Donald Trump nearly attacked by bald eagle

Updated
Donald Trump Holds Bald Eagle Named Uncle Sam for Time Magazine
Donald Trump Holds Bald Eagle Named Uncle Sam for Time Magazine

Since Donald Trump announced his bid for presidency, his outlandish remarks have seen backlash from Helen Mirren to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling -- this week especially after Trump called on Monday to bar all Muslims from entering the United States.

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The latest Trump attacker isn't even a person -- it's our country's national emblem, a bald eagle. Trump agreed to pose with the majestic bird for a Time magazine cover when he first established himself as a front-running Republican presidential candidate, and it didn't go very smoothly. A behind-the-scenes video of Trump's trouble with the eagle surfaced online on Wednesday, launching a thousand .gifs.

See Trump on the campaign trail:

Portrait photographer Martin Schoeller came up with the idea to capture the candidate with a bald eagle, thinking the American symbol would tie in nicely with Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." "It's hard to plan what animals will do," Schoeller said to Time. "There's not much training you can do with a wild bird and Mr. Trump was a little hesitant holding the bird, so it was very tricky to get the bird to [stay] on his hand."

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During the photo shoot, the eagle, who is 27 and aptly named Uncle Sam, was restless in Trump's presence, flapping his enormous wings into the candidate's often-mocked hair.

"How's my hair look?" Trump asks. "Not good," the crew echoes from behind the camera.

While Trump was on Time's cover in August, he didn't make the cut this week. The magazine named Angela Merkel as the person of the year on Wednesday, with Trump making the short list. Trump sits on the eight-person list alongside Caitlyn Jenner, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Vladimir Putin.

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