“Stupid” and a “DEI” candidate

When President Joe Biden announced that he was abandoning his candidacy for re-election and pledging his support to Vice President Kamala Harris, the dynamic of the entire presidential campaign changed radically.

It was no longer two white men born in the 1940s who were once again fighting to return to the White House. Instead, it was 78-year-old Trump and 59-year-old Harris, who, if elected, would make history as the first woman and first woman of color to hold the presidency.

And within a day, Harris was already facing attacks focused on her race and gender, making it clear that while Republicans may try to link her to some of Biden’s policies, she faces criticism he never made.

It’s partly the same maneuver Trump and his allies used the last time a woman led a major party. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s qualifications, looks and voice were also scrutinized. But this time, Republicans are also scrutinizing Harris’ background, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father.

Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee referred to Harris on social media as the “DEI vice president,” referring to workplace policies denigrated by conservatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

“If you go down that path, you end up with mediocrity, and that’s what they have right now,” Burchett told CNN.

Sebastian Gorka, a host on conservative network Newsmax who served in the Trump administration, said Harris will be the nominee “because she’s a woman and her skin color is the right DEI color.” He also said she “giggles like a madwoman.”

Fox News host Jesse Watters said Harris secured the support of Hillary Clinton “obviously because she’s a woman.”

And Richard Grenell, US ambassador to Germany under the Trump administration, told NBC News that Harris is part of a “revolving door of DEI appointments by the straight white governor who makes appointments to please and keep different groups at arm’s length,” referring to California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. “Kamala Harris is a product of that whole system. She is very far left, untested and untested.”

Before becoming vice president, Harris served two terms as California district attorney and was elected three times statewide as attorney general and then as U.S. senator. Trump, who had a successful career in real estate and entertainment, had no government experience before his presidency.

In 2016, Trump repeatedly accused Clinton of playing the “woman card” to get where she is today, targeting her “strength” and “perseverance” and mocking her vote.

“She has no other plans,” he said of his opponent, who was a senator for New York and secretary of state. “And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she would get 5% of the vote.”

“If she didn’t play the woman card, she would have no chance, I mean zero chance, of winning,” he said on another occasion.

“The only thing she has is the fact that she is a woman,” Trump also said in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show.

Trump launched a “card attack” against Harris on Tuesday, but this time it was the “race card.”

In a Republican National Committee conference call, Trump said Harris “played the racism card to a degree rarely seen” during the Democratic primary debates with Biden in the 2020 election campaign.

“It’s a hackneyed maneuver for him,” said Democratic strategist Karen Finney, who was a spokeswoman for Clinton’s campaign in 2016. “But the reality is that we also know that people wouldn’t use the maneuver if it didn’t work to some degree.”

“Even in 2016, there were so many moments where it was so over the top and so disgusting. But I think that it’s against Kamala Harris, and maybe it’s going to be both race and gender… maybe it’s the combination of both that people will notice,” she added. “And I think the country is changing, and people are becoming more and more aware of how disgusting and inappropriate it is.”

In a statement, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Harris was “as weak, failed and incompetent as Joe Biden – and she is also dangerously liberal.”

“A vote for Kamala is a vote for more crime, inflation, open borders, high gas prices and war around the world, and our team will make sure every American knows that,” she added.

In 2016, it wasn’t fashionable to push back against DEI policies, but the current criticism is reminiscent of attacks that Clinton isn’t qualified enough. On Monday, the New York Post reported that Trump told her in an interview that Harris was “vicious” and “stupid.”

On Monday, Trump called Harris “dumb as a rock” on social media and has consistently mispronounced her first name for years (as have many other speakers at the Republican National Convention last week).

In 2016, Trump also said Clinton “didn’t have the right look” to be president – but she wasn’t the only one to face such insults. He also mocked his opponent in the primary, Carly Fiorina, for having a “face” that voters wouldn’t choose.

Trump has a long history of insulting his opponents, including men, but the insults against Clinton were a reflection of the attacks that women in positions of power have long faced: their qualifications, strength and appearance are questioned.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas defended Fiorina, whom he had chosen as his running mate despite failing to win the Republican presidential nomination, saying at the time: “Donald has a problem with strong women. It’s not subtle or complicated.”

Cruz, another man who once had a bitter relationship with Trump after Trump ran against him in the 2016 primaries, has since put aside those differences and is supporting him this time.

In a New York Times opinion piece on Tuesday, Clinton addressed the “sexism and double standards” that “strong female candidates” face in politics.

“I’ve been called a witch, a ‘wicked woman,’ and worse. I’ve even been burned in effigy. As a candidate, I was sometimes afraid to talk about making history. I wasn’t sure voters were ready for it. And I didn’t run to break a barrier; I ran because I thought I was best suited for the job,” she wrote.

“Ms. Harris will face unique additional challenges as the first Black and South Asian woman to lead a major party’s ticket. That is real, but we should not be afraid. It is a trap to believe that progress is impossible,” Clinton added.

Harris has also faced comments about her race and gender from Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. In 2020, Trump promoted the baseless “birther” conspiracy theory that Harris – who was born in the U.S. – is unfit to run for president because her parents were born in other countries. Trump has also promoted birther conspiracy theories about Cruz, former President Barack Obama and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

In 2021, Vance attacked Democrats who do not have biological children of their own, calling them “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are unhappy with their own lives and the choices they’ve made and therefore want to make the rest of the country unhappy too.” He mentioned Harris – who has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella – as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

“What is the point of leaving our country to people who have no direct stake in it?” he said at the time.

His spokesman Taylor Van Kirk told the Associated Press: “It is well known that Senator Vance owes his success in life largely to the influence of strong female role models like his grandmother.”

Former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile said, “The most convenient maneuver in American politics has always been the issue of race, and race will always be a topic of discussion.”

“But now is not the time to fall back on a 20th century script,” she added. “We live in the 21st century. … I don’t think the American people are interested in a conversation that will divide and polarize us even further.”

Some Republicans also sharply criticized the conservative attacks on Harris on Tuesday.

“I don’t agree with DEI, but she’s the vice president of the United States. She’s the former U.S. senator. When these members of Congress say that, their own instincts are wrong,” former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Tuesday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW.”

When asked for comment for this article, the Harris team referred to comments from Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

“Of course that’s not appropriate, for God’s sake. What, are they just going to say if you’re not a white man, you’re a DEI candidate?” she told HuffPost on Tuesday. “I’m sorry. No.”