After the Vice President of the USA was interviewed on June 8, news reports typically emphasized one particular exchange with Lester Holt (seen beginning at 3:57 of the video below). Administration officials
acknowledged it was a sound bite that would likely stick with Harris as she continues to confront the issue at the southern border.
The response came during an interview with NBC's Lester Holt
that aired Tuesday in which Harris was pressed about the fact that she hasn't
yet visited the US-Mexico border.
"At some point, you know, we are going to the
border," Harris said in the interview. "We've been to the border. So
this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border. We've been to the
border. We've been to the border."
Holt responded: "You haven't been to the border."
"I, and I haven't been to Europe. And I mean, I don't
-- I don't understand the point that you're making," Harris said with a
laugh. She added: "I'm not discounting the importance of the border."
Of course, Harris assignment is not Europe but rather, NBC News learned, from "a senior Administration official, " "both
curbing the current flow of migrants and implementing a long-term strategy that
addresses the root causes of migration." Nor has she been at the border,
which she acknowledged when confronted by Holt after the V.P.had twice maintained
"we've been to the border."
However, the more telling remark in the long run may prove
to be one which Harris made earlier in the interview. At 1:26, Holt can be seen
asking "And so the question has come up and you've heard it here and
you'll hear it again, I'm sure, is why not visit the border? Why not see what
Americans are seeing in this crisis?"
Listen very closely because Harris actually responded (without the emphasis below)
Well, we aren't going to the border. We have to deal with
what's happening at the border. There's no question about that. That's not a
debatable point. But we have to understand that there's a reason that people
are arriving at our border and ask what is that reason and then identify the
problem so we can fix it.
The more substantive takeaway is that Harris is narrowing her mission, from addressing both the short-term problem (or crisis) and the long-term problem, to merely the latter. While she may have meant "we are going to the border," the Vice President maintained "we aren't going to the border."
No one knows for sure what Kamala Harris means by we.
Perhaps she said we aren't going to the border and maybe not. It doesn't matter
because remarking "we are going to the border" or we aren't
going to the border" bears no relation to whether there will be a trip to
the border.
In the presidential debate in late June, 2020, Harris self-righteously excoriated Joe Biden for having joined "forces and individuals and
supposed leaders in our country who actively worked against the integration of
schools based on race." She maintained "there
is not a black man I know, be he a relative, a friend, or a coworker who has
not been the subject of some form of profiling or discrimination."Following the debate, Jill Biden strongly implied that her husband had
been accused of being a "racist."
A few days later, Harris declared "Busing is a tool
among many that should be considered" but not mandated, which
was Biden's position all along.
Nonetheless, Harris never acknowledged that she was- ahem-
disingenous when she kicked Joe Biden in the rear end. Instead, she was
nominated by that same fellow to be Vice-President, in line to being the
Democratic presidential nominee four or eight years hence.
She has learned well.
She has learned that whatever price dishonesty bears, it may prove of
even greater benefit. Ultimately, then, it matters not at all whether Kamala
Harris says she will, or will not, visit the USA-Mexico border.
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