Sometimes it's not what you say — it's how you say it. Tuesday night's debate was a nonverbal sparring match that spoke volumes. Here's how a body language expert broke down Trump's defensive tactics.
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00:00Sometimes it's not what you say, it's how you say it.
00:03Tuesday night's debate was a non-verbal sparring match that spoke volumes.
00:07Here's how a body language expert broke down Trump's defensive tactics.
00:12Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris faced off on the debate stage for
00:16the first time on September 10. And predictably, commentary began flooding the internet from the
00:21second the two stepped on stage. As Americans dissected the dynamic between the two candidates
00:26during the debate, it became pretty clear that there was a silent power struggle behind the
00:31podiums. Body language expert and behavioral analyst Tracy Brown, CSP, spoke to The List
00:37about what was going down in the minds of Harris and Trump. She pointed out several specifics,
00:41starting with their first interaction — that handshake.
00:45Biden and Trump did not greet each other, and Kamala — oh wait, she went for the handshake!"
00:50Brown made a pointed reference to Trump's apparent reluctance to shake his Democratic
00:54opponent's hand, saying,
00:56"...with the handshake she took the opportunity to set the tone.
00:59She walked on more quickly than him and was trying to look him in the eye.
01:03He wouldn't return that look. She had to duck to get within his view and wasn't going to let him
01:07avoid her."
01:08According to Brown, Harris' determination to step into his territory and insist on a handshake
01:14established dominance and set the tone for the evening.
01:17The body language expert also spoke on the reason she had to do that,
01:20suggesting that Trump's unwillingness to shake Harris' hand was part of a
01:24planned strategy to avoid engaging her emotionally. Brown explained,
01:28"...his behavior of avoiding her and failing to engage lasted through the night. He rarely
01:33looked at her, preferring to focus on the moderators the vast majority of the time."
01:37Commentators leading up the debate expected something like this to happen,
01:41saying that a big part of Trump's debate coaching involved handling personal attacks.
01:45"...he has been personally told, Donald Trump, by people close to him,
01:49not to engage in these personal attacks."
01:52However, Brown thinks the strategy backfired in the eyes of the audience,
01:56saying that Harris' refusal to be deterred gave her an upper hand.
02:00In contrast to Trump, Harris was much more animated throughout the course of the debate.
02:04When Trump brought up the unproven rumors of immigrants eating cats and dogs in Ohio,
02:09her facial reactions were transparently amused.
02:12"...they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats,
02:16they're eating, they're eating the pets."
02:20The stark difference in the two candidates' postures and reactions was plainly apparent
02:24throughout the roughly hour-and-a-half broadcast, and it wasn't lost on viewers.
02:29One person wrote on X,
02:30"...one thing I like about Kamala Harris is how she's very visibly alive."
02:35Avoiding direct eye contact wasn't the only nonverbal cue that was obvious about Trump's
02:39debate performance. Tracy Brown suggests that his body language showed that the VP's jabs were
02:44more effective than he tried to let on, saying,
02:47"...when he got stressed, he had tight or disappearing lips or his trademark pucker."
02:51What may have at times been coached restraint on Trump's part did occasionally give way to
02:56what looked more like repressed anger. In one instance, Harris took a shot at both Trump's
03:00fixation on rally crowds and the talking points at his rallies, which seemed to hit a nerve with
03:05Trump, judging by his facial expressions.
03:08And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early,
03:13out of exhaustion and boredom.