The dust hasn’t yet settled on presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden‘s announcement that he would select California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Already, though, critics of the Biden campaign have begun to point out what may be a major vulnerability: Both have troubling records that do not align with the Left’s current vision of criminal justice (or lack thereof).
Among several past policies criticized as “racist,” Biden has caught flak for his lead role in writing and sponsoring a 1994 crime bill that resulted in mass incarcerations, many of them within minority communities.
While hoping that Harris would lend him cachet with the minority community following a series of racist gaffes, Harris—who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, the daughter of two university professors who was brought up in the lap of privilege—is eyed suspiciously by many African Americans and other lower-income minorities.
Prior to entering politics, she served as a San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general. During both terms she garnered a reputation as an aggressive attack-dog when it came to enforcing the laws.
She controversially supported a measure to incarcerate the parents of children who were truant within the schools, for example.
Republicans and Libertarians were quick to see the irony, putting together humorous memes to lampoon the pair’s deviation from the “Defund the Police” movement and other far-left criminal justice agenda items.
If Kamala Harris had a son he would have killed George Floyd.
— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) July 1, 2020
Some used the “ACAB” slogan of radical groups like Antifa during recent race-riots to underscore even further the irony.
But progressive Democrats were less-than-pleased with the tone-deaf choice.
“Joe Biden picked the cop,” said the leftist Gravel institute.
Joe Biden picked the cop.
— Gravel Institute (@GravelInstitute) August 11, 2020
It went on to reply to a post from conservative-libertarian radio personality Ben Shapiro that called Harris a “far-left radical” by lamenting “if only.”
Responses were mixed, signaling that the selection is likely to through the Democrats further into disarray rather than unify the party.
But the far-left fringe was clear in its disapprobation.
Referring to Harris as a “cop,” The Democratic Socialists of America seemed ready to discount her from the very start. “Our stance will always be: abolish the police,” it said in a statement, according to Forbes.
Sen. Bernie Sanders’s former campaign secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, also denounced the pick via Twitter, saying Biden had shown