Kamala Harris has Tall Energy, says Abby Ellin for the New York Times, which is why it won’t matter if she appears to be shorter than Donald Trump this evening during the presidential debate:
Ms. Harris exudes Tall Energy, a vertical state of being more commonly linked with the statuesque, but sometimes co-opted by more petite women. The vocal powerhouse Kristin Chenoweth, at 4-foot-11, has it. So does the 5-foot-1 Lady Gaga and the 5-foot-2 Reese Witherspoon.
“Tall Energy is the confidence that comes from being above average height,” Nicholas Rule, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto who researches social perception and cognition, said of the concept.
Ellin’s piece comes after Donald Trump, who at 6-foot-3 both exudes physical and energetic height, said that “no boxes or artificial lifts will be allowed to stand on during my upcoming debate with Comrade Kamala Harris,” as that would be “cheating.”
Harris stands 5 feet 4 1/2 inches tall, but 5-7 1/2 “with heels, which I always wear,” she says.
I’m inclined to throw Trump a rare bone, only so we can witness Harris’s Tall Energy for ourselves later tonight.