When Kamala Harris was sworn into office, we knew that the scrutiny for the first Black woman ever to hold such a position would be immeasurable.
The critics have been working overtime.
During Harris’ recent international tour Harris sternly warned potential illegal immigrants, in a news conference alongside Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, not to illegally enter the U.S. But what the right-leaning media did not add, is that she encouraged migrants to use the proper channels and enter the U.S. legally.
“Do not come. Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders,’ she said bluntly. “If you come to our border, you will be turned back.”
Her delayed trip to the U.S. border has also been peppered with criticism. But now, the work to stereotype Harris as a passive aggressive, difficult to work with Black woman to be well underway.
According to a recent report from Politico, Harris and two administration officials, one of them being Tina Flournoy, Harris’ chief of staff, are contributing to an “abusive environment” in the vice president’s office.
“It all starts at the top,” said one of the administration officials to the news outlet.
“People are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses and it’s an abusive environment,” said another person with direct knowledge of how Harris’ office is run.
“It’s not a healthy environment and people often feel mistreated. It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like s—.”
Considering we’ve just voted a president out of office who could if it were a real thing, crown himself as the “king of throwing people under the bus,” the fuss surrounding these new complaints seem insignificant by comparison. However, these claims were always going to follow Harris.
Symone Sanders, senior advisor and chief spokesperson for Harris, strongly refutes the allegations.
“Black women like me would not have the opportunity to work in politics without Tina.” She also called out the anonymous sources — “People are cowards to do this this way.”
“We are not making rainbows and bunnies all day. What I hear is that people have hard jobs and I’m like ‘welcome to the club,'” Sanders added. “We have created a culture where people, if there is anything anyone would like to raise, there are avenues for them to do so. Whoever has something they would like to raise, they should raise it directly.”
The report continues to mention the names of several staffers who have left Harris’ office. The words “strong” and “intimidating” are words used in the article to describe Harris’ staffers.
Where have we heard those words before?
But Sanders is right. Given the mess left by the former president, there is not time to “make rainbows.” This is “go time.” American lives depend on it.
