The Republican and Democratic nominees didn’t say a word to each other or even look at each other during both breaks, per the report. But after a first interlude that both candidates spent mostly backstage, the next one featured telling actions from the two.
“The second the stage hand said they were clear for a 4 minute break, Trump turned towards the exit, gave a big sigh through closed lips, and walked off stage without looking at Harris,” Sara Cook of CBS News reported in the pool memo.
“From the time the moderators announced they were going to break, Harris began writing on her notepad. She wrote continuously for the entire first two minutes of the break, occasionally bringing one hand to her chin or brushing hair behind her ear. She then reviewed what she wrote for the next minute, making a few tweaks, before putting the pen down and looking out around the room with her hands folded in front of her.”
“Trump walked back onstage 30 seconds before the end of break. He did not look at Harris, she did not look at him,” the report added.
The former president’s bearing and body language throughout the evening did not impress many commentators, including former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele.
He said the vice president “spanked that ass” and that Trump looked “small” and “beaten” and “pissed.”
“And there’s nothing worse than a pissed bigot on the stage with a woman he can’t control,” he said.