On Thursday, after leaving a meeting with Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem, New York, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) ignored questions hurled at her about the Jussie Smollett case as she headed to her car.
Harris had tweeted her support for Smollett within hours of him claiming he had been attacked by two Trump supporters last month. Harris tweeted, “.@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.”
By this Monday, as evidence mounted that Smollett’s story was unraveling, Harris had changed her tune, telling reporters, “I will say this about that case. I think that the facts are still unfolding, and I’m very concerned about the initial allegation that he made about what might have happened. … And it’s something we should all take seriously whenever anyone alleges that kind of behavior, but there should be an investigation. And I think that once the investigation has concluded then we can all comment, but I’m not going to comment until I know the outcome of the investigation.”
Harris had several options instead of ignoring the reporters’ questions on Thursday; she could have culled from her own past brilliantisms™. For example, she could have responded to the questions by quoting herself talking about health care in May 2017, when she said, “What the f*** is that?”
Or she could have responded that the reporters should ask some children for their opinion, since she thinks they should have a voice in our government, thus surely they would be able to answer for her:
Or she could simply quote herself from last November speaking of trying to eradicate hate and division among Americans (although her calling the attack on Smollett a “modern day lynching” might be a little problematic considering her words below):
This is an inflection moment, I believe, in the history of our country. This is a moment where there are powerful voices trying to sow hate and division among us. And if we’re going to deal with where we are at this inflection moment, we must speak all these truths, and one of the most significant and important truths right now is also that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us and let’s speak and own that truth, in particular, in the face of those who are trying to have us point fingers at each other and divide us. Let’s speak these truths.
And then the final point that I’ll make is this: in this inflection moment in the history of our country, this is a moment, yes, that these truths must be spoken; we need to bring folks together; and, well, let’s also recognize, this moment will pass, at some moment this moment will pass; it will pass, and years from now, people are going to look in our eyes, each one of us, and they will ask us, “Where were you at that inflection moment?” And what we’re all going to be able to say, is we were here together, and we were fighting for the best of who we are.
Ah, well, with a record like that, perhaps it’s better she not say anything at all.