During his first confrontation with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump spent most of his time leaning forward, placing his hands on the lectern and pondering.

Even as he spoke emphatically about Harris, he did not look at her, but instead pointed his finger at his Democratic opponent without turning his head.

This was one of the clearest signs that Harris was getting on Trump’s nerves in their first debate. Trump started by talking about one of his key campaign issues: the economy.

Harris tilted her head in disbelief at times, smiled in disbelief, and at one point looked directly at Trump, putting her hand to her chin in an exaggerated gesture as if to convey that she was listening to a tall tale. Her expression instantly became a meme on social media.

The debate began with Harris walking across the stage directly toward Trump, extending her arm for a handshake and introducing herself. Trump seemed surprised by the gesture. But it was a confident move by Harris, who, like other Democrats, had watched Trump use his physical strength to demonstrate dominance in a 2016 debate against Hillary Clinton.

Overall, Harris’ performance was a dramatic departure from what Democrats saw from President Joe Biden in the June debate, which was widely panned as a disaster for him and sparked a party revolt that resulted in Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 election. Biden repeatedly looked off-screen, appeared lost at times and sometimes struggled to finish a sentence.

It seemed as if Harris had learned something from this debate: the cameras are always on and body language is a crucial means of communicating with the audience.

On several other occasions, Harris made sure to look directly into the camera as she answered, trying to reinforce the message that Trump himself is in trouble and she is trying to turn things around.