Vice President Kamala Harris has once again sparked controversy with her recent remarks, which critics have derided as a "word salad."
During a conversation with Black Star Network host Roland Martin, Harris used an astronomical analogy to discuss crime, a move that has earned her the moniker "Galileo Harris."
According to the New York Post, the Vice President, 59, was responding to a question about what she termed former President Donald Trump's obsession with crime in cities governed by Democrats. "I talked with somebody once who said, 'You know, if you just look at, where the stars are in the sky. Don't look [at] 'em as just random things, if you just look at 'em as points,' " Harris said. " 'Look at the constellation what does it show you?' "
Harris's comments were met with a barrage of criticism online after the Trump campaign clipped her remarks and posted them. Critics accused the Vice President of being incoherent, with some even suggesting she was under the influence of marijuana. Mike Davis, founder of a conservative judicial advocacy group, criticized the Democrats' tendency to select political candidates based on identity markers. "This is what happens when you pick leaders solely based on their skin pigment, genitals, attraction to genitals, or perception of genitals," Davis said.
Harris, who also chairs the National Space Council, was further ridiculed as President Biden's "space czar" and "Galileo Harris," a reference to the renowned 17th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei. One critic warned, "Meanwhile, Xi and Putin lick their chops."
During their conversation, Harris and Martin accused Trump of targeting predominantly black voters in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Atlanta with allegations of voting irregularities during the 2020 election. "He's singling out cities where there are significant African Americans, and that's who he's talking about: black people," Martin said. "Yes," Harris concurred.
Last week, the Harris campaign launched advertisements spotlighting Trump's remarks about the decline of the auto industry and his assertion to the Detroit Economic Club that the US is heading in the wrong direction. "The whole country will be like you want to know the truth? It'll be like Detroit," Trump predicted. "Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president."
Trump has long blamed Democrats for the crime epidemics in major cities, a point he reiterated during his re-election campaign four years ago. In a June 2020 interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump denied that his comments were racially motivated. "It's not racist," the 45th president said. "Frankly, black people come up to me, say, 'Thank you, thank you, Sir, for saying it.' They want help, these cities it's like living in hell."
In 2020, large urban centers saw significant increases in crime, with New York City recording a 97% increase in shootings and a 44% increase in murders, according to NYPD statistics.
Harris's comments on "#RolandMartinUnfiltered" come as her campaign is intensifying its outreach to black voters. Observers, pollsters, and even former President Barack Obama have noted a lack of enthusiasm among this demographic compared to previous presidential election years. "We have yet to see the same kinds of energy and turnout in all corners of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running," Obama said at a "Black Voters for Harris" event.
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