Who is kamala harris? | thearticle

No one does elections quite like Donald Trump. In a way, you have to hand it to him. For all his flaws — of which there are many — he knows how to put on a show. The alleged mail-in voter

fraud has enabled the President to launch a plethora of lawsuits challenging the outcome of the election. With scant evidence so far, he has fired up his base, who have taken up arms and

gathered outside election centres across the country demanding officials “stop the vote”. One thing this has shown is that Trump will not go without a fight. But when the histrionics abate

and the smoke clears from the fallout of the 2020 US election, Joe Biden will enter the Oval Office as the 46th President of the United States.  Much has been written about the

septuagenarian from Scranton, Pennsylvania — notably about his mental acuity. Less, however, appears to be known about his new Vice President-elect: Kamala Harris. For should the worst

happen to Biden and Congress invoke the 25th Amendment — the power granted to the executive to remove the current president on health grounds, potentially cognitive impairment — the

55-year-old senator for California would become the 47th President. Biden was adamant that he wanted a woman as his running mate. There were plenty to choose from. One of the first

contenders was Senator Amy Klobuchar, who quickly stepped aside. Then it looked like the Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Bottoms, would get the role, as she supported Biden early in his campaign. Then

there were those to whom Biden related personally, like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Karen Bass, the House Representative from California. He finally settled on Kamala Harris due

to familial connections. Harris knew Beau — Biden’s eldest son who died of brain cancer — from their work together as attorney generals. She was from California — a Democratic stronghold. 

For Biden she ticked many boxes. Harris is seen as a moderate politician, potentially capable of quelling the internecine fighting within the Democratic fold, between the left wing of the

party, obsessed with identity politics, and older, more moderate centrists. Many questioned his choice. Especially after the first televised Democratic debate, when her friendship with Biden

seemed strained after she attacked Biden for his record on race and crime. She accused him of supporting racial segregationists and opposing the “busing” of black children in the 1970s. She

failed to win the nomination, yet within a short time became Biden’s running mate. Maybe that’s just the spectacle of politics. In a later debate, she appeared arrogant and contemptuous of

her opponent, when she took on Tulsi Gabbard. The representative from Hawaii took Harris apart over her “progressive” stance on criminal justice. During Harris’ tenure as district attorney

for San Francisco and later as Attorney General for California, she gained a reputation for her tough stance on law and order. Gabbard brought up the fact that as a prosecutor Harris had

been responsible for sending 1,500 marijuana users to prison. She was also responsible for incarcerating parents of truanting school children and sex workers. It was later revealed that her

tough stance on crime had led to an incarceration of African-Americans at a rate “more than five times their share of California’s population.”  It was, in part, due to such facts that

Harris’ poll numbers plummeted and she dropped out before the primaries had even begun. Yet Biden said he was proud to have her as his running mate. Harris has — to borrow Democratic

parlance — “re-imagined” herself as a criminal justice reformer and advocate of racial justice. She now says: “Black Lives Matter has been the most significant agent for change within the

criminal justice system.” She also pushed for anti-racism and diversity training for all Covid-19 support workers. It must have been reassuring to an elderly person on their death-bed to

know that the nurse wasn’t harbouring unconscious bias towards the BAME community. For someone who once voted to deny gender-reassignment surgery for transgender prisoners, it is strange

that Harris proudly states her pronouns. How someone, who now thinks anyone can identify as a woman, can claim to support women’s rights, will baffle old-fashioned feminists — who believe

that women cannot be safe when trans women can freely enter women’s jails. But her new stance signals Harris’ switch to a more radical and identitarian political worldview. Trump’s

unexpectedly strong election result proved one thing: millions of voters were fed up with the more identity-based political vision of the most radical Democrats. Yet this appears to be the

path that Kamala Harris has decided to tread. How will she represent the office if she becomes President? Only time will tell. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s

committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout the pandemic. So

please, make a donation._