Kamala Harris takes on Sister Souljah in Biden’s ‘Trash Storm’

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In the final days of this high-stakes race for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris presented a unique opportunity to turn a potentially devastating vulnerability into a winning message: rebuking the president Joe Biden “garbage” oversight in the same way Bill Clinton convicted 90s rapper Sister Soulja.

On Tuesday evening, as the Democratic presidential nominee gave her final speech to tens of thousands of supporters in the White House Ellipse (in contrast to Trump, who spoke there on the eve of the Capitol riot several years ago), Biden demonstrated exactly why he was recognized as the most unable to stand for re-election.

During a Zoom call from the White House, Biden cursed against a Trump rally speaker who on Sunday called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

“The only trash I see out there are his supporters – his… his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American. This is completely contrary to everything we have done, everything we have been,” Biden said.

He committed perhaps the worst sin in politics: he began to attack voters.

Immediately afterward, the White House attempted to clear those comments. Representative insisted that Biden was referring to comments made during the rally and wasn’t calling all Trump supporters “trash,” but he said what he said. Biden later shared clarification on social media: letter:

Earlier today, I called the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by a Trump supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally trash—and that’s the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at this rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.

Regardless of intent, Trump supporters in the media perceived these comments as irreparably divisive. With a hotly contested election less than a week away, who can blame them? The comment undercut Harris’ closing argument, which focused on unity in an attempt to create a contrast with Trump, perhaps the most divisive political figure in modern American history.

Harris appealed comments Wednesday morning while speaking with reporters on the airport tarmac. While her rebuke was subtle, her message that she “strongly disagreed” with Biden’s comments was a stunning rebuke of the man she wants to follow in the White House.

Harris was asked if she had spoken with “President Biden since the trash comment yesterday.” For the first time she noted “He clarified his comments.” Then she moved away from the president at a clear distance.

“But let me be clear,” she continued. “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for. As you heard in my speech last night and consistently throughout my career, I believe that the job I do is to represent all people, whether they support me or not.”

She then returned to some of her unifying messages from Tuesday night’s speech: “As President of the United States, I will be the President of all Americans. Whether you vote for me or not. This is my responsibility. And this is the kind of work I have done my entire career. And I take this very seriously.“

And lest we dismiss these criticisms as unplanned or improvised, the amplification of these comments by the Harris campaign’s social media team shows that they were entirely intentional.

Vice President Harris: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for. You heard my speech last night. I believe that the work I do is aimed at representing the interests of all people, whether they support me or not. I will be president for all Americans pic.twitter.com/zVk3oEcpBG

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 30, 2024

For Harris, this was a unique opportunity to pit Trump against Joe Biden and appeal to the moderate faction of Republicans, which she clearly views as a crucial voting bloc for winning this election. And, of course, Trump regularly trashes America and Americans with brutal volleys that win the approval of his supporters, because of course that’s what happens. If you want a “both sides” argument, tune in to MSNBC – you will get what you are looking for in very large quantities.

This is Sister Souljah’s moment handed to her on a silver platter, and she deserves credit for taking the dubious option of completely ignoring the firestorm (which would have been completely wrong). In one brief statement, Harris demonstrated her independent thinking and open-mindedness. The “across the aisle” approach she spoke about during her closing speech.

What is a Sister Soulja moment?

During a 1992 interview Washington Postthe rapper spoke hyperbolically about violence in the hip-hop community and the power structures of the time. “If black people kill black people every day, why not spend a week killing white people?” She said, causing a firestorm at the time. Then-candidate Bill Clinton surprised many by disagreeing with her broader assessment. Instead, he made a distinction, condemning her remarks as Jesse Jackson and saying, “If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black’ and swapped them around, you might think David Duke was giving this speech.”

Political pundits of the time considered this a turning point in the 1992 elections, which he eventually won. Thus, the “Sister Soulja Moment” was born, which has since been effectively used by many politicians. John McCain distanced himself from televangelist Jerry Falwell in 2000 and president Barack Obama did the same when he called the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Kamala Harris had three options to solve the problem. garbage garbage: 1) ignore the comments in deference to Biden, 2) follow the White House’s lead and spin what Biden actually said, or 3) stand up to them and say it’s time to move away from this kind of rhetoric, saying it intends to serve as a president for all Americans, even Trump supporters who have been reviled in the past as deplorable. She was wise to choose the third option.

It was a unifying and courageous route. With only six days remaining in this fight, this could very well save her campaign.

This is an opinion. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.