Psaki swats away ridiculous question about Kamala Harris getting a snack at a bakery
Conservatives still can’t find a way to land a hit on the Biden administration. With a historic $1.9 trillion relief bill on the books, a massive and much-needed infrastructure bill looming, and a COVID-19 vaccine rollout that is quickly moving the country back towards pre-pandemic normalcy, it’s hard to argue that electing Joe Biden wasn’t a great decision on the part of the American people. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from trying.
The one issue that conservatives keep trying to turn into a full-blown scandal is the situation along the Mexican border. The GOP wants us to believe that there is a full-blown migrant crisis caused entirely by President Biden, conveniently ignoring the incredibly cruel policies enacted under Donald Trump. They never cared about migrants when he was calling them rapists or ripping their families apart and now suddenly want us to believe that they have humanitarian concerns.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki finds herself regularly fielding bad faith questions about the border and has displayed an impressive knack for dismantling them and exposing the false assumptions that undergird the more egregious one. Today, she was asked by Steven Nelson, a reporter for the right-wing NY Post, about the so-called border crisis.
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“On immigration and the border, as we discussed here today Vice President Harris has been put in charge of addressing the root causes of the border crisis,” began Nelson. “Last Tuesday she spoke to Guatemala’s president. But she hasn’t visited the border or Central America or spoken to the leaders of El Salvador or Honduras.”
“She was traveling this week, took time to visit a bakery in Chicago. I’m wondering is she still working on this?” Nelson went on, implying that someone as busy as the vice president can’t juggle multiple issues at a time. “And can you address the perception that she’s kind of quietly backing off while Secretary Mayorkas is pursuing some Trump-era policies such as potentially building new border barriers and potentially prosecuting people who illegally cross multiple times?”
The question was a loaded one, and reporters for right-wing outlets regularly ask about “perceptions” as a way of creating a narrative rather than responding to organic concerns.
“There’s a whole lot packed in there. So let me just see what I can do here,” said Psaki. “First, I would say the vice president was visiting Chicago actually to talk about COVID and the importance of communities getting the vaccine when it’s available and accessible to them and so while she was there, like many Americans, she got a snack. I think she’s allowed to do that.”
Psaki should be commended for treating the question with all the seriousness it deserves. The idea that Kamala Harris can’t simultaneously take time to feed herself and handle her responsibilities is absurd.
Check out the clip below, and please ignore the inane commentary from the conservative who posted the clip. These people have no idea how to handle someone as competent as Psaki, so they’re reduced to insisting in vain that she’s actually bad at her job.
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