BATHMOPHOBIA
THE TRUTH ABOUT THAT PICTURE: PM HAD TO TAKE HOLD OF TRUMP’S HAND... TO SAVE HIM FROMA BAD CASE OF...
THE pictures went around the world as a sign of the ‘extraspecial relationship’ between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Donald Trump – shots of the pair holding hands at the White House.
But yesterday, a much less tender explanation emerged for the encounter – that Trump was clinging on to Ms May for support because he has a morbid fear of stairs and slopes.
As Ms May continued to bask in the success of her US visit, a senior British government source suggested that the President suffers from a condition known technically as bathmophobia. Mr Trump has already publicly admitted to being a ‘germophobe’ with a compulsive need for cleanliness.
The source said: ‘He hates heights where you can see the ground or sharp inclines even more than germs. He particularly dislikes staircases and his biggest nightmare of all is a dirty stair rail.’
They added that he did not have a problem at Trump Tower because ‘he is always in that gold elevator’. But even that is not without its risks for the tycoon: he reportedly will not press a ground-floor lift button because it is the most frequently touched and therefore riddled with germs.
Trump once said about handshakes: ‘One of the curses of American society is the simple act of shaking hands and the more successful and famous one becomes, the worse this terrible custom seems to get. I happen to be a clean-hands freak. I feel much better after I thoroughly wash my hands, which I do as much as possible.’
But the thin-skinned Mr Trump is unlikely to welcome the idea he had to clutch Ms May for support – especially as he has been plagued by jokes about the size of his hands. Trump is reportedly so angry about one journalist’s jibe that he was a ‘short-fingered vulgarian’ that 30 years on he still sends the writer photos of himself, his hands outlined in gold marker pen to prove they are normal.
When asked about the handholding, a No 10 spokeswoman said that after a ‘friendly’ meeting in the Oval Office, he ‘offered his hand’ as a ‘chivalrous gesture’ because they were about to walk down a ramp.
A source close to the White House last night cast doubt on the bathmophobia claim, saying he had never noticed Mr Trump struggle with stairs or slopes.