Vice President Kamala Harris responded angrily Friday after she was asked whether Joe Biden is the “real” president of the United States. But Harris’ forceful response is not going over well.
What happened?
Toward the end of a lengthy interview with Charlamagne Tha God on his Comedy Central show, Charlamagne asked Harris who the real president is: Joe Biden or Sen. Joe Manchin (D).
But before Harris could answer the question, Symone Sanders, Harris’ top communications aide, interrupted the interview. “I’m sorry, we’ve got to wrap,” Sanders said. Charlamagne then turned to his producer and said, “They’re acting like they can’t hear me.” When Harris confirmed that she could, in fact, hear Charlamagne, the host asked his question again.
“So who is the real president of this country? Is it Joe Manchin or Joe Biden?” Charlamagne asked.
“C’mon Charlamagne, c’mon, it’s Joe Biden,” Harris responded. The vice president then became visibly angry.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it’s Joe Biden, and don’t start talking like a Republican about asking whether or not [Biden is] president,” Harris continued. “And it’s Joe Biden, it’s Joe Biden and I’m vice president and my name is Kamala Harris.”
After listing what Harris believes are accomplishments of the Biden administration, Charlamagne responded that he liked Harris’ angry response to his question. “That Kamala Harris — that’s the one I like,” he said. Then the interview ended.
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What was the response?
Harris’ response did not land well with some, and she was accused of “gaslighting” Charlamagne.
“They feel empowered saying stuff like ‘Don’t start talking like a republican’ because some of y’all let Biden get away with questioning your Blackness for hesitating to vote for him,” the “Faithful Black Men Association” Twitter account, with nearly 100,000 followers, responded.
Black author and commentator Dr. Boyce Watkins, meanwhile, said Harris was essentially questioning the blackness of a black person by telling Charlamagne, “don’t start talking like a Republican.”
“When #KamalaHarris tells #Charlamagne ‘Don’t start talking like a Republican,’ she’s basically saying, ‘If you don’t vote Democrat, then you ain’t black!'” Watkins said.
“They haven’t done anything and now they’re hoping if they say they did that people will be dumb enough to believe it,” another person said of Harris’ response.