Former President Donald Trump made controversial remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris during a speech in Florida on Friday night. At the event in West Palm Beach for Turning Point, Trump called Harris "a bum" and joked about mispronouncing her name.
Trump is not alone among Republicans in mispronouncing Harris’s name, which has upset some liberals. During his speech, Trump discussed Harris, calling her "worse than Joe Biden" and "much more liberal," before commenting on her name.
He said, "And by the way, there are numerous ways of saying her name, they were explaining to me, you can say Kamala, you can say Kamala, I said, don't worry about it. It doesn't matter what I say. I couldn't care less if I mispronounce it."
Trump was critical of Harris, expressing surprise at the support she has received despite her record. He remarked, "She was a bum 3 weeks ago, she was a bum. A failed VP, in a failed administration, with millions of people crossing and she was the Border Czar."
Trump also criticized Harris for skipping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress and claimed she didn’t like Jewish people. He said, "She refused to attend the speech. Because that's her original thought, that's where she comes from. She doesn't like Jewish people, she doesn't like Israel."
Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish, and Harris had a one-on-one meeting with Netanyahu on Friday. Harris is also stepmother to Emhoff's two children from his previous marriage, who are also Jewish.
Harris recently became the likely Democratic nominee for president after Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term. The correct pronunciation of Harris’s name has been a topic of debate since she became Biden's running mate in 2020. While the correct pronunciation is "KA-ma-la," Trump often says "Ka-MAH-la."
Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, is the first woman vice president and the third non-white person to hold one of the top two offices in the U.S., following Barack Obama and Charles Curtis, Herbert Hoover's vice president with Native American ancestry.
The debate over Harris’s name pronunciation has been widely covered, including by the Washington Post, which noted various mispronunciations during the Republican National Convention last week. Trump has previously either mispronounced her name or exaggerated it in a mocking manner.
Critics argue that these mispronunciations are a deliberate attempt to draw attention to Harris’s heritage as a Black and Indian woman. In response, Harris has addressed the issue, releasing a video in 2016 featuring children teaching the correct pronunciation. She said, "People pronounce my name many different ways. Let #KidsForKamala show you how it's done."
In her 2019 memoir, Harris explained, "My name is pronounced 'comma-la,' like the punctuation mark. It means 'lotus flower,' which is a symbol of significance in Indian culture."
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