To worry for Kamala Harris - woman, half black, half Asian, married to a Jewish man

[Whenwillitgetwarm]

I really really hope her and her family have the strongest mental resilience for the racism, misogyny and anti-semitism which will come towards her and them, just for the crime of running for president.

Yes she’s been a bit of a wallflower and we haven’t seen much of her whilst VP but maybe that will change now she’s out on her own. She’s had a successful career as a lawyer and seems nice.

Personally I’m going to avoid listening/watching American politics in the run up to the election as I think I’d be too anxious. Many people seem to treat politics like a football rivalry these days. But if she were to win, it would be so inspiring for so many girls around the world.

I agree and it’s nothing to do with my own political or racial views and everything to do with what Americans will vote for.

i don’t think the first female president will be Kamala and I think her colour and ethnicity is a big part of that, plus she just dosnt have the personality and presence Obama had. I think the only reason Biden won was because people were desperate to get Trump out. But he’s just has bloody popular, especially since the whole “assignation” attempt.

I might be wrong but I think the only chance she has is with massive celebrity endorsements and campaigning for her.

I guarantee someone will be already quoting John Eastman nasty OP-Ed about her eligibility

@Bucees

Per your post, her ex boyfriend confirmed their relationship. Personally I don’t care about anyone’s private life. Stuff happens to the best of us. I also do not care that her ex boyfriend might or might not have been involved in her being selected for her prosecutor role. What I judge her on is her run for nomination, her record as a prosecutor and her performance as VP. Two out of three I find lacking but she is a much better choice than Trump.

As I previously said, I’d prefer a nominee who I fully support and not just be voting to avoid another 4 years of Trump. My biggest concern is the democrats having a candidate people want to vote for as I fear the typical American voter will otherwise abstain from voting, which will result in Trump winning the election.

I do worry that Hillary Clinton's run showed there are still too many Americans who won't vote for a woman. And yes, she and her family are going to have to take a lot of awful crap - the 'upside' of this (horrible as it is to think is) is that I think the nakedness of the racism and misogyny likely to come her way might put some swing voters off Trump and Vance.

The misogyny against Clinton was hidden in plain sight from a lot of people behind 'shrill', 'bossy', 'unlikeable' (all code words for 'We want a powerful woman taken down a peg for daring to presume she can be in charge') but it might be less veiled for Harris.

I reckon GOP's line of attack will be 'Diversity hire, DEI, she's incompetent' because it will tie in with their (utterly wrong) obsession that everything that goes wrong is because DEI causes business and governments to hire unqualified people - it's of course bullshit, because what automatically makes a default human (aka white, able-bodied, cis, heterosexual man) more qualified than everyone else?

She hasn’t a hope in hell against a rich white man.

But if she did it would bring out of the swamp all the swivel-eyed red-neck bigot lunatiKKKs.

She's an adult in US politics who doesn't need the infantilism of people worrying about how people will react to her identity. And it's totally normal to criticise her politics if you disagree with it - nothing to do with her identity

I don't know which news you were following, but there was much misogyny and racism I'm the last election.

And yes, her record as a DA and politician have been criticised. Much like any other politician's record, including Joe's.

He's not wrong though.

When I look back at how race relations disintegrated and the resurgence of overtly racist politicians after Obama took office, I can say I actually agree with Nigel. Off to wash my mouth🏃🏽‍♀️‍➡️🏃🏽‍♀️‍➡️.

This isn’t being racist. It is saying that alot of Americans are racist misogynists. What do you think? Will half of Americans vote for this woman?

She’s very mediocre, her sex and race have advantaged her in her career above her capabilities. If she were white and male she just wouldn’t be where she is. She isn’t a good speaker and seems to regularly get her arse handed to her. She can’t keep staff and is rumoured to be a bully. Just saying.

Polls are saying Michelle Obama could beat Trump.

I think Americans would vote for a black woman. But not Harris! And not Clinton either.

Like it or not, American presidential politics is extremely personality-driven. Harris is perceived as being odd, unintelligent and unserious. Clinton was perceived as arrogant. I would not be surprised to learn that Michelle Obama is perceived as kind yet stateswoman-like.

I wish on everything holy and unholy that Michelle Obama has no presidential ambitions, as the office doesn't deserve her.

It's racist because she isn't African.

Many black Americans refer to themselves as African Americans. Don’t know whether she does but this is what is meant by the term.

And of course she would not be able to stand for president if she hadn’t been born in America.

@GrannyRose15 "Many black Americans refer to themselves as African Americans. Don’t know whether she does but this is what is meant by the term"

The ones who aren't African American don't.

She has seen a lot of abuse and is presumably ready to put up with more.
Apparently she was even an man once

The low down

Nina Jankowicz

@wiczipedia
·
20h

In 2020 I led a study on gendered abuse and disinfo against women political candidates. We found 336k pieces of abuse & disinfo targeting 13 candidates; 78% of that targeted Kamala Harris. After Biden’s endorsement, here are some narratives and tropes we should look out for: (1/)

Harris seems like a decent person and, although I am not optimistic about her chances, I wish her luck.

Assuming she will be the Democrat candidate, that gives the Republicans a dilemma to tackle. She ticks so many identity boxes (female, black, Indian, married to a Jew) that it will be very difficult for Trump to attack her with anything like the same ferocity or brutality that he would use against a white man. If he does go hard at her, he will be accused of misogyny, bullying, racism, antisemitism etc etc.

He probably won’t care about allegations of racism, because few Black people who live in key swing states will vote for him anyway. But he should care about appearing blatantly misogynistic, because he needs the votes of moderate white women in middle America if he wants to win.

I like her. I don't think she's the best possible candidate (in a world where Biden had kept his word and not tried to run this cycle, I don't think she's have won the primary) but she's definitely an improvement on Biden.

I also think there's a lot to be said for having a woman as the candidate in the context of reproductive rights, which should be a central issue for the Dems.

The fact is, Trump is now the 'stale, old' candidate - the line of attack he's been using against Biden. The GOP might have cause to regret that now.

I take it you have the sane sentiment for any POC in a highly ranked position? You think that about your black physician right?

I means it’s crazy shes half Indian/half Jamaican which makes ger biracial! Not an African woman

She’s a terrible candidate. People like her in public life undermine the achievements of truly talented people from non white backgrounds, through being diversity hires.

This. Absolute nonsense to say she’s not faced misogynoir or sexism. I mean for goodness sake even Michelle Obama had that and she wasn’t even running herself .

And shut up about “diversity hire” the same people who trot this out say nothing of the many incompetent and useless white men and women in senior positions.

Look at the state of trump for example?! You think a black man with children here and there from multiple women, and various ex wives and accusations of sexual assault could’ve got as far as him?

So much evidence to show being male, white, straight or rich/well-connected or all of these (like trump) increase your chances of progression and hiring across all industries but yet there’s all this focus on so called “diversity hires not being qualified” 🙄