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On Thursday’s Finnerty, Newsmax brought on body language expert Scott Rouse to break down the brief but telling handshake between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the president’s visit to Beijing. The spectacle — staged in the shadow of China’s halls of power — was precisely the kind of photo-op where small gestures reveal big intentions, and that’s what drew the cameras and the experts.
Multiple analysts noted that Trump initiated the contact and kept the moment controlled rather than performative, foregoing his old “yank-shake” for a steadier, camera-aware engagement that looked to be designed to show firmness without needless theatrics. That kind of calibrated strength is exactly what American foreign policy should prize: projection of resolve without giving away weakness for the sake of a headline.
Scott Rouse’s read on Finnerty — shaped by his work with law enforcement and military clients — was a reminder that posture and restraint matter in high-stakes diplomacy. Rather than obsessing over whether the two men smiled, Rouse emphasized the discipline behind Trump’s gestures, a conservative virtue: measured toughness that protects American interests first.
Let’s be blunt: Xi Jinping is a long-practiced operator whose composure at these events is part theater and part strategy, and the fact that he went on to greet members of Trump’s delegation after the handshake underscores the choreography at play. Conservatives should applaud a president who understands the optics and the substance — someone who doesn’t yield symbolic ground but also doesn’t squander leverage for show.
Too many in our media and in Washington get distracted by the performance and miss the point: diplomacy succeeds when it safeguards jobs, chips, and national security, not when it provides viral micro-moments for late-night hosts. If Trump used that handshake to remind Beijing that American strength is deliberate and watchful, then that is a win for every working family worried about supply chains and Chinese economic coercion.
Scott Rouse’s expertise gives conservative Americans confidence that optics can be read honestly — and that a leader who knows how to control a moment can control the outcome. We don’t need grandstanding; we need results, and a leader who understands both the theater and the threat is more likely to deliver them.
At the end of the day, patriotism means demanding tough, intelligent engagement with rivals, not sentimental hand-wringing about photos. Watch the handshake closely, hold the president accountable for outcomes, and keep faith in a foreign policy grounded in American strength and common-sense conservatism.
