Mother Jones; ZUMA
“Cackling,” “ho,” “ditzy,” “bimbo,” “DEI Vice President.”
These are the classy terms right-wing media has used to caricature Kamala Harris over the last four years. Following President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the possibility of a Kamala takeover has jumped from a fever-dream conspiracy theory on right-wing airwaves to a real possibility, leaving right-wing media scrambling. As journalist Kat Abughazaleh dissects in her debut video essay for Mother Jones, the usual misogynistic tricks aren’t cutting it—at least when compared to their multi-decade propagandistic masterpiece: Hillary Clinton, Empress Dowager of Evil. Have the usual Fox-type commentators shot themselves in the foot and inadvertently made Kamala even more resilient?
“The national electorate isn’t already primed to turn against her with Pavlovian ease,” Kat explains. “They don’t have a trigger phrase like Benghazi or a sticky nickname like Crooked Hillary.”
Yes, Harris endures an enormous amount of racist, sexist bullshit from Fox News and the far-right noise machine. And if there’s one thing to be said about right-wing media, it’s that it can adapt, and adapt fast. But after Harris’ four years as vice president, the right’s attacks on her as a so-called “DEI Vice President” are still falling short of the toxic misogyny that helped Donald Trump win the 2016 election. In this video, Kat outlines right-wing media’s favorite jabs against Harris, how they differ from their endless campaign against Hillary, and why they are now firing on all cylinders to reinvent the Kamala narrative for their viewers before it’s too late.
Top illustration: Mother Jones; Lawrence Jackson/White House/Planet Pix/Zuma; Fox News; Media Matters for America
