If I were President, and I were meeting with an enemy face to face, and they saluted me, I’d salute them back.
I have not served in any military and am not aware of the official meaning of a salute.
But I have had enemies and if I were meeting with one of my enemies and they saluted me, I would salute them.
This is just based on my gut feel of the gesture’s meaning from watching movies. My gut feel is it’s a combination of:
This handshake indicates we’re both listening intently and ready to talk
I see you. We are the same despite our ranks, because we’ve both put ourselves here, and because we’re both equally susceptible to bullets.
I could be wrong, and I’m asking for correction if I am, but based on that I’d salute an enemy soldier if he was standing there ready to meet with me.
Thing is though, with a politician it’s different. I don’t know if Trump’s ever been shot at. Probably not. So the “hello, spiritual brother” thing that can apply to any other soldier even enemy is less there with a politician.
I don’t know. Just saying it seems natural to me to salute an enemy. Like “this sucks, maybe we can end it today” feeling to it for me. Framing the war as a problem they’re facing together.