criticized Musk for bringing his kid to the clicking convention, with some accusing the billionaire of the use of his son as a distraction.
Even the kid’s mom, Canadian pop singer Grimes, criticized Musk for taking their son to the Oval Place of work press convention, writing on X, previously Twitter: “He should not be in public like this.”
Bowden mentioned that he believes Musk’s son’s presence used to be obviously used as a “symbol” of Trump’s energy.
“If you can have the wealthiest person on the planet in a room, standing with their child, still wearing their coats and hat, then clearly, you are the more powerful one,” he mentioned.
As for Musk, Bowden thinks the Tesla CEO used his son as a distraction, in particular at one level, when he seemed to deflect a query by means of jokingly pronouncing that his son, who used to be then on his shoulders, used to be sticking his palms in his ears. A reporter had requested Musk to reveal extra details about the fraud his DOGE group has claimed to have noticed inside the Treasury Division.
“In this moment, Musk uses his son as a vehicle to justify his own discomfort,” Bowden mentioned. “He takes off his hat, brushes his hair back, and swings from side to side — all nervous adaptive behaviors.”
Picket referred to as the location unusual, pronouncing that Musk used to be looking to include his preschooler whilst speaking about “making significant, impactful changes” like slashing federal budgets. She thinks Musk used to be most probably instructed that having his son there would make him glance “warm and fuzzy,” however that as a substitute it made him glance “clownish” and “Trump ineffective by association.”
She mentioned that Trump made “failed” efforts to have interaction with the 4-year-old at issues within the convention.
“Trump’s look of overt anger on his face, tilted shoulder placement that shows displeasure, while he seems to have to sit there and take it,” she mentioned in regards to the president’s general demeanor.
Donaldson doesn’t assume Trump gave the impression “overly bothered or concerned” by means of the kid, and that once the 4-year-old turned into extra vocal at first of the convention, Trump gave the impression to take a look at to silence him in a “very calm, grandparent-like fashion.”
Dudley believes Trump seemed aggravated all through the development when Musk made a shaggy dog story that “gravitas can be difficult sometimes” after his son started talking.
“No one really laughs,” she mentioned in regards to the response to Musk’s shaggy dog story. “And Trump makes a very weak smile — almost a smirk. I think this moment is important. I think Trump is doing his best to show approval of (and solidarity for) Musk’s decision to include his son in the conference.”
“However, I think Trump is annoyed,” she added. “Trump keeps his hands tightly clasped together on his desk and looks down for a while.”
“Trump’s body language says that he was not in favor of having a kid attending his important press conference,” she later added.
What did Trump’s frame language put across when a reporter requested Musk about his attainable conflicts of passion because the DOGE chief?
Throughout the convention, a reporter requested Musk whether or not he can be “policing” himself because of his attainable conflicts of passion as head of DOGE, bearing in mind his corporations have gained billions of bucks in federal executive contracts through the years.
Dudley thinks Trump’s frame language confirmed moderately so much at that second.
“This is one of the few times when Trump looks at the camera, intertwines his fingers, looks at the camera again, frowns, wiggles around a little, and then starts looking back at Musk,” she mentioned. “He keeps his fingers intertwined while frowning.”
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She mentioned she to begin with concept Trump’s habits published a anxiousness because of the reporter’s query, however then puzzled if Trump used to be “trying to wake himself up.”
“Maybe it’s a bit of both,” she mentioned. “The question probably did make him uncomfortable, and he probably became very interested in how Musk was going to answer it, but I also think this is where Trump lost his focus and wanted to be done with the conference.”
With the expanding energy given to Musk’s DOGE and ongoing requires extra transparency, it remains to be essential to stay alongside of Trump’s government movements and any nonverbal cues that may divulge any details about Trump and Musk’s allyship.
