Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump set the tone at Tuesday night’s debate right off the bat — without even uttering a single word.
The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates opened their showdown with a bold handshake that spoke volumes and amounted to “psychological warfare,” body language experts told The Post.
As the clock struck 9 p.m., Harris entered the stage exuding confidence, with her head up and shoulders back, crossing to meet Trump at his podium to shake his hand — appearing to catch him by surprise, body language analyst Chris Ulrich told The Post.
In his last debate in the 2024 election — albeit with a different candidate — Trump did not shake hands with his then-opponent, President Biden.
“I don’t think he was ready for it,” he said. “Or maybe it was their strategy, just to go to the podium, and if she shakes hands, he would shake hands.”
But Harris decided to come all the way over to Trump, rather than stopping center stage to wait for the former president to meet her.
“She stopped in the middle of the stage at first and if she stayed there and he walked over, that would have even increased the psychological impact,” Ulrich said. “But she went and sought him out to let him know that she was going to engage him, right?”
“I think it was a psychological message of, ‘I’m here to engage you.’ By putting her hand out first, she sends the psychological message,” said Ulrich.
Trump greeted Harris with a handshake notably softer than what body language expert Darren Stanton described in an analysis for BonusCodeBets as his “bone-crusher,” which he has used on world leaders from the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“The handshake is a power display and it’s one Trump likes to use frequently,” he said.
On the other hand, Ulrich said Harris likely intended her grip to “build trust” not just with Trump, but with the American public — something she appeared to focus much of the night on.
“When we shake someone’s hand, it’s aimed at building trust for us to be seen as confident,” he said. “In general, studies show that we’re twice as likely to be trusted, but also to be seen as confident and poised.”
“And this is a recurring theme for her throughout this debate, and I think that’s why we see some of the gestures she does, especially when he’s throwing his jabs.”
Those gestures included frequent smirks and “chin grabs,” which Ulrich said “is meant [to come across] as poised, smart, intellectual, curious, wise” — but may have been intentionally invoked to belittle her opponent.
“In my world, we say, ‘When you grab your chin, you’re about to win,’” he said. “I don’t know if that’s 100% this, but … it’s almost like she was doing this as a way to kind of marginalize [Trump].”
For the former president, it was his facial expressions that belied his true feelings. For example, subtle changes to his grin occurred throughout the night, as Stanton noted that “you can spot when Trump is fake smiling.”
“When a person is trying to convey a fake smile, happiness or joy, there are key details to tell that it’s not genuine,” he said. “The three crow’s feet near your eyes appear when you’re happy, Trump’s crow’s feet often don’t appear when he’s asked a question and wants to be seen as unfazed or unbothered.”
At other times, Trump gave half-smiles — an expression seen from him during his last debate on July 21 that sealed Biden’s fate in the 2024 election.
“Trump also flashes micro-expressions of contempt as a gesture. Contempt or disgust is shown through a bilateral smile which is a smile seen only on one side of the face,” Stanton said. “Sometimes the smile is prolonged but other times it can be shown within a second.”
