When Kamala Harris Finally Visits The Border, Fox News Will Bitch And Moan About That Too
We have faith in Fox News like that.
Vice President Kamala Harris just finished her first trip abroad, first to Guatemala and then to Mexico, as she has been tasked with addressing the root causes of the migration crises that keep Fox News idiots shitting the bed at night.
Here's how Fox News assessed Harris's trip yesterday.
KATIE PAVLICH: This is what happens when you choose your vice president based on gender and skin color rather than actual talent and expertise. We're seeing that disaster unfold right now.
Wow. Even Geraldo was like "that's so mean!" We assume he meant "racist." Pavlich responded, "Oh it's mean?" It's actually true," just continuing with the casual white supremacy that keeps Fox News's 86-year-old white supremacist viewers tuning in.
So that happened.
As for the trip itself, it's been a decent first outing for the vice president, despite what you might have heard from watching idiot TV pundits.
In Mexico City, after meeting with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Harris said she will go to the border at some point, in response to Fox News and other rightwing screaming about sHe hAsN'T eVeN bEeN tO tHe bOrdeR!1!!!!!! Ever since President Biden made Harris the administration's point person on immigration and migration issues — again, specifically tasking her with working with the "Northern Triangle" countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to address the root causes that make people flee their homes and trek across Mexico to look for asylum — Republicans have been lying and saying she's the "border czar" and that she's neglecting her responsibilities to czar the border.
So Harris explained it yet again to reporters in Mexico City yesterday:
"You can't say you care about the border without caring about the root causes," Harris said.
However, she also described the situation at the U.S. southern border as a "legitimate, correct" concern.
Of course, Fox News and others aren't looking to give substantive constructive criticism to Harris's efforts. They're just looking for something racist to scream about. Wingnuts have been particularly pissed about an interview Harris gave to NBC News's Lester Holt, where she said she didn't quite understand the point of his asking why she hasn't been to the border.
Meanwhile, Harris has also taken flak from some on the Left for saying, on the Guatemala leg of her trip, "do not come" to potential migrants. And indeed, that was a little bit jarring! But there was also context:
"The goal of our work is to help Guatemalans find hope at home," Harris said in a press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei.
"At the same time, I want to be clear to folks in the region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come," she added. "I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back."
How many times does she have to say "root causes"?
That said, we understand why some of the Left might have, as Politico put it, "heard an echo of the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies and warned Harris was discouraging the legal right to seek asylum." But Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expanded on that this week, speaking to the "tragic consequences" of the journey and trying to reassure people that America is working to strengthen its "lawful processes" for migration, "so people do not have to take the perilous journey." This is not the Trump administration, people. It's just not.
And again! ROOT CAUSES!
The Biden administration sees migrants launching their journeys primarily from economic desperation, endemic violence and weak governmental institutions in Central America — "what is happening at our, America's southern border" deserves "equal weight and attention to what is causing that to occur," Harris said in Mexico City .
ROOT CAUSES!
"I'm really clear: we have to deal with the root causes and that is my hope. Period," she told reporters as she prepared to depart for Mexico City Monday night.
Which root causes? Here are some she talked about in Guatemala:
"We don't have time for glossing over concerns that we have, and so we did have a very frank conversation about the importance of an independent judiciary. We had a conversation about the importance of a strong civil society," Harris said, nodding to areas where Giammattei and his allies have faced criticism.
Later, at a roundtable with human rights activists and other civil society leaders, Harris spoke of the "impact that the lack of judicial independence can have on civil society, especially with regard to the highest courts in the land," a not-so-subtle dig at Guatemala's president, who recently defended the move by Congress here to block a judge, a leading anti-corruption figure in the region, from the country's Constitutional Court earlier this year.
Hey, did we mention ROOT CAUSES? She's working on some of those:
"I want to be very clear that the problem at the border in large part, if not entirely, stems from the problems in these countries," Harris told reporters in Mexico City on Tuesday. "I cannot say it enough. Most people don't want to leave home."
Harris continued, saying if migration is a priority for the US, "we have to understand. If it is a priority to us to be concerned about what is happening at our border, then it must be a priority for us to understand why people leave."
"If you want to address the needs of a people, you must meet those people. You must spend time with those people," she said, "because the only way we can actually fix the problem is to understand the problem."
But how is there room for Fox News's lazy racism if you are actually trying to fix and understand problems?
Also, WHAT ABOUT BORDER?
"The reality is we need to prioritize what's happening at the border and we have to prioritize why people are going to the border," she said. Harris said that she has "spent a lot of time on the border both going there, physically, and aware of the issues."
"I think it is short-sighted for any of us who are in the business of problem solving to suggest that we are only going to respond to the reaction as opposed to addressing the cause," she added.
So that is that.
But don't worry, Fox News. She's gonna go to the border at some point. And you will find a way to racistly complain about that too, because you're shit human beings.
Here, watch the vice president's presser in Mexico yesterday if you're so inclined.
[ Media Matters / Reuters / Politico / ibid. / CNN ]
Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter RIGHT HERE, DO IT RIGHT HERE!
Wonkette is funded ENTIRELY by a few thousand people like you. If you're not already, would you pls consider being the few thousandth and one?
Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .
Katie Pavlov. Good dog!
OK I know it's been a whole 6 months now, but she used to be the senator for California! And she was Attorney General of California! It's not Texas or anything but there's tons of Mexico touching California. She knows what is going on, sheesh.