Story highlights Trump sharply criticized President Barack Obama for bowing to then-Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in 2009

Some on social media are slamming both Trump and conservative media outlets as hypocritical

(CNN) The action lasted mere seconds, but it has split social media and left people pondering: When is a bend a bow?

During the first stop on his inaugural trip abroad, President Donald Trump, like presidents before him, was honored with Saudi Arabia's highest civilian honor, the Order of Abdulaziz al-Saud.

But no sooner had the 6-foot-2-inch President leaned in so that the much shorter Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud could place the medal around his neck than the politically tinged questions started flying: Was it a bow? A curtsey? Some awkward combination thereof?

Whatever the answer, it was, perhaps, the one muted note of social media discord in an otherwise controversy-free first day of travel.

That's in part because in 2012, after flirting with the idea of running for president, Trump sharply criticized President Barack Obama for bowing to then-Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz when he got his award a few years earlier.