Jimmy Fallon has discovered a new way to poke fun at the Republican Party and former president Donald Trump , and he is referring to the funny moment as their ‘new official handshake.’ The Tonight Show host noticed a strange exchange between Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Trump on February 24, the day the real estate mogul won South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary . As soon as Trump called Graham’s name and asked him to come on stage at his victory party, the audience booed him, HuffPost reported. “Unfortunately, things got even more awkward from there,” Fallon joked.
Graham attempted a fist bump, but Trump gave him a high five in return and pressed his open palm up against his closed fist. “Those two couldn’t be any older or whiter,” Fallon said. “Course they had to pretend Trump did that on purpose, so now it’s the official Republican greeting,” he added.
Although their relationship hasn’t always been smooth, Graham has largely been a steadfast supporter of Trump throughout his administration. Previously, while Graham referred to Trump as a ‘race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot’ during the 2016 campaign, he also momentarily defected from Trump due to his involvement in the Capitol attack on January 6. Nevertheless, Graham upheld his general allegiance to Trump by supporting him in his run for the presidency in 2024, standing by him against two indictments, and downplaying comments he made in December that were perceived as anti-immigrant.
What’s this secret handshake between Trump and Lindsey Graham called you ask? Why, it’s a high bump…or a fist five if you’re feeling dirty. pic.twitter.com/W2k1K8LEo7
— Calvin Christopher (@Caltopher) February 25, 2024
Fallon’s comment, although funny, displays a disturbing trend of the GOP continuously supporting Trump no matter what. Back in December 2023, Republican former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman slammed the cultish following of Trump and his followers, per Newsweek . “We know Trump supports, first of all, let me just say, I don’t think there is a Republican Party, there is a cult around Donald Trump,” Whitman said in his stern language.
Trump shaking hands with Lindsey Graham last night at Mar-a-Lago. WTH? What kind of handshake is this? pic.twitter.com/YHsf78fJW3 pic.twitter.com/Ar78lILKU5
— Indivisible Network 🇺🇦 (@IndivisibleNet) March 24, 2019
Whitman also described that the GOP has become what Trump wants it to become. “They didn’t adopt a platform in 2020, which meant that they didn’t set out what they stood for. It was whatever Donald Trump tells us we should stand for today, that’s what we’ll stand for. So it’s not a party as we have known it,” Whitman said, alleging that the party is not what it once was.
A CBS poll from August 2023 established that many of his supporters believe Trump is telling the truth over their own families. MSNBC’s Morning Joe looked into the trend, attacking the cultish following of Trump’s supporters, per Independent . “How could people support Donald Trump? And the question just kept coming up,” said Joe Scarborough as he tried to decode the survey, asking the question, “And there were really no good answers except, you know, the question is, is it a cult?”