A Handshake To End the Race
Trump looked like a defeated old man who had met his match in the form of an opponent who did not fear him, and told him with her actions that it’s her that should be feared.
Donald Trump, a real-life WWE superstar who has infected American politics with WWE showmanship and fakery (and yes, bad faith), was outdone on Tuesday night by an opponent who recognizes his game, and beat him at it.
The debate between Trump and Kamala Harris was over before it began. After the candidates were introduced, Harris walked briskly toward Trump, shoulder slouched, looking more like a sack of mashed potatoes than ever before, and reached out her hand for a pre-show handshake.
Denny Carter
Trump appeared to think twice – ever so briefly – about accepting the handshake. His political instinct kicked in – the same instinct that got him to his feet after this summer’s assassination attempt and netted an image that made Silicon Valley manchildren piss their pants with excitement – and he begrudgingly shook Harris’ hand while staring at the floor, knowing that rejecting the offer would make him look even weaker and smaller than accepting.
That was it. Trump was rattled by Harris’ pre-debate power move. Not only did she appear to be the bigger person – not literally, but in every other way – but she was telling Trump that she was not afraid of him, that she could see through the bully facade that he had so carefully constructed over all these years. Like all bullies, he is weak and pathetic. Calling him weird drove Trump insane. Poking fun at his rallies made him lose his mind on stage because, again, he is weak and small and on Tuesday night before a national audience, he was fully exposed as a faker.
It's Joever
Trump throughout the 90 minute debate couldn’t bear to look to his left at Harris while she desperately sought eye contact from the scared fascist baby whining about all the ways the world had been unfair to him. Harris controlled the debate from start to finish; Trump could only wish for the days when he looked downright respectable next to a severely diminished Joe Biden. Trump sensed no fear from the lady to his left and consequently had no idea how to act, what to say, or how to assert dominance. She had short-circuited his shtick.
I’ve written for Bad Faith Times about breaking the fascist fever that has gripped the United States since Trump saw an opening to take over the Republican Party after eight years of a black president that had radicalized huge swaths of the electorate simply by existing. The fever is broken. The fascists have been exposed as nothing more than bloviating idiots who, while incredibly dangerous and hateful of democracy, can be easily defeated by a coalition that rejects a politics of chronically online hate and derisiveness.
Striding toward Trump and shaking his hand was a move of pure domination on Harris’ part. It was planned, of course, and it was successful. Trump looked like a defeated, tired old man who had met his match in the form of an opponent who did not fear him, and told him with her actions that it’s her that should be feared.
I’m the captain now, Harris said with her handshake. I will dictate the terms of our debate. This is not your show anymore. It was a display of unfiltered WWE-style stagecraft that put Trump on his back foot and kept him there all night.
It was a handshake to end this thing for good.
Follow Denny Carter on BlueSky at @cdcarter13.bsky.social and on Threads at @CDCarter13.
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