Fox’s racist and sexist attacks on Kamala aren’t having the desired effect. Yet. – Mother Jones

Mother Jones; ZUMA

“Cackling,” “slut,” “idiot,” “bimbo,” “DEI Vice President.”

These are the noble terms that the right-wing media has used to caricature Kamala Harris for the past four years. After President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the possibility of Kamala’s rise to power has gone from a fevered conspiracy theory on the right-wing airwaves to a real possibility, sending the right-wing media into a frenzy. As journalist Kat Abughazaleh analyzes in her first video essay for Mother Jones, the usual misogynistic tricks are not enough—at least compared to her decades-long propaganda masterpiece: Hillary Clinton, Dowager Empress of Evil. Have the usual Fox-type commentators shot themselves in the foot and inadvertently made Kamala even more resilient?

“The electorate is not already primed to turn against them with Pavlovian ease,” Kat explains. “They don’t have a catchphrase like ‘Benghazi’ or a catchy nickname like ‘Crooked Hillary.'”

Yes, Harris has to endure a tremendous amount of racist, sexist bullshit from Fox News and the far-right noise machine. And if there’s one thing you can say about the right-wing media, it’s that they can adapt, and they can adapt quickly. But after four years as vice president, the right’s attacks on Kamala Harris as the so-called “DEI vice president” still fall short of the toxic misogyny that helped Donald Trump win the election in 2016. In this video, Kat describes the right-wing media’s favorite jabs at Harris, how they differ from their endless campaign against Hillary, and why they’re now working hard to reinvent the Kamala narrative for their viewers before it’s too late.

Top image: Mother Jones; Lawrence Jackson/White House/Planet Pix/ZUMA; Fox News; Media Matters for America