Being drunk on hubris and narcissism is the surest way to lose a confrontation to a clever, clearheaded opponent. It’s a story that’s been repeated throughout history.

Napoleon was a cocksure emperor and commander, a skilled battle tactician who became a master of propaganda in service of his own legend. In 1812, he invaded Russia, but in that campaign, his military innovating failed him.

The Russians used attrition warfare, retreating as Napoleon’s armies advanced, his supply lines unable to adequately keep up. By the time the French occupied Moscow, the Russians had Napoleon on their turf and the brutal Russian winter approaching. Napoleon entered Russia with hundreds of thousands of troops. He withdrew with only a fraction surviving.

It was a historic humbling, a staggering miscalculation that still resonates.

I kept thinking about this episode during Tuesday night’s debate as Donald Trump — also a cocksure propagandist, who has in many ways reshaped politics in this country — was repeatedly outmaneuvered by Kamala Harris, in part because his strategies have become predictable and his weaknesses well known.

Trump has spent weeks trying to cast Harris as “crazy,” “weak” and “incompetent” with a “low I.Q.” He has denigrated her so often that he appeared utterly unprepared to face off against a woman who was both shrewd and strategic.

Harris laid traps on Tuesday night and Trump kept walking into them. A perfect example: After she said that “people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,” he was champing at the bit to retort, saying, “People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go,” adding, “People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”