Sen. Kamala Harris made the rounds on cable news following Tuesday night’s debate, and of course the Democratic vice presidential nominee addressed the biggest single answer to any question moderator Chris Wallace had posed: Donald Trump failing to condemn white supremacists and instead telling the white supremacist Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
“What we saw was a dog whistle through a bullhorn,” Harris said on MSNBC. “Donald Trump is not pretending to be anything other than what he is, someone who will not condemn white supremacists, someone who cannot say the phrase Black Lives Matter.”
Harris repeated the analogy on CNN.
“I heard what we all heard,” she said. “The president of the United States, in the year of our Lord 2020, refuses to condemn white supremacists. And not only that, in addition, has created a number of policies, apparently with pride, including the most recent that was discussed on the debate stage, which is to end the training on the issue of race and what we must do to avoid prejudice and bias, based on race, and based on gender, sexual orientation, and a number of issues. This is a president, people talk about is he dog whistling? Dog whistling through a bullhorn is what he’s doing.
“And by contrast again, you have a Joe Biden who is not afraid to speak the phrase Black Lives Matter,” Harris continued. “A Joe Biden who says we need to deal with this, we need to speak truth about it, and we need to do it with the spirit of healing and unifying our country. And, again, Jake, the contrast, so clear. On the one hand, Donald Trump, continuously throughout his campaign for president, throughout his presidency, full time, trying to sow hate and division, trying to get the American people to turn on each other, and on the other hand, a Joe Biden who speaks with a calm voice, respecting the dignity of all people, recognizing the kind of division that has taken place in our country because of Donald Trump, and there with a genuine, genuine goal of unifying our country once, God willing, he wins this election.”