Vice President Kamala Harris was ridiculed on social media Sunday after delivering a long-winded monologue on the “duality to the nature of democracy” at a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
Harris spoke to supporters at an event in Rochester on Sunday alongside her running mate Tim Walz before the pair head to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention this week, where she will be nominated as the party’s nominee. In a seemingly off-script moment during the event, Harris regaled attendees with a lecture about the dual nature of democracy, describing it as both “incredibly strong” and “incredibly fragile.”
“Our election is about understanding the importance of this beautiful country of ours in terms of what we stand for around the globe as a democracy,” Harris said. “As a democracy, we know there’s a duality to the nature of democracy. On the one hand, incredible strength when it is intact. What it does for its people, to protect and defend their rights. Incredibly strong.
CONSERVATIVES ROAST HARRIS FOR YET ANOTHER ‘WORD SALAD’ AFTER US-RUSSIA PRISONER SWAP
“And incredibly fragile,” she continued. “It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. And that’s what this campaign is about.”
A clip of the comment was widely shared online, reigniting attacks against the vice president for her rambling statements that critics have termed “word salads.” Republicans said the comment offered voters an insight into the true Harris when the teleprompter is turned off.
“They took Kamala off the teleprompter today in Pennsylvania. It didn’t go well,” Outkick.com founder Clay Travis wrote alongside the clip.
“Kamala is uniquely awful. She’s not smart, charming, or talented. The more voters hear her voice, the less they’ll want to support her,” radio show host Buck Sexton wrote on X. “All downhill from here. Keep the faith.”
“THIS is why Comrade Kamala isn’t allowed to speak off script Holy crap. Anybody know what the HELL she’s talking about here??!” Video journalist Nick Sortor replied.
“This is the best the democrats could get?!” he wrote in a follow up post.
Conservative commentator Carmine Sabia quipped, “Is this a Harris and Walz rally or a 10 year old’s birthday party? No free concert and she draws dozens off fans.”
Podcast host Alec Lace called Harris “The Wizard of Word Salad,” adding, “if you’re wondering why they don’t like to let Kamala Harris go off teleprompter, this is why.”
Assistant professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, J.D. Haltigan, replied alongside the clip, “Utterly delusional incoherence. At least when Trump riffs, there is a thread. This is just a confetti of word salad.”
GOP communicator Matt Whitlock posted, “In case you were wondering why they’ve kept Kamala away from interviews and only in front of teleprompters…”
Harris has made a similar comment in the past, according to The Hill. In October 2022, Harris told a crowd, “I think of democracy as… there are like two sides to it. There’s a duality to it… when a democracy is intact, it is extraordinarily strong in the power it gives the people. The duality is that on the other hand, it is extremely fragile this democracy, It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. What gives me hope, is I know we are prepared to fight for it.”
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Harris continues to take heat over her refusal to hold a formal press conference or regularly engage with the press since emerging as the party’s nominee. She has not sat for a formal sit-down interview with the media in the nearly 30 days since Biden endorsed her and she officially clinched the nomination in a subsequent “virtual” roll-call vote less than two weeks later.