News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Aug. 20, 2024: I doubt Vice President Kamala Harris is happy with Trump’s surprise convention gift for her. On Monday, Trump outed “radical” economist Professor Donald Harris – Kamala’s invisible father until today. No more.
Donald Trump’s recent comment linking Kamala Harris to her Jamaican father, Donald Harris, and his so called Marxist views is far more explosive than it first appears. For years, Harris has tactically kept her father out of the public eye, choosing to highlight her Indian heritage while downplaying her Caribbean roots. This decision has largely been about political strategy – aligning herself with a demographic that is seen as advantageous in the U.S. political landscape while sidestepping her lack of interest in being identified as Caribbean American.
Put another way Kamala does not want to make it abundantly clear she is not African American. With a Jamaican father and Indian mother, yes she is multi-cultural – but just not African American.
Trump’s comment has shattered this careful balance. By linking Harris to her father’s radical academic background, Trump has opened a Pandora’s box that Harris will find impossible to close. The vice president, who has rarely spoken of her father publicly, will now be forced to address the connection head-on to try and neutralize Trump’s attack on both together.
First problem. Harris’ all-important acceptance speech on Thursday evening. You could have bet everything she was not going to mention her Jamaican father in that speech, and by so doing, self-identify herself as not being African American but just leave it at more vaguely Black – just Black.
It’s possible now she’ll make a brief, defiant allusion in her acceptance speech, asserting pride in her Jamaican heritage and in her father. Nothing else! She certainly doesn’t want the number one takeaway from her all-important speech to be her father, Donald Harris. She will attempt to leave it at that, but the media will certainly not in the coming days and weeks ahead. Even more if Trump makes her and her father a frequent rally rant. CNN for one will try and resist the story but it is too tempting and will sell lots of commercials.
The media, ever eager to uncover new angles and controversies, is likely to dig deep into Donald Harris’s background. His once obscure academic work on Marxist economic theory will become fodder for both the left and right-wing media.
On the left, some will embrace him as an intellectual figure whose ideas are worth revisiting. On the right, his writings will likely be used to paint Kamala Harris as the product of radical ideology, something that will have serious implications for her campaign and public image maybe.
In conclusion, Trump’s seemingly offhand comment has the potential to upend Kamala Harris’s carefully crafted public persona. What was once hidden in her biography could soon become a central theme in her campaign, as the media turns its attention to Donald Harris and the influence he may have had on his daughter.
How Kamala Harris navigates this new challenge will be critical to her success in the upcoming election. Will she manage to control the narrative, or will Trump’s attack unleash a media storm that changes the course of her campaign? Only time will tell.
You think you had issues with your father? Nothing like Kamala for sure. The very good news is the Caribbean will get the attention and credit it deserves in Presidential election – thanks to her father Donald Harris.
Commentary By Arthur Piccolo
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