Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s comments in Thursday’s debate, the first presidential rematch in 68 years, revealed little new about either man, making body language even more important, experts told The Washington Post.
From the start, the event seemed too big for the 81-year-old Biden, who walked awkwardly to the podium before Trump, 78, took to the stage.
“Move your body a lot, [terms of] “Body language is hard to change unless he does some really intensive weightlifting and strength training,” says Miso Wei, a body language expert and theater professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “Otherwise, his stiffness and slow pace are really just a function of age.”
Though Biden is just three years and seven months older than Trump, he appeared far frailer and older than his predecessor, Wei added.
“The way he talks, it’s hard to hide his age,” she says, “and the way he looks right now, it’s hard to hide his age.”
Biden’s voice was weak and breathless, making him sound as old as he looked. Way said Biden appeared “out of breath” during the debate, but the White House attributed it to a cold.
“I encouraged him to talk about old age, and instead of saying, ‘OK, I’m old, but here’s the benefit of age. I can offer wisdom and experience.’ [trying to] “Hide it,” she said.
Trump, on the other hand, made his points in a stronger voice and sounded more authoritative just through his voice and physique, Carole Lieberman, a psychiatrist and expert on the brain and body language, told The Washington Post.
“I feel happy. [Trump] “I did,” said Lieberman, who plans to vote for the 45th president this November.
Still, she said, Trump “was not perfect.”
Just as Biden has done nothing to dispel criticism of his age, Trump could have done more to counter accusations that he is self-centered, Lieberman said.
“I think he went too far with the ‘I was great at this, I was great at that,’ which is kind of understandable,” she said, “but he should have toned it down a bit, because that’s kind of creepy.”
Follow the latest updates from the Trump vs Biden 2024 debate.
“Everyone is saying he’s a narcissist, so playing into that is not really what you want,” Lieberman added.
The psychiatrist said Biden, who won points when he faced off against Trump in 2020 by appearing to “empathize” with Americans struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, failed to give that impression on Thursday night.
“Biden didn’t seem to understand how much the American people are suffering. He was just trying to say, ‘Oh, we’re doing fine,’ and people are actually suffering in so many different ways,” she said. “He didn’t even acknowledge that there was a problem.”
Biden, as the incumbent, has failed to exude empathy, Lieberman said, just not in the way most presidential campaigns would have hoped.
“I’m definitely a Trump supporter, but I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Biden,” she said. “He was just like my grandfather. He was at a loss for words, one after the other, and you had to sympathize with him in a way.”
Even when the candidates weren’t speaking, there was plenty to take away from the debate stage: Way, for example, said next time he would warn Trump not to smirk while Biden was speaking, because “it makes you sound condescending.”
But she added that Biden often seemed lost while his rival responded to the moderator.
“I [Biden] “Pay attention to the moments when he’s not talking,” she said, “because when he’s not talking, his facial expression… [and he] His eyes were wide open and blank.
