All The Ways The Right Is Melting Down Over Kamala Harris

In the 24 hours since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket, the right has struggled to mount a unified response ― whipsawing between different strains of messaging that have veered from angry to conspiratorial to downright racist.

Biden’s surprise announcement upended the 2024 presidential race and shocked Republicans and their conservative allies, who were banking on running against an unpopular 81-year-old incumbent with well-defined qualities they could easily attack.

Now, with just four months until the election, the right is throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks against Harris, 59, the first female, Black and South Asian American vice president, who has quickly won support from various corners of the Democratic Party in her newly launched effort to become the nominee next month.

This Isn’t Happening!

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, seemed far more focused on Biden’s decision to leave the race, ranting about the Democratic rebellion against Biden’s candidacy that was rooted in concerns about his age and fitness.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Monday morning, Trump had posted on Truth Social more than a dozen times about Biden. He claimed the president “never had” COVID-19 despite the White House doctor affirming so. He insisted Biden is the real “threat to Democracy.” He complained that “now we have to start all over again,” and predicted: “It’s not over! Tomorrow Crooked Joe Biden’s going to wake up and forget that he dropped out of the race today!”

And in a sign of how much Republicans were relying on running against Biden, Trump on Sunday also suggested changing the rules of September’s presidential debate by swapping out ABC News as the moderator in favor of Fox News, which would offer much more favorable ground for the GOP. Democrats quickly pounced, accusing Trump of being scared to debate Harris.

It’s Just Not Fair!

Former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller vented about Biden leaving the race in a Fox News interview, accusing Democrats of being an “oligarchy.”

“They held a primary!” Miller said. “People — they had ballots! They filled out circles, they went to the voting booths! They spent money on advertisements, and as President Trump said, the Republican Party spent tens of millions of dollars running against Joe Biden.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“Now they’ve just woke up one morning and said: ‘Never mind, we’re canceling the entire primary, we’re getting rid of our candidate, and we’re pretending the election has never even happened, and we’re gonna let donors handpick a new nominee,’” he said.

Democrats Can’t Replace Biden Because It’s Not Legal!

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) claimed Sunday that replacing Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee would be “unlawful,” suggesting that Republicans would file legal challenges to prevent him from leaving the 2024 race.

“Turns out the so-called ‘party of democracy’ thinks it can overrule the votes of over 14 million Americans,” Johnson, who led the legal effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Election experts quickly rejected the notion, pointing out that Biden is not actually the official Democratic nominee yet and there would be no obstacle to replacing him on the ballot.

Democrats Are Only Supporting Harris Because Of Her ‘Ethnic Background’!

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), who has drawn criticism for making racist comments in the past, said Sunday that some members of the Democratic Party feel pressure to rally around Harris because of her “ethnic background.” The remark came just a few weeks after another House Republican dismissively called Harris a diversity, equity and inclusion hire.

“A lot of Democrats feel they have to stick with her because of her ethnic background,” Grothman said of Harris’ chances at the nomination in an interview with Milwaukee’s CBS-58.

While some Democrats have argued for an open convention process with multiple candidates, Harris as the sitting vice president has a natural advantage in getting the job. Moreover, her already being on the ticket allows her to easily take charge of Biden’s war chest and campaign apparatus.

Kamala Harris Can’t Be President Because She Doesn’t Have Kids!

Another ugly attack launched against Harris seemed to focus on her having no biological children. The vice president has two stepchildren with her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Really simple, underdiscussed reason why Kamala Harris shouldn’t be President. No children,” Will Chamberlain, senior counsel for the conservative judicial advocacy group Article III Project, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

In a 2019 piece for Elle, Harris described her stepchildren, Cole and Ella, as her “endless source of love and pure joy,” revealing their nickname for her: “Momala.”

“When Doug and I got married, Cole, Ella, and I agreedthat we didn’t like the term ‘stepmom,‘” Harris wrote at the time. “Instead, they came up with the name ‘Momala.’”

Kamala Harris Doesn’t ‘Speak Well’!

Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that Harris shouldn’t be the Democratic presidential nominee because she “does not speak well.”

“She does not speak well. She does not work hard. She doesn’t inspire anyone, and she should not be the standard-bearer for the party,” Conway said during an interview on Fox News.

The conservative media has for years mocked Harris’ speeches, laughter, and expressions, suggesting she has trouble connecting to voters and is not ready for the presidency. One such expression about falling from a coconut tree recently became an online meme, lifting Harris’ cultural appeal.

The right isn’t likely to give up on the effort, however. Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump and has vowed to donate to his reelection, on Sunday mocked Harris for the descriptive way she introduced herself to a group of people at a White House meeting in 2022.

“Imagine 4 years of this...” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns. What he didn’t mention is that the vice president was introducing herself to a group of disability rights advocates, some of whom were blind.

Kamala Harris Hates Plastic Straws!

Senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said Sunday on NBC that a major liability for Harris is that “she wants to ban plastic straws” ― resurrecting a favorite GOP attack line against Democrats and efforts to reduce pollution.

“I love my plastic straw. I hate those paper straws,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said separately.

During a 2019 town hall on CNN, Harris said she supported banning plastic straws, but that more needed to be done to make paper straws effective.

“It’s really difficult to drink out of a paper straw ... If you don’t gulp it down immediately, it starts to bend,” Harris said.

Kamala Harris Is No Different Than Joe Biden!

Trump’s campaign and his allies on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, focused on Harris’ work on behalf of the Biden administration, particularly after Biden appointed her to work with Central American authorities to deter migration at the U.S.-Mexico border at the beginning of his presidency. Border crossings spiked during the Biden administration and Republicans view the issue as a key weakness to Harris’ campaign.

But Democrats say they are confident in Harris’ ability to beat Trump in November, citing the contrast in a race between a tough-on-crime former state attorney general and a former president who has been convicted of multiple felonies.

“I have no idea where they will land, but it’s very clear that they had a preference,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told HuffPost on Monday, referring to Republicans’ flailing in their criticisms of Harris. “They are watching Democratic enthusiasm skyrocket in real-time, and if I were them, I’d be pretty freaked out too.”