Was Donald Trump attempting to assert his dominance by invading Hillary Clinton’s personal space on stage during the St. Louis debate Sunday?
Viewers noticed several camera shots of Clinton during the debate seemed to show Trump looming behind her.
When Clinton made herself available to reporters on her campaign plane after the debate, she was asked if she could tell that Donald Trump “was standing right behind her,” during her answer to a question about Obamacare. Clinton responded that she could, and that Trump “was very present.”
“It was a very small space,” Clinton said of Trump’s proximity. “And I tried to give him space whenever he was talking to people. I would go back and you know, lean up against my stool. But he was very present.”
Social media users seemed to notice, as well:
Here’s Trump looming over Hillary Clinton as she answers a question: https://t.co/8kzzIcj5t3 pic.twitter.com/xxT6nHq7NU
— Jezebel (@Jezebel) October 10, 2016
What exactly is Trump trying to do here while Hillary is answering a question. #debate pic.twitter.com/caXu9ZBVrE
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) October 10, 2016
Scary Halloween costume idea: Dress up like Trump, go to a party, and stand 3-5 feet behind successful women. pic.twitter.com/tz6STpkccQ
— erin chack (@ErinChack) October 10, 2016
Honestly Trump stalking behind Clinton is making me feel super uncomfortable. Like knots in my stomach discomfort.
— #FreeBresha (@prisonculture) October 10, 2016
Trump lurking behind HRC like a Komodo dragon.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) October 10, 2016
why is trump standing right behind her like that, his body language reminds me of every abuser i’ve ever encountered. #debate
— Elizabeth Plank (@feministabulous) October 10, 2016
Note to my male friends who might not realize: Trump’s standing behind her is a bullying tactic. Abusive men do this to us all the time.
— Melissa Ryan (@MelissaRyan) October 10, 2016
Clinton: ‘He’s Right Behind Me, Isn’t He?’ #debate
— Onion Politics (@OnionPolitics) October 10, 2016
It wasn’t just standing behind her, either. He also stood over her while she was seated and wagged his finger at her early on. It’s the sort of aggressively misogynistic body language that would be coached out of a candidate in debate prep. The people who wrote the 2012 autopsy would be the first to tell him that a Republican candidate caught in a ‘battle of the sexes’ narrative will lose - badly.
When you’re losing go to intimidation. It really turns the chicks on.
I wanted her to just turn around and give him a quizzical look. Just once
I used to do an exercise with my men’s groups to illustrate this effect.
I would walk up next to them as they were seated and stand close to them without touching them and ask them how that felt.
In almost every case they felt very uncomfortable.
I would be interested to see Secretary Clinton do this to Mr. Trump and see how he responds.
Or turn around and say, “Whadda YOU want? Go back to yer chair until I call you!”.