As Harris and Trump Debated, Social Media Exploded

While tens of millions of Americans watched the debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on their TVs Tuesday, a parallel conflict erupted on social media, featuring clips and video edits of standout debate moments. Social media users were active from the start, with Democrats highlighting the moment Harris walked across the stage to shake Trump's hand and introduce herself.

"Kamala said you’re gonna shake my hand dammit!" social media user Adam James Smith posted on X, to 40,000 likes.

According to advisers, a key element of Vice President Harris' debate strategy was to provoke Trump into making statements that could become viral on social media, and the debate seemed to confirm that this approach was effective. Supporters shared images of Harris' varying expressions—ranging from bemused to skeptical—as Trump repeated a series of well-known falsehoods, including a baseless claim about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, supposedly eating pet dogs and cats.

"THEY'RE EATING THE DOGS," quickly trended on social media platform X, buoyed by thousands of posts - including many confused at the quote's relevance in a presidential debate, after Trump said "They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats."

Meanwhile, Trump followers seized on his remarks about Harris' economic plan, censuring it as overly superficial and a rehash of President Joe Biden's agenda. He mentioned the classic children's book series "Run, Spot, Run" to make his point. Political strategists note that social media is playing an even more major role in this election cycle than before, with both Democratic and Republican parties joining content creators and influencers to promote their policies and candidates.

Overall, Trump surpasses Harris and her campaign on X and TikTok in terms of followers. The official Kamala HQ account has 1.3 million followers on X, while Trump has 2.4 million. However, Harris' campaign has garnered over 100 million "likes" on TikTok videos, compared to Trump's 44 million.