Laura Barron-Lopez: Saying ‘Kamala’ Wrong Is Racist

Bennett: “Republicans are trying to paint Kamala Harris, the vice president, as being far more progressive than President Biden. This line that she’s a San Francisco liberal, I keep hearing over and over again. Unpack that strategy for us, the Trump campaign strategy, and trying to define the vice president.”
BARRON-Lopez: “They have been really rushing to try to define her after — and some of it is repeated attacks that they used on President Biden. But one thing that they have been doing a lot, Geoff, is they have been calling Vice President Harris a DEI hire, diversity, equity, inclusion hire, including — and that’s included some Republican lawmakers, allies of Trump. And Trump has also himself called Harris ‘dumb as a rock.’ He did that this week on Truth Social, really questioning her qualifications for the job. And a lot of the Black Democratic organizers that I spoke to said that calling Harris a DEI hire is just another dog whistle. And then Donald Trump again, recently on the campaign trail, repeatedly mispronounced Kamala Harris’ name.”

[Clip starts]
Trump: “So now we have a new victim to defeat, lyin’ Kamala Harris, lyin,’ L-Y-I-N-apostrophe.
(Audience booing)
(...)
For three-and-a-half years, lyin’ Kamala Harris has been the ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe. I used to call it Biden migrant crime, but now I will probably change it to Harris or Kamala.”
[Clip ends]

BARRON-Lopez: “Her name is Kamala. And this is something that Donald Trump did in 2020 as well. He and his surrogates repeatedly mispronounced her name. And a lot of Democrats have said that it’s just another dog whistle.”