As former President Donald Trump attended his son Barron's high school graduation on Friday, he executed a "well-honed ability to compartmentalise his visible and emotional state and responses", a body language expert has said.
Amid his hush money trial in Manhattan, which accuses the real estate mogul of falsifying his business records in an attempt to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to adult performer Stormy Daniels and charges him with 34 felonies, Trump has shown "signs of simmering anger, baleful resentment and exhaust caused by frustration", Judi James told the Mirror.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, authorised a day off from the proceedings on Friday so the former president could attend Barron's graduation from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida, with his wife Melania.
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The former president and Melania attended their son Barron's graduation from high school on Friday in West Palm Beach, Florida (AFP via Getty Images)The school is near Trump's infamous Mar-a-Lago resort, which is the scene of yet another of the presumptive Republican nominee's four criminal trials. This one accuses him of illegally stashing classified documents in the bathroom and other areas of the resort after he left office in 2021.
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Yet all the "baleful resentment" and exhaustion from his legal woes was absent from the former president's face as he attended Barron's graduation with Melania, James said.
"Here, at his son's graduation, he is just every inch the proud, good-humoured and even playful dad, happily show-boating to the crowds with a widely stretched, uplifted mouth smile that suggests a smug pleasure from seeing his son do so well," she analysed. "Trump's body language here suggests a well-honed ability to compartmentalise his visible and emotional state and responses."
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Melania could be seen leaning back and beaming with amusement as she watches Trump's antics (AFP via Getty Images)
Barron himself exuded a presence of maturity and authority as he walked across the stage (AFP via Getty Images)And it wasn't just Trump who appeared more relaxed amid the proceedings. Melania was "more relaxed than usual" at the graduation, showing off a "wide, non-rictus smile visible under the brim of the hat," James said. She added that Melania and her husband might be on the ups, too, given her body language throughout the morning.
"She shows an attachment to her husband by the way her knees are angled towards him as they sit together, and as he stands to joke around, she leans back slightly to watch him with a grin of approval and humour," James said. She called it a "new chapter in the Donald and Melania narrative".
Much like Trump, Melania showcased "pride" in her son, with James analysing: "Her own pride in her boy is shown by the way she places her hands in the 'pray' position as she applauds him, suggesting an amount of awe in his achievement."
Melania and Trump appeared relaxed during the graduation, a far contrast from their body language amid Trump's legal woes (AFP via Getty Images)Of Barron himself, the man of the hour, James said he "looks very much like the adult in the room while his dad showboats through". She added: "His expression looks mature and solemn, and he now appears to have grown into his height, losing many of the displays of awkward diffidence and instead adopting a look of increasing presence and authority."
Barron came dressed in a traditional navy blue cap and gown, a red stole complementing the look. The 6-foot-7 teen received his diploma from the $41,500 (£32,769) per year private institution, where he spent the final three years of his secondary educational career.
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