You had to be hyperpartisan or dishonest not to recognize, at the end of the debate on Tuesday evening, that Kamala Harris had totally dominated Donald Trump. In the absence of good arguments, we fell back, of course, on her appearance, her look.
The Democratic candidate had to navigate a series of pitfalls. First, avoid the chasm in which Americans find themselves in the Biden administration’s opinion: 60% think the country is headed in the wrong direction; 63% want a “major change” from Joe Biden’s presidency.
Another series of pitfalls, his about-faces over the years: for and against universal health insurance; for and against the fracking; for and against strengthening the border between Mexico and the United States. In other words, there are plenty of ways to block it.
Not only did she dodge the pitfalls, but Kamala Harris even found time to go fishing, and Donald Trump bit. If I had been told that the Republican candidate would not be able to take it upon himself to this extent, I would not have believed it. However, I know him well; I saw him at work almost every day during his four years in the White House. I had forgotten, he is such a fish!
One grimace too many
Faced with such virtuosity, what was the vice president criticized for? Her crooked smiles, the furrowed brows, the seemingly exaggerated grins here and there. The conservative media simply couldn’t believe it.
FOX News, for example, has lambasted Harris for her dramatic eye-rolling, frowning and squinting at her opponent. Miranda Devine, a columnist of New York Postshared in X (the old Twitter) his annoyance with “the repeated and exaggerated facial expressions” (of Harris) which made her “appear fake and weak.”
Donald Trump and Republicans have long mocked Kamala Harris’ laughter as “loud,” “ridiculous,” “bizarre.” The former president said such outbursts disqualified her from the presidency: “Did you hear her laugh? That’s a crazy woman’s laugh!” he quipped to a cheering crowd in York, Pennsylvania, in mid-August.
Criticism that eventually carried weight, because Harris learned to control herself, especially when she knows that the cameras – and cell phones – will pick up and amplify the slightest burst of laughter that is a little too loud.
Women voters rally
Perhaps in response to the misogynistic flirtation that the Republican Party is indulging in under Donald Trump, women voters are expressing their preference with increasing confidence, to the point where the traditional gender gap is beginning to resemble a chasm.
The latest ABC News/IPSOS poll shows that Kamala Harris continues to widen her advantage among women: she now leads by 13 points, 54% to 41%, while Donald Trump’s advantage among men is limited to five points.
Given that women voters have been proving for a long time now – since the 1980 presidential election, to be precise – that they turn out to vote in greater numbers than men, it could well be they who end up making the difference on November 5 and costing the former president victory.
A gender bias in the way laughing in public is perceived? To ask the question, I dare to fear, is to answer it. Around Kamala Harris, however, we must probably say to ourselves that at the pace at which the Democratic campaign has been going since she replaced Biden, it is simply better to laugh about it.
