Politics
Harris mocked online for breaking out another 'new accent' at Congressional Black Caucus event
Vice President Harris was mocked online for debuting another “new accent” during a Congressional Black Caucus event Saturday night.
“Hello to all of my Divine Nine brothers and sisters,” Harris said at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C. “And to all my HBCU brothers and sisters.”
The account End Wokeness shared the clip on X, writing: “BREAKING: Kamala Harris unveils a new accent at the Black Caucus Dinner.”
“New? Or is it her old fake black accent?” X user Paul A. Szypula, who has more than 232,700 followers, responded. “Either way, it’s incredibly insulting to black people. Shame on Kamala.”
“NEW: Kamala Harris brings out her new accent at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 2024 Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington D.C.,” Collin Rugg wrote to his 1.4 million followers, sharing the clip to X. “‘Hello to all my divine… brothas and sistas… am my soro…’ Kamala has brought out this new accent throughout the campaign at different times.”
“Kamala Harris accent du jor,” columnist James Hirsen wrote to his 270,500 followers on X.
KAMALA HARRIS RALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY REPEATING SAME SPEECH IN DIFFERENT ACCENTS
Other X users pointed to how Harris was raised in Canada but has broken out varying accents from around the United States depending on where she was campaigning.
Harris’ “Divine Nine” comment referenced how she was a member of a historically Black sorority while attending Howard University.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment Sunday.
The vice president was panned earlier this month when side by side clips showed her seemingly using different accents while campaigning in Detroit and Pittsburgh, hours apart.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy confronted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the issue, asking, “Since when does the vice president have what sounds like a southern accent?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jean-Pierre said from the White House podium earlier this month.
“Well she was talking about unions in Detroit using one tone of voice,” Doocy said. “She used the same line in Pittsburgh, and it sounded like she at least had some kind of a southern drawl.”
WHITE HOUSE DISMISSES QUESTIONS ABOUT KAMALA HARRIS’ NEW ‘SOUTHERN ACCENT:’ ‘JUST INSANE’
“I mean do you hear the question … I mean do you think Americans seriously think that this is an important question?” Jean-Pierre retorted. “They care – you know what they care about? They care about the economy. They care about lowering costs. They care about healthcare. That’s what Americans care about…”
Harris is attempting to court Black voters in the coming days. Speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus dinner right before her, President Biden talked about Harris as the first Black and South Asian woman vice president, and said, “God willing, she will become the first woman president of the United States of America.”
On Tuesday, Harris will sit with members of the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia. On Thursday, she’ll attend a live streamed rally headlined by Oprah Winfrey and involving groups such as “Win with Black Women,” “White Women: Answer the Call,” and “South Asians for Harris,” according to the Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Politics
Video: What We Learned From Talking to Undecided Voters
For the people still on the fence about whom to vote for in the 2024 presidential race, Tuesday night’s debate was an important data point. Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter for The New York Times and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up,” asked some undecided voters for their thoughts about Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump.
Politics
Critics pan Kamala Harris' TV interview, bewildering answers: 'Talk is cheap'
The backlash continued to mount following Vice President Kamala Harris’ televised interview Friday, with critics calling out her unwillingness to give clear and specific answers.
In her first solo sit-down TV interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris seemed to filibuster to avoid direct answers. One example came when the interviewer, Brian Taff of the Philadelphia ABC affiliate, asked for her “specific” plans to bring down prices for Americans.
“Well, I’ll start with this. I grew up a middle-class kid,” Harris responded. “My mother raised my sister and me. She worked very hard. She was able to finally save up enough money to buy our first house when I was a teenager.
“I grew up in a community of hard-working people, you know, construction workers and nurses and teachers. And I try to explain to some people who may not have had the same experience. You know, a lot of people will relate to this.”
HARRIS DODGES QUESTION ON LOWERING PRICES BY DESCRIBING ‘MIDDLE-CLASS’ ROOTS: NEIGHBORS ‘PROUD OF THEIR LAWN’
Critics have slammed Harris on social media, saying she gave confusing answers to a number of questions.
“Kamala Harris did her first local sit down interview after prepping for 53 days and it was a nightmare[.] She couldn’t even name 1-2 things she would do to bring down inflation,” Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s press secretary, wrote in post on X following the interview.
California state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones told Fox News Digital if Harris becomes president, the entire nation would suffer.
“Kamala Harris has spent decades in public office, with a track record defined by rising costs and inflation. During her tenure in California, prices soared, and the affordability crisis has only worsened since she became Vice President,” Jones said. “Talk is cheap, and while she promises to lower costs, her actions have repeatedly resulted in the opposite.
