Vice President Kamala Harris successfully provoked former President Trump on several occasions during Tuesday’s ABC presidential debate, causing him to lose his temper and get off track, according to body language expert Susan Constantine.
Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the first time Trump and Harris shared the stage, and commentators said it was a good night for Harris while Trump has had better performances.
This was partly due to how Harris provoked reactions from Trump, who grew more frustrated and angry as the night progressed.
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Vice President Kamala Harris successfully provoked former President Trump during their debate, according to body language expert Susan Constantine. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Constantine tells Fox News Digital that Harris knew Trump’s weak points, such as questioning the size of crowds at his rallies, and when she brought them up, he responded defiantly, to her detriment.
“He fell for all her games, they were all tactics,” Constantine says. “So when she poked the bear, he would growl back, and she would keep poking the bear, especially when it came, of course, to the crowd.”
Harris said people who attend Trump’s rallies often leave early out of fatigue and boredom. Trump responded by saying his rallies have record crowds, while Harris flies people to her rallies and pays them to be there.
“She knew every single one of his weaknesses, and he was defending them instead of answering the question and focusing on the task. He spent most of his time passing the ball back to her and also defending himself, which was not a good strategy,” Constantine says.
“You could see Trump was very, very upset about that. At one point, he slumped his shoulders, put his head down, and slumped. And then you see his upper lip. [move upward] Very quickly. It was a micro-expression of flight, of hatred, of disgust and contempt… I was really angry with her for saying that.”
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Former President Trump speaking at Tuesday’s ABC presidential debate. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Constantine says Trump was angry for a reason, noting that Harris made many disparaging comments and was therefore unable to regain control of the debate after being provoked by Harris, whose smiles reflected that she knew she had backed the former president into a corner.
“You could hear his anger, the inflection in his voice, the frown or the tight lips. He was angry. In fact, you could hear a lot of it in his voice,” she explains. “His lips were tight most of the time. He was suppressing a lot of his own feelings toward her, which were anger. All of that served to feed Harris because he knew she had gotten it. That’s why you saw the smiles. And every time she got it… she rewarded herself with a big, permanent smile.”
Constantine says Harris’ smiles were often not genuine and were abnormally long. Harris also did it to provoke Trump and smiled as a contingency plan when she disagreed with things Trump said, according to Constantine.
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“True smiles don’t last more than the longest four seconds. When a person keeps that smile and does it for the entire time, that’s condescending, and what you’re doing is also dismissing what Trump is saying and [that] “She’s covered in a permanent smile. That’s not authentic,” Constantine explains. “If she wants to downplay what Trump is saying, she smiles all the time or even laughs at it.”
Constantine says there was a clear distinction between the two candidates: Trump appearing more serious, Harris seemingly happier.
At first, Harris would frequently kick his head back and almost tilt it upward, which Constantine describes as a “superiority posture.” He would raise his nose and cross his arms in an appraising attitude.
“It was a condescending attitude and also a petulant one. It was not a good decision,” says Constantine.
Constantine says Harris was very illustrative with her hand movements and looked directly into the camera, knowing exactly how to frame her gestures.
“She spoke to the American people. She played her role perfectly in many musical aspects. That’s why I think she received a lot of training.”
Constantine says Harris lost her balance when she was confused by the question about whether she supports any restrictions on a woman’s right to abortion.
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Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands before Tuesday’s ABC presidential debate. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“He avoided the question because he couldn’t answer,” she explains. “Then when he looked down, he started doing the bobblehead thing. And that was a trick.”
Constantine also praised Harris for her pre-debate handshake and noted that the vice president moved into Trump’s space to interact with him.
“She paused for a minute. She was almost a little hesitant, but then she tried it… So I’m going to give her one point for that,” Constantine says. “Overall… it was definitely a boxing match. They were on completely opposite sides, of course. There was no love lost between them.” [the] Trump’s side, and then I think Harris used that to her advantage and Donald Trump fell right into the trap.”
