Vice President Kamala Harris was widely criticized on social media after she gave a long-winded speech about the “duality of democracy” during a campaign event in Pennsylvania this past Sunday.
Harris spoke to supporters in Rochester with her running mate Tim Walz, talking about how democracy is complicated and at once “very strong” but also “extremely fragile.
“Our election is about understanding the importance of this beautiful country of ours in terms of what we stand for around the globe as a democracy,” Harris said. “As a democracy, we know there’s a duality to the nature of democracy. On the one hand, incredible strength when it is intact. What it does for its people, to protect and defend their rights. Incredibly strong.”
“And incredibly fragile,” she continued. “It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. And that’s what this campaign is about.”
Comments, apparently off-the-cuff, spread across the internet within seconds of being made and reignited criticism from old foes who have derided her speaking style as incoherent.
Republicans, meanwhile, seized on the moment to claim it showed Harris struggles when speaking without a teleprompter.
“They took Kamala off the teleprompter today in Pennsylvania. It didn’t go well,” Outkick.com founder Clay Travis wrote alongside the clip.
“Kamala is uniquely awful. She’s not smart, charming, or talented. The more voters hear her voice, the less they’ll want to support her,” radio show host Buck Sexton wrote on X. “All downhill from here. Keep the faith.”
The lashing out continued with insinuations about the qualifications of Democrats’ and why they chose to run such candidates.
Harris has made similar comments before. She told a crowd in October 2022, “I think of democracy as… there are like two sides to it. There’s a duality to it… when a democracy is intact, it is extraordinarily strong in the power it gives the people. The duality is that on the other hand, it is extremely fragile this democracy, It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. What gives me hope, is I know we are prepared to fight for it.”
Still, Harris largely stayed away from the media glare amid criticism that she had not held a formal press conference or done an interview with reporters in nearly 30 days since winning President Biden’s backing when he officially endorsed her.
