Vice President Kamala Harris was “seriously” skewered online for a repetitive, meandering statement at the site of the July Fourth parade mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where the veep repeated an earlier call for federal gun control legislation.
Harris, 57, spoke in the Chicago suburb Tuesday evening after demanding Congress pass a new assault weapons ban while addressing a teachers union gathering earlier in the day. She vowed that suspected shooter Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, would be “brought to justice,” but then “seriously” repeated herself during her remarks.
“And we got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are – because you have been forced to have to take it seriously,” Harris told Highland Park residents.
“The whole nation should understand and have a level of empathy to understand that this can happen anywhere, in any peace-loving community,” Harris continued. “And we should stand together and speak out about why it’s got to stop.”
Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Sheridan posted video of Harris’ speech on Twitter, along with her repetitive quote.
“Did someone write that for her??” one reply read.
Another critic said they thought the quote was a “joke,” while a third questioned whether Harris’ comments were the product of “first-generation” artificial intelligence software.
“Word salad,” read another take on Twitter. “Means absolutely nothing.”
“Unbroken streak for like nineteen months now of never making a single coherent statement as VP,” still another tweet read. “Almost admirable in its consistency.”
One detractor insisted Harris could even star in a remake of HBO’s award-winning political satire “Veep,” sarcastically praising the “cheap production,” authentic film clips and “great dialogue.”
“Does she seriously think we should take what she said seriously?” another social media critic mocked.
Tuesday was not the first time Harris has been accused of incoherence while attempting to make serious statements.
Days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Harris told reporters in Germany: “I mean, listen, guys, we’re talking about the potential for war in Europe. I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about. It’s been over 70 years. And through those 70 years … there has been peace and security. We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe.”
Critics pointed out that Harris’ definition of “peace and security” ignored the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe during the Cold War, the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Days later, the VP was criticized for giving an overly simplistic explanation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on a morning radio show after she was asked to describe the war “in layman’s terms.”
“So, Ukraine is a country in Europe,” she said. “It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong, and it goes against everything that we stand for.”
