Vice President Kamala Harris’ strategists may have thought they were avoiding trouble by keeping President Biden in the White House. But now you may need to take away his Zoom password as well.
In the final days of a coin-flip election in which even the smallest change could theoretically have a decisive impact, Biden twice annoyed the vice president with ill-timed gaffes. Harris’ latest comments in a video call with Latino supporters on Tuesday night forced her to spend part of her final Wednesday of the campaign distancing herself.
Mr. Biden was condemning racist remarks, such as when a speaker at a recent Donald J. Trump rally called Mr. Trump’s supporters “trash.” He later explained that he meant to say that the “hateful rhetoric” coming from Trump’s surrogates was “garbage” and not about his supporters in general. But Republicans expressed outrage and quickly pounced on what they hoped would be a galvanizing moment for their base, immediately starting raising money from there.
The unscripted remarks came at a particularly inopportune moment for Harris. It was just 30 minutes before Harris took to the stage at the Ellipse, just outside the White House, for a high-profile rally to deliver her closing argument in front of tens of thousands of supporters. . Even as she attacked Trump as a “despicable tyrant,” her speech was filled with talk of unity and working together across the aisle if she won, and her own president would vote for his opponent. That message was weakened by the perception that it denigrated Americans.
On Wednesday morning, Harris denied such sentiments. Speaking to reporters before boarding the Second Air Force on the outskirts of Washington, she said Biden had “clarified his comments.” But she added: “To be clear, I strongly oppose criticizing people based on who they vote for.”
