Kamala Harris Has Two Cringe-Inducing Moments, and They Raise a Larger Question

Kamala Harris produced two more cringe-inducing moments over the weekend, with one involving collard greens and the other yet another a clearly staged phone call.

First up, in her ongoing effort to connect with Americans, Harris decided to claim that she used to wash her greens in a bathtub before sharing her special recipe as onlookers stood in amazement.

Kamala Harris says she used to wash Collard Greens in the BathTub. Yall believe this??? pic.twitter.com/aJy2DmRUdf
— FameLeak 👾 (@Fameleak) September 1, 2024

Being from the South, let's just say I have some experience with the dish and those who prepare it, including among various races. I have never met a black person who washes their greens in their bathtub. I've also never met a black person who thinks it's a "secret ingredient" to put hot sauce in them.

What you're seeing in that clip is a person playing out the caricature of a black person. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not denying that Harris is half-black, but that doesn't mean she has her finger on the pulse of traditional black culture. She spent her younger years in California with her parents, both academics, before moving to Canada with her mother, where she lived until her second year of college. Where exactly did Harris pick up all these stereotypes about what it means to be black? Because it sure seems like every bit of that was rehearsed.

Moving on to Sunday, the Harris campaign released another laughably scripted interaction, this time with a call to a supporter's daughter.

What kind of person finds this appealing? pic.twitter.com/pScfGjeFoi
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) September 3, 2024

When the daughter answered the call, she claimed to be on the treadmill, which conveniently gave Harris the opportunity to say that she too works out. Stunning and brave. After that there's a lot of slobbering about how it's a privilege to vote for Harris, how Wisconsin has her back, and something about tears. It's so obviously scripted. No one walking on the treadmill has those talking points ready to go.

Here's the larger question surrounding this. Are we really going to elect a president based on nothing but manufactured "vibes?" That has become the entire strategy of the Harris campaign, bolstered by a press that is eager to spread her propaganda. Every interaction is painfully staged and focus-grouped. From the fake laughter to the constantly changed accents, nothing about Kamala Harris is authentic. It's as if she were created in a lab by political consultants who haven't met a real person in decades.

With early voting getting ready to kick off in several states, is that going to work? It's hard to argue that it hasn't to this point. While the race is still definitely a toss-up, we've come a long way from the pending blowout Donald Trump had cooking against Joe Biden.

Part of that is disillusioned Democrats coming home now that they have a sentient nominee to vote for. That's not all of it, though. A lot of what we are seeing is because of the press onslaught of the last month and a half. As much as I hate to admit it, there is real power being wielded by the likes of CNN and The New York Times, with one study showing that as much as 84 percent of coverage of Harris has been positive. Remember, these news outlets don't have to fool 25 percent of the electorate. They just have to pull the wool over the eyes of a few percentage points to swing the election.

All conservatives can keep doing is trying to get the message out there. Trump is barnstorming the nation again after a relatively quiet early August, and right-leaning news sources are doing their best. There's still a lot of time left in the game.