CNN’s Allison: Offensive to Black Women to Call VP Harris Incompetent

During a discussion on CNN’s “Situation Room,” political commentator Ashley Allison expressed that referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as incompetent is offensive, particularly as a black woman.

Van Jones echoed this sentiment, warning that insulting black women could alienate voters from the Republican Party.

CNN’s Van Jones said, “The Republican Party will tarnish itself irrevocably by the way, Republican Party even trying to get black folk over there, trying to get black men over. They’re trying to get Latinos over there. They’re going to lose all of that if they started insulting black women the way they, they’re starting yesterday.”

In contrast, former Trump administration official Matt Mowers critiqued Harris’s record, linking her to issues like inflation and immigration.

He argued that Donald Trump should focus on her perceived failures, including her role in foreign policy disasters.

Allison countered that attributing incompetence to Harris also discredits the millions who voted for her, emphasizing that critiques should focus on policy rather than resorting to derogatory labels, which carry larger implications for how black women are perceived.

“It comes down to three I’s: immigration, inflation, incompetence. You have Kamala Harris, who’s the deciding vote for the Inflation Reduction Act that actually spent trillions of dollars causing inflation. She was Biden’s border czar when we’ve had record number of border crossings. And incompetent, she stood side-by-side with Joe Biden on every single foreign policy disaster we’ve had, including the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. She owns that record. That’s all Donald Trump has to talk about. The rest will take care of itself,” former Trump administration official Matt Mowers said.

Allison said, “She’s not incompetent, okay. Like, you don’t become the attorney general of California or senator or the vice president of United States. By calling her incompetent you’re calling the 81 million people who voted for her incompetent as well.”

She added, “Let me just say this, that is what we’re talking about. There is a way to attack her record on policy without calling her a name. Incompetent is an unflattering name, and when people do that to black women, that is what Van is talking about. You might not agree, but as a black woman, let me tell you how we hear it.”