Media Criticism

Media Coverage of 'Border Czar' Kamala Harris Is Cringe

Vibes are not the same thing as votes.

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Kamala Harris | Brian Cahn/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
Kamala Harris (Brian Cahn/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom)

For the last month, the mainstream media have set their sights on President Joe Biden, generating a massive and unusual amount of negative coverage in order to end his doomed candidacy. Now Biden is out, Vice President Kamala Harris is in, and things have returned to normal. Consider this hagiographic recap of Harris' consequential weekend by CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere.

"Through all her calls at the Naval Observatory, Harris wore a hooded Howard University sweatshirt, workout sweats and sneakers," reported Dovere on X. "They got pizza and salad for dinner. She went with her favorite topping: anchovies."

Nature, in other words, is healing.

Harris is now the beneficiary of a veritable torrent of fluffy, positive press. The Washington Post praised her Spotify playlists and her sense of style—"subtle changes to her wardrobe selections relay a new gloss of power and polish"—while defending her against conservative accusations that she was picked for the veep spot because of her race and gender. Media institutions such as The Guardian, CBS, and NBC also rushed to proclaim Harris as a beloved icon of young people; Politico hailed her as "Kamala Harris: Gen Z Meme Queen." This verdict is largely connected to pop star Charli XCX's endorsement (possibly?) of Harris—the singer wrote on X that "kamala IS brat," which is the name of her hit summer album.

It is not hard to imagine the comparatively energetic, active, and youthful Harris as a more appealing figure than the aged incumbent who occupied the top of ticket until this past weekend. Even so, a recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Harris losing the youth vote to former President Donald Trump. Another analysis, by CNN's Harry Enten, pointed out that Harris has not matched Biden's 2020 numbers in terms of youth approval. These results may be outliers and there's certainly time for her to improve; she has only been the presumptive candidate for a few days, and as the official Democratic nominee for president, she would be expected to ultimately carry the under-35 crowd. Still, it's a cautionary tale: Vibes are not the same thing as votes.

 

Haste Makes Harris

The truth is that Harris is remarkably untested on the national stage. When she ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, she received little traction and was among the first major candidates to drop out: Julian Castro, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and Bernie Sanders all outlasted her. Though she ultimately withdrew from that race before primary voting took place, a September 2019 poll from Emerson College showed that she would lose the primary in her home state of California. The poll had her in fifth place, behind Biden, Sanders, Warren…and Andrew Yang.

What's behind Harris' lack of popular appeal? For one thing, it's hard to know what she actually stands for. As California's top prosecutor, she was hardly a progressive; according to Harris, she sought statewide office in order to "institute a plan on truancy"; said plan involved locking up parents of kids who skipped school. Then, during her ill-fated presidential campaign, she decreed herself unburdened by what has been—to borrow a popular Kamala-ism—and embraced the George Floyd movement's demand for more progressive policing. At best, one can say that the American people do not understand what exactly she stands for, and she will now have the opportunity to make that clear.

As the vice presidential candidate, Harris was ultimately part of the winning ticket in 2020. But for the vast majority of Biden's presidency, Harris has polled worse than her boss. It was not until recent months, when public approval of Biden truly collapsed, that she started to seem like the safer bet.

In the weeks since Biden's disastrous debate performance laid bare the reality of his advanced age and cognitive decline, Democratic leaders, elite donors, and the mainstream media have dramatically shoved the president aside and christened Harris as the new standard-bearer. They have done this with the nominal support of the rank-and-file, as polls have shown that most Democrats did want Biden to bow out. But unlike Biden, Harris does not have a long track record of winning national elections.

 

Czar Kamala

One of Harris' greatest assets, however, will be favorable media coverage; indeed, mainstream reporters are already trying to protect her on one of her most vulnerable issues. On Wednesday, Axios accused Republicans of unfairly faulting Harris for the dysfunction at the U.S. southern border, writing: "The Trump campaign and Republicans have tagged Harris repeatedly with the 'border czar' title—which she never actually had."

This notion that Harris was never named "border czar" is contradicted by earlier reporting…by Axios. An April 14, 2021, article by Axios reporter Shawna Chen explained that "Harris, appointed by Biden as border czar, said she would be looking at the 'root causes' that drive migration."

Caught red-handed, Axios demurred and issued the following correction in a piece published yesterday: "This article has been updated and clarified to note that Axios was among the news outlets that incorrectly labeled Harris a 'border czar' in 2021." The updated article says that "border czar" was an "unofficial" moniker, as if the difference matters. The truth is that Harris was assigned to lead part of the administration's handling of this specific issue. That's inconvenient for the campaign, since immigration and border security is Trump's most winning issue. But it's the truth.

 

College, Not Colored

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade was widely accused of making a racist remark after a clip of him discussing Harris' agenda went viral on X. Users claimed he had used the phrase colored sorority. Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison attacked Kilmeade for perpetrating racism and misogyny. Former Republican National Committee chair turned uber-critic of Trump Michael Steele was similarly outraged.

Kilmeade's Fox News colleague Lawrence Jones, a black man, was seated on the couch with Kilmeade when he made the remark—and according to Jones, he said "college sorority," not "colored sorority."

I listened to the clip for myself, and it seems abundantly clear that Jones' interpretation is correct; Kilmeade said "college sorority." Mediaite agrees as well. All those who rushed to accuse Kilmeade of racism should set the record straight, at the very least.

 

This Week on Free Media

Amber Duke is back on the show to discuss the media suddenly highlighting Trump's advanced age, Nancy Pelosi's "coup" against Biden, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's spot-on criticisms of the Secret Service, and The View's thoughts on Harris.

 

Worth Watching

I have to admit, I laughed. Watch all the way to the end for the big reveal: a meeting between Matt Walsh and…Robin DiAngelo.