Something Seemed Off About Donald Trump During His Debate With Kamala Harris

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris took the presidential debate stage on September 10, 2024, ahead of the November election. It was the first time the two squared off since Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July, and neither candidate held back. Who "won" the debate? As usual, it depends who you ask. A CNN survey of registered voters said most viewers thought Harris had the edge, while a LiveNOW FOX poll it described as "unscientific" said Trump came out on top.

When it comes to Trump's performance, though, many people took to social media to suggest something seemed off about the former president. In particular, his eyes. "Trump can't keep his eyes open! What is that about??" one user asked on X (formerly Twitter). Others echoed this, calling them "sleepy." Elsewhere, some said his eyelids looked "swollen" and "puffy." "Trumps eyes are sliding back and forth. Weird. Drugs?" asked another. "Watch Trump's eyes — someone is talking in his ear while she is speaking," yet another user wrote on the platform. Here's what it could all mean (and what it probably doesn't).

It's possible that Donald Trump's "sleepy eyes" were part of his debate strategy. The Mirror suggested that his refusal to look at Kamala Harris during the performance was his "new power move." For a politician like Trump, who has been known to employ various unorthodox methods against his opponents — from nicknames to scathing, rapid-fire tweets — this isn't exactly far-fetched. He was variously accused of "stalking" and "prowling" Hillary Clinton during their first October 2016 debate, which saw him looming behind the former secretary of state in a way that rubbed many the wrong way.

In a piece for Politico, body language expert and ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro also noted that Trump avoided making eye contact with Kamala Harris for most of the debate, a contrast to her fixing her eyes directly on Trump when he spoke. "Trump's refusal to lock eyes over 90-some minutes could be read in many ways: as a form of indifference, of disrespect, or even fear that looking at her would somehow put him on tilt," Navarro wrote. Compare this to his previous analysis of the single Trump-Joe Biden debate in 2024, where he noted that Trump often fluttered his eyelids out of frustration.

Or, the appearance of Trump's eyes could have been completely unintentional. In his analysis of the Biden debate, Navarro said Trump lowered his eyelids when he "hears something he doesn't like." This, he said, is a biological response — a subconscious force via nerves of the upper eyelids. "It is an adaptive behavior, like facial touching, that helps us to relieve temporary stress — a way to self-soothe," he wrote.

Other theories about Donald Trump's debate performance are even more rooted in conjecture. Was he listening to a microphone? In the wake of the presidential clash, Trump's supporters said the same about Kamala Harris, accusing her of wearing earrings rigged with microphones to receive covert coaching. Was he on drugs? Sources told the Rolling Stone that Trump's White House was indeed a haven for narcotics like Adderall (an amphetamine-based stimulant) and Xanax (an antianxiety medication also used off-label as a muscle relaxant and sedative). But despite many bombastic social media rumors over the years like "Trump snorts Adderall," no evidence suggests the teetotaler uses any kind of narcotic. 

Such accusations are not uncommon of course. As reported by The Washington Post, Trump himself said Biden would be taking a "big fat shot in the a**" (?) of performance enhancing drugs to help him perform better in a 2020 debate, and in 2016 he accused Hillary Clinton of being "pumped up" during one of their face-offs. No evidence surfaced in support of any of these claims, and the same will probably be true for the conspiracy-laden theories about the first of Trump and Harris' exchanges.