White male author calls black female writer 'racist and misogynistic' for CNN Kamala critique

An article penned by CNN's Jasmine Wright, a black woman, was called "racist and misogynistic" because it offered a critique of Vice President Kamala Harris. The article reveals the that many on Harris' staff is "fume that she's not being adequately prepared or positioned, and instead is being sidelined" and digs into the relationship between President Biden and Harris.

The article cites White House insiders, saying: "Few of the insiders who spoke with CNN think she's being well-prepared for whichever role it will be. Harris is struggling with a rocky relationship with some parts of the White House, while long-time supporters feel abandoned and see no coherent public sense of what she's done or been trying to do as vice president. Being the first woman, and first woman of color, in national elected office is historic but has also come with outsized scrutiny and no forgiveness for even small errors, as she'll often point out."

In response, author Don Winslow claimed that the article was "racist and misogynistic" and that the article should not be allowed to "go unchecked."

"The vice president herself has told several confidants she feels constrained in what she's able to do politically. And those around her remain wary of even hinting at future political ambitions, with Biden's team highly attuned to signs of disloyalty, particularly from the vice president," Wright and Edward-Isaac Dovere write.

Wright and Dovere note that racism and sexism are at play in Harris' treatment, saying "But many friends and supporters of Harris, as well as some on staff and in the kitchen cabinet of experienced Democratic advisers, feel like she's caught in a sort of political mess-up merry-go-round. They blame reporters they see as chasing incessantly negative stories and playing into undeniable structural issues of race and gender."

They also stated that “When Biden picked Harris as his running mate, he was essentially anointing her as the future of the Democratic Party. Now many of those close to her feel like he’s shirking his political duties to promote her, and essentially setting her up to fail. Her fans are panicked, watching her poll numbers sink even lower than Biden’s, worrying that even the base Democratic vote is starting to give up on her.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki rushed to the Vice President's defense, saying that Harris is "a vital partner" and "a bold leader."

To many on Twitter, this seemed an absurd and half-hearted defense.

The article reports on what Jack Posobiec of Human Events Daily has been calling the "shade war" inside the White House.

It was in the spring that Harris' staff complained that she was being given tasks that were too hard, such as the border crisis. Writers like Ezra Klein jumped in to say that yes, Harris should be given easier Vice Presidential tasks so that she could have some chance of success.

Like Klein, Winslow opts for the soft racism of lowered expectations, believing that Harris is not be critiqued for her lack of experience and ability to do her job, but because the people who have noticed those failings are themselves racist and misogynist.

This tactic of framing Harris' critics as racist and misogynist becomes less and less plausible when levelled at black women who offer their analysis the woman who is only once removed from the presidency of the United States. Harris' race and gender have no bearing on her ability to do her job, or journalists' purview to weigh her efficacy in that position.