Why Trump is still trying to make 'the laugh' a problem

Friends of Kamala Harris recognise an old nervous tic - and explain why Donald Trump hates it so much

- Io Dodds

Long before Kamala Harris was running to be president of the United States, Mark Buell noticed that she had a certain anxious tic. “[Harris] is very funny. She has a very good sense of humour, and when she enjoys herself, she has a very hearty laugh,” recalls the San Francisco real estate developer and Democratic donor, who was one of Harris’s earliest political patrons, in an interview with The Independent.

But back then, he says, when she was nervous “that laugh became more prominent... so between the two, it would show up sometimes at inappropriate times”.

Two decades later, Donald Trump and other conservatives are trying to use Harris’s distinctive and frequent peals of wholebody laughter as an attack line, with the former president even adding “Laughing Kamala” to his notorious roster of nicknames. “You ever watch her laugh? [...] You can tell a lot by a laugh. She’s crazy. She’s nuts,” Mr Trump said at a rally in Michigan last month.

According to Mr Buell, that is no coincidence. He believes someone tipped Mr Trump or his team off about Ms Harris’s old habit, and – “in keeping with Mr Trump’s approach to politics, looking for weaknesses and faults in people” – he went after it.

Yet old friends and allies claim that Ms Harris’s sense of humour is one of her most appealing characteristics, and a sign of her genuine willingness to connect with other people emotionally. Indeed, on TikTok Ms Harris’s laughter has become one of the most-memed sounds of the 2024 election, endlessly and affectionately remixed by superfans, comedians, and dance musicians.