The 13 Most Telling Photographs of the Harris-Trump Presidential Debate
Harris outmaneuvered Trump using psychological tactics to expose his weaknesses. Powerful images capture her commanding presence and his discomfort, potentially reshaping the 2024 election narrative.
The political rhetoric scholar John Murphy tells us that presidential debates are about demonstrating character for the job through three major types of appeals: competence, charisma, and caring. Murphy asserts that Harris's performance Tuesday night was on par with Kennedy's legendary face-off against Nixon in 1960, showcasing her mastery of these essential qualities.
However, Harris also dominated Trump with psychology, employing tactics that exploited Trump's bottomless vanity. Harris depicted Trump as a weak leader on the global stage, someone whose senior military regarded as "a disgrace" and who could be readily manipulated by other strongman leaders with "flattery and favors." This portrayal, combined with her references to his rallies and his admiration for authoritarian figures, effectively goaded Trump into defensive and aggrieved answers, making him sound unhinged.
Still, the strategy was more measured than that. Harris alternately baited his ego, then held her tongue as he raged and dropped his guard. This strategy allowed Harris to use condescending facial expressions that would have been risky in any other context—the expressions, like facial air quotes, couched in the wake of his bluster. For the first time I can remember, Trump sounded more damaged than aggrieved and more ignorant than hyperbolic.
Below, I offer thirteen photographs that capture these defining moments, revealing how Harris's psychological insight shaped the debate's narrative and potentially altered the course of the 2024 election.
1.
You wouldn’t know it from most of the handshake photos, at least those published in the U.S., but there wouldn’t have been one at all unless Harris hadn’t immediately made for the middle of the stage, then quickly redirected behind Trump’s podium to meet her opponent deep on his territory. It was quite the power move and almost the inverse of Trump dominating Hillary Clinton’s physical space in their second 2016 debate. The frame made by Saul Loeb best captures Harris’s intention to bring it to Trump from the opening bell.
Still, you don’t get the full effect of Harris dominating the space from the close-ups. In this screenshot from Australia’s 9News, you can appreciate how Harris dominated the real estate (so much for Trump, the developer!). You can also understand the impact of her power stance—feet planted toward the national audience while twisting to initiate contact and deliver a piercing look.
2.
You can call this face “Auntie’s response to a tantrum,” as Harris’s belittling of Trump’s rallies triggers narcissistic injury and rage.
3.
Here, Harris registers incredulity.
By the way…while I love the novelty and complexity of this picture and the one before (I highlighted them, didn’t I?), photo editors need to be mindful of narrative consequences. Sure, the complex composition does make you see the debate screen anew. On the other hand, the inattention of these workers in the spin room can easily tinge the debate as “politics as usual.”
4.
Harris’s posture here is defiant and confrontational.
It is also a significant photo because of the way it contrasts the direction of her gaze with his hand gesture. The debate was remarkable because Harris maintained her focus on Trump as distinct from his misdirection. In her emphasis, Harris turned the tables on Trump in the rarest of ways, transforming the man who incessantly objectifies everyone else into a real-time object of scrutiny.
5.
This is an outstanding use of body language. Harris could have used words to describe John McCain’s gesture in the well of the Senate. Instead, she enacted it—and by tying it to Trump’s ridicule of McCain, she delivered Trump a “thumbs down.”
6.
Harris demonstrated a whole gradient of expressions, cycling through disdain, doubt, and pity. However, this outbreak of laughter deserves attention because Trump’s outright Trumpiness was so absurd that it drew a belly laugh.
7.
As we discussed in our Chatting the Pictures video last month, you hardly ever see Trump looking this apoplectic. However, Doug Mills, who has covered Trump extensively for The New York Times, captured this perfectly.
8.
How badly did Harris get to Trump?
For a man for whom no publicity is bad publicity and who never shuns attention, he couldn’t get off that stage fast enough. At the same time, Harris was in no hurry. (Although the broadcast wrapped quickly, we even got a shot of Harris with Dougie, but so much for Melania or the Trump entourage.)
9.
Can we throw a couple of impressionistic photos into the mix?
Suppose the debate had gone a different way. In that case, this image by Demetrius Freeman might be seen to reinforce a media and GOP attack narrative that Harris is being evasive with her press availability or shape-shifting in her views. However, given how things unfolded, the ghost-like blur takes on a dual meaning. It frames Harris as both Trump's worst nightmare and an enigma. Unable to get over Biden dropping out (as evidenced by Harris's pointed remark: "You're not running against Joe Biden, you're running against me."), Trump still can't get a fix on her.
10.
Is it curtains for the Donald?
In an image that seems fully mindful of its narrative consequences, Saul Loeb depicts Trump as the hopeful whose time has run out.
11.
There were plenty of photos of the media and political functionaries lavishing Trump with attention in the spin room, but this shot by Graham Dickie (“Hello, I’m here!”) says it all. Quoting John Murphy:
“The measure of (Trump’s) defeat may be the fact that he went to the spin room to do his own spin. Only losers do that.”
12.
After the debate, ABC and the moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis took a lot of incoming from Team Trump and the GOP. Although Trump got away with additional follow-up statements numerous times, they asked tough questions, fact-checked in real-time, and felt no hesitancy in the spin room about taking a victory lap.
13.
Yes, it was hyped like a world heavyweight fight (or one of Trump’s beloved WWE battles). Photographer Graham Dickie captured the moment perfectly in this dark yet gold-tinged lounge, revealing in those faces a tale of the worst of times and the best of times.
Staying on the offensive and leveraging her strategy, Harris immediately challenged Trump to another debate. The irony is that these maneuvers might not secure her the election. For the moment, though, she has him on his heels and has demonstrated the formula.
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This was so fascinating. These moments can happen so quickly- it’s interesting to tell the story through these distillations. Well done!
So glad I got to see these — they were a great recap thru great photos! And she is a beautiful woman.