“Californians struggled under her leadership, and now the entire nation is bearing the brunt. America simply can’t afford a Harris presidency.”
Conservative podcaster Benny Johnson added that Harris’s answers made no sense.
“Kamala Harris: “My focus is very much about what we need to do over the next 10-20 years to catch up to the 21st century around, again, capacity, but also challenges.” What does this even mean?” Johnson wrote in a post. on X.
Harris’ answer resembled the response she gave during the ABC News presidential debate against former President Trump Tuesday, when she was asked by moderator David Muir whether Americans are economically “better off than they were four years ago.”
“So, I was raised as a middle-class kid,” Harris told Muir. “And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.”
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Although Harris drew praise from pundits for her debate performance, her sometimes unresponsive answers there foreshadowed Friday’s sit-down, particularly on economic matters. In the debate, Harris went on to tout the same proposals without answering whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago.
“Kamala Harris was very clearly and directly asked: Are the American people better off now than they were 4 years ago? She could not say yes because the answer is no — the American people are worse off today because of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s policies,” former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard posted on X following Tuesday night’s debate.
TRUMP-VANCE TICKET HAS DONE COMBINED 49 INTERVIEWS SINCE LAST MONTH COMPARED TO ONLY 10 FOR HARRIS-WALZ
Harris and running mate Tim Walz have only done 10 unscripted interviews for the Democratic presidential ticket thus far, while Republican presidential nominee Trump and vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, have sat down for at least 49 interviews.
Harris still has not held a formal press conference since replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee. Trump took questions at a news conference on Friday in California, his third extended presser in recent weeks.
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USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page said she believes Americans deserve to hear both candidates answer tough questions.
“I think part of the job description of being president is answering questions, not because reporters have a right to ask them, but because Americans have a right to hear them,” Page told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Politics
Military experts reject Harris' claim of 'no US soldiers in combat zones' as misleading
Critics have offered a fact-check on Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that the U.S. has “not one member of the United States military who is on active duty” in a combat zone “for the first time this century,” indicating that the statement is misleading.
Harris made the claim in Tuesday’s debate with former President Trump. While her phrasing left room for interpretation, it is clear that there are U.S. troops in harm’s way around the globe.
“As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is on active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century,” Harris said during the Presidential Debate on ABC.
The Pentagon told Fox News Digital service that members are stationed in various dangerous locations but noted that those deployments are made by the Executive Branch and not due to wars declared by Congress.
“An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur,” a Defense Official said. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense.”
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“However, it’s important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war,” the official added. “The U.S. is not currently engaged in a war and does not have troops fighting in active war zones anywhere in the world.”
Mark Montgomery, senior director for the Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital that the U.S. has “quietly shut down designations of war zones over the past few years.”
“I would ask: Is anyone getting combat-related hazardous duty pay?” Montgomery added. “The answer is yes,” and noted Syria as an example.
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The Pentagon did not comment on whether troops in countries such as Syria, Jordan or Iraq or on other bases around the Middle East have received hazardous duty pay over the past 10 months as Iran has backed proxies including the Houthis and Hezbollah.
Hazardous Duty Pay is distributed at a monthly rate of $225 and is payable to a member who is subjected to hostile fire, explosion of hostile mines or other hostile action while performing duty in a hostile fire area, exposed to a hostile fire event or killed, injured or wounded by hostile fire or explosion, according to Military.com.
Military members serving in Lebanon have been eligible for hazardous duty pay since 1983, while those in Syria have been eligible since 2003 and 2014 for land and air combat, respectively. Iraq has remained an eligible region since 1990.
Robert Greenway, former senior director for the National Security Council (NSC) during the Trump administration, noted that the U.S. has “continuously” deployed troops to combat zones since the 1991 Gulf War.
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“The assertion is especially egregious, as she is the current VP and should know that we recently conducted a raid in Syria killing a senior ISIS commander, several U.S. troops had to be medically evacuated after another raid against ISIS in Syria,” Greenway told Fox News Digital. “Several servicemembers were wounded in Iraq when Al Asad Airbase was attacked by Iranian sponsored terrorists less than a month ago, and our ships are under near-daily attack in the Red Sea.”
“A current VP unaware of our military operations in combat overseas is a dereliction of duty,” Greenway added.
The U.S. has roughly 2,500 troops in Iraq alone, although Iraqi officials this week revealed that they have worked out a tentative plan for the U.S. to withdraw most of its troops by 2025 and leave a residual force, The Washington Post reported.
“The first phase will begin this year and continue until 2025, while the second phase will conclude in 2026,” Iraqi Defense Minister Thabit al-Abbasi said during an appearance on television.
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