As was predictable, after being briefly upset that they didn’t have Joe Biden’s imaginary dementia to kick around anymore, members of the Rightwing Shit-Smearing Society have now shifted their attention to Vice President Kamala Harris. And oh boy is their new attack calculated to push Trumpers’ culture war buttons, combining two of their paranoia triggers, immigration and the War On Christmas.
Before getting into the lies, let’s have a healthy dose of facts first, in the traditional Truth Sandwich method of discussing disinformation.
1: Facts, Schmacts
In September 2017, after July’s failed attempt to repeal Obamacare and August’s deadly Unite the Right rally, Donald Trump hoped for a political win. Returning to the fear of immigrants that got him elected in the first place, Trump ordered an end to Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protected from deportation young people whose undocumented parents had brought them to the US without papers. After a huge public outcry, Trump said he would generously give Congress six months to fix DACA, after which he’d start deporting the nearly 800,000 “Dreamers” who had enrolled since 2012. (Hey, now the government had their addresses and contact info, thanks!)
Congressional Democrats hoped to revive the DREAM Act to give DACA recipients a pathway to citizenship, but made little progress in the Republican-held Congress. On December 19, several members of Congress joined Dreamers for a march on the National Mall. Here’s Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) tweeting about the march:
Then-Sen. Kamala Harris wrote an op-ed for Elle Magazine on the plight of the DACA kids, explaining that
These young people’s lives are now in limbo. Without DACA, their only options are to live here without papers and in fear of deportation, or to leave the only country they’ve ever known. They have no path to citizenship. They can’t leave the country and get in line to immigrate here. There is no line. And for this Administration, that’s the point.
Harris also spoke at that December 19 march on the National Mall, saying much the same thing and using the holiday season to call attention to the un-Christian policy of seeking to expel young people from the only country they’d ever known. Here’s a clip of her remarks, where she said Christmas wasn’t a festive time for DACA kids and their families.
She first discussed the vetting process for DACA applicants, noting that only after clearing those hurdles did they receive protected status.
And now we’re talking about taking it away. It is morally wrong. And when we all sing happy tunes, and sing “Merry Christmas,” and wish each other “Merry Christmas,” these children are not going to have a Merry Christmas. How dare we speak “Merry Christmas.” How dare we? They will not have a Merry Christmas.
They don’t know if they will be here in a matter of days, weeks, or months Since Sept. 5, over 12,000 have lost their status. Each day, 122 lose their status. Each week, 851 lose their status. Each day matters.
As you may recall, in January 2018, Trump came close to letting the Senate pass a DACA fix, with a path to citizenship plus border enforcement and even WALL funding to make Republicans happy. Days later, though, Trump blew it all up, asking, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” The deal collapsed and so did negotiations to fund the government, resulting in the first of two pointless government shutdowns in 2018.
Gosh, remember how every day was exciting and unpredictable when he was in office?
2: The Smear
The new online attack on Harris focuses on an edited snippet of the clip above, paring it down only to the bit where she’s saying it’s wrong to be happy and say Merry Christmas when these kids aren’t able to have a merry Christmas at all, stripping it of most context or just plain lying about the context like this version from an account run by a major Trump PAC, which claims Harris was raging at a “press conference for illegal immigrants saying people shouldn't say ‘Merry Christmas’ until they get amnesty.” Cute how the caption suggests she wants “amnesty” for all undocumented immigrants, with no mention at all of DACA:
Predictably, even the distorted immigration angle gets lost in many of the viral tweets, like this version that has spread even more widely than the MAGA PAC version. Kamala Harris hates Christmas, doesn’t want anyone to say “Merry Christmas,” and in fact “hates everything America stands for.”
That was then generalized even farther, with disgraced former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy claiming on Fox News that Harris has a lot of nasty stuff in her background:
Claimed McCarthy, “You start going back and you see this type of talk. ‘Do not say Merry Christmas.’”
And there you have it: A handy little War on Christmas in August, with various lies claiming either that Harris irrationally hates the phrase “Merry Christmas” and seeks to ban it, or the still-lying version saying that she won’t let anyone enjoy Christmas until every last illegal immigrant has amnesty and you are probably required to serve them Christmas dinner, possibly even with tamales!!!!
Both versions are spreading all over Twitter, and with McCarthy’s visit to Fox, will no doubt start spreading more widely. And yes, anti-bullshit folks have pointed out that Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, have posted Christmas messages year after year with the phrase “Merry Christmas” featured prominently, even this one that controversially featured a gas stove, proving she is also a climate hypocrite, yawn.
And there you have the new attack on Harris, the Christmas hater, all stemming from a speech in which she said that the Dreamer kids should be able to have the same security and holiday peace that any other Americans should.
As always, the lie machine will keep on chugging away no matter what, but now you’re at least ready to explain, to anyone who’s not already too far gone, that Harris loves Christmas and wants all Americans — including Dreamers who grew up in America and know no other country — to be free to enjoy the holidays with their families. You know, shame on her.
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The movie post is up tonight we are watching 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐧.
Steve Martin
@UnrealBluegrass
My modest debate proposal:.
I'll debate Trump any day ,inclusive of tomorrow.
I'll shall have the banjo of my choice.
Trump shall have his invisible concertina.
A portion of the debate will consist of a dance-off.
Neck ties shall not hang down below the participant's knees.
There will no use of " anonymous horses".
Likewise ,any statement that begins with " many people say" will result in a mild electric shock directly to a body part chosen by the opponent.
The language used will be American English, no foggy dementia inspired gibberish.
I think that covers my conditions.
#TrumpIsAnExistentialThreat
#Debate2024