--- title: "Trump vs Harris: Eureka! We found the missing link — and how to lean into it" description: "Donald Trump enjoys swaggering around the world like an alpha male primate, but all it took for Kamala Harris to deflate his puffed-up ego was the deft rapier of her superior intellect." type: "OpinionNewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "Opinionistas" author: "Marianne Thamm" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/mariannethamm/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-09-24-trump-vs-harris-we-found-the-missing-link-and-how-to-lean-into-it/" published: "2024-09-24T16:27:08" updated: "2024-09-24T16:27:09" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 784 --- # Trump vs Harris: Eureka! We found the missing link — and how to lean into it > Donald Trump enjoys swaggering around the world like an alpha male primate, but all it took for Kamala Harris to deflate his puffed-up ego was the deft rapier of her superior intellect. By Marianne Thamm · Published 24 September 2024, 18:27 SAST · Updated 24 September 2024, 18:27 SAST ## Content Anyone bipedal with a functioning brain has at some point had to deal with a man like Donald Trump. He is the man in any room or group, or bus, or airport, who believes himself to be the alpha male. All the world belongs to him – all the females in oestrus with their misshapen Botox faces, all the buildings, all the money, all the power. Did I mention he is mostly pale, sometimes orange? These were the beasts who strode the 20th century (and before), telling women and girls they could only be hairdressers, nurses or teachers. In this world, women are only here for reproduction and a “spinster” is of no value to society. The bedroom and the kitchen are our domains. If there is a cat around, especially a black one, then best burn the witch. Verbal engagement with these men is often basic, often threatening, usually coercive. The brilliant period drama Mad Men, set in the 1960s in the offices of the fictitious advertising firm Stirling Cooper, made for uncomfortable watching for minorities (black people, women, queer people) who had to live under such regimes but did not buckle. Complaining about it back then would usually result in reprimand, dismissal, demotion and most certainly being gaslit. #### **Enter Kamala** What would my young self have felt watching US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and how she manifested during the fight of her life – her recent presidential debate with fellow hopeful and former president Trump? Those of us who have survived – and continue to survive – patriarchal regimes, including in our own households, know that some of us (both men and women) develop ways to undermine such men. It is not difficult. Who they are is all on the surface. Scratch it and you will only get more surface. And so Kamala went for the lean-in, reaching deep into Trump’s physical space the moment she walked on stage to shake his puffy little white hand. **Read more:**[Kamala Harris cleans Donald Trump’s clock in American presidential candidates debate — no debate about it](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-09-11-harris-cleans-trumps-clock-in-presidential-candidates-debate/) The same man who had deliberately and consistently mispronounced her name, as white racists are inclined to do (it’s a clever joke, you see), was schooled in front of the world. “Kamala Harris,” she greeted him out loud. Being alone in a room with such a man could end in a physical bloodbath for women who take them on, but the seasoned prosecutor knew she was being watched by millions. After she breached his sacred alpha male space to clasp his no doubt sweaty hand (hopefully, she sanitised afterwards), the convicted felon Trump was ­finished. #### **It is all about size** If anyone had any doubt about how to thoroughly wipe the floor with such a man, talk about size. Because in Trump’s world the size of everything matters. A prehistoric newt frozen in amber can tell you that. Immediately after the handshake and invading his space like the US invading Iraq, Harris went for the exposed mental jugular and mentioned his small “crowd” size. And off Trump went. The rest is US history and internet memes for years to come as it rained dogs and cats all over the world. If this was a boxing world title fight, Harris delivered a TKO in the first few minutes. As the Muhammad Ali of American politics swung that mental sucker punch, girls and women across the world felt our toes curling and the warm glow of satisfaction washing over us. Our allies, the men who have evolved as society has, raised a glass to truth over lies, brains over brawn, reason over repeated lies and rhetoric. #### **Cheers to the end of it all** Are we surprised that the Trumpster, at almost 80, is a toxic brew of all that shaped him and his world? Without mental flexibility, in the long run, this kind of bullying and superficial power cannot keep up with the real world and is ultimately self-­destructive. Trump surrounds himself with people who are morally disfigured and enable him to live in his very own Potemkin village. The women who enable him have Botoxed, surgically sculpted faces, stretched skins and swollen lips, rendering them all uniform in appearance – the Western equivalent of the burqa. It is the twilight of the dinosaurs all over the world. These men fight, and they fight dirty and often violently. Whether you support the Democratic Party and its best horse, Harris, or not, her demonstration of poise, self-containment and razor-sharp thinking is an inspiration to all who stand up to the old, dying guard. **DM** *This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.* ![Image](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/cover-21092024-1.jpg)