How Harris and Trump reacted to each other during the debate, in GIFs

Harris, who is known for using facial expressions during debates, displayed more animated body language and reactions than Trump. She laughed and smiled — sometimes in seeming disbelief while Trump spoke — and took notes on what he said. She shook her head when Trump made false claims, put her hand on her chin as she listened to him, and sometimes squinted or frowned at him.

Trump, meanwhile, kept his gaze fixed ahead, looking toward the moderators with a straight face or frown. At times, he lowered or lifted his gaze, shook his head or raised his eyebrows. As the debate wore on, he more frequently used facial expressions to signal a dismissal of what Harris was saying.

Here are some of the ways the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees used facial expressions and body language during their highly anticipated debate.

The handshake

The debate started off with a clear opportunity for body language — one which Harris seized. As the candidates entered from each side of the stage, Harris strode more than halfway across the stage to Trump’s lectern and offered her hand as she introduced herself. Trump met her behind his lectern and shook her hand. It was the first time Harris and Trump had met in person.

Trump looked straight ahead

Trump largely kept his gaze focused on the moderators. As the debate went on, he angled his head slightly in the direction of Harris’s lectern a handful of times. He appeared never to look directly at her during the question-and-answer portion and did not seek eye contact with her.

Harris put her hand to her chin

At times, Harris signaled her attention — and her skepticism of Trump’s claims — by putting her chin in her hand, evoking the universal huh gesture. When Trump called her father, retired Stanford University economics professor Donald Harris, “a Marxist professor,” Harris raised her eyebrows, then put her hand to her chin and frowned.

Trump gestured

Trump relied on a stiff posture and hand gestures, as he often does. He frequently motioned with one hand while keeping the other on the lectern. After Harris brought up his rallies, claiming people leave his events early, Trump moved his right hand back and forth as he delivered an animated response, which included the assertion that he has “the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”

Harris used her eyes

Harris blinked, squinted and frowned at Trump. She also sometimes employed a side-eye glance. Responding to Harris saying that Republicans have endorsed her over Trump, the former president said he had fired people in his administration who did a bad job and mentioned Mark T. Esper, his former defense secretary, who has said he won’t vote for Trump. “I fired him, so he writes a book. Another one writes a book. Because with me, they can write books, with nobody else can they,” Trump said. Harris blinked at him as she listened.

Trump raised his eyebrows

Trump blew air out of his mouth, raised his eyebrows and shook his head when Harris called him “weak and wrong” on national security. She then said he “admires dictators.” Trump pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows, giving a partial shake of his head.

He shook his head as Harris continued on to claim that he “wants to be a dictator on Day One, according to himself.” She was referring to a December Fox News interview in which Trump said he wouldn’t be a dictator “except on Day One.” Trump responded by alleging that Harris and President Joe Biden are considered “weak and incompetent” by world leaders.

Harris laughed

Trump repeatedly made false or exaggerated claims during the debate, and Harris sometimes laughed in response.

When Trump repeated the false and dehumanizing claim that immigrants in Ohio are “eating the pets of the people that live there,” Harris said, “Oh, come on.” She then laughed and shook her head before frowning at Trump as she listened. When the moderators signaled it was her turn to speak, she laughed before beginning her response. Later, Harris responded with an amused expression of disbelief as Trump falsely claimed that she had previously indicated she “was not Black.”