Online far-right factions are already vilifying Vice President Kamala Harris following speculation that she could potentially step in for President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee in the upcoming US election.
Rather than focusing on her policies, experience, or competence for the role, the vicious attacks have honed in on her personal life, ethnicity, and resurrecting old conspiracy theories regarding her eligibility for the presidency.
These derogatory remarks have been fueled by former President Donald Trump. In a video initially reported by the Daily Beast last week and subsequently shared on Trump’s Truth Social account, Trump claimed, “He just quit, you know—he’s quitting the race… That means we have Kamala. She’s so terrible. She’s so pathetic. She’s so dreadful.”
On July 4, Trump took to Truth Social to post about Harris. “She performed poorly in the Democratic nominating process, starting off at Second place and eventually dropping out before even reaching Iowa, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a ‘highly talented’ politician!” he wrote. “Just ask her mentor, the esteemed Willie Brown of San Francisco.”
Trump’s remarks referenced Harris’ association with Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, in the mid-1990s. Despite right-wing detractors alleging she had an affair with Brown while he was still married, a Reuters fact check from 2020 details how Brown had been separated from his wife for ten years before beginning a relationship with Harris.
The White House pushed back against Trump’s onslaught. “I find it repugnant, I find it unsettling,” declared Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, telling reporters on Friday. “She deserves respect in her capacity as vice president. She should be treated with the same respect as any other vice president who has held that position before her. It is outrageous that, I’ll be cautious here, a former president is making such remarks about a current vice president. We need to denounce this behavior—it is unacceptable.”
Subsequent to Trump’s comments, his supporters and far-right figures swiftly launched attacks on Harris.
Harris has had a long tenure in public office as a district attorney, state attorney general, senator, and vice president. Nonetheless, the majority of the attacks directed towards her have been racially and sexually charged, insinuating a correlation between her personal life and professional success.
“Kamala is just as inept as Biden,” stated far-right provocateur Laura Loomer on X last Wednesday. “She masquerades as a black individual, she has a well-documented history of engaging in illicit activities with Willie Brown to advance her career, and she advocates for abortion.”
“Willi Brown’s F–k toy shows promise,” remarked a user on the radical online forum The Donald in response to a thread discussing the potential of Harris stepping in for Biden as the Democratic nominee.
Far-right posters also asserted that Harris’ ethnicity has been pivotal in her progression.
“This is precisely why DEI is particularly hazardous: individuals like her are elevated above much more competent individuals and she starts believing she’s the most intelligent one in the room,” a forum user on The Donald articulated last week.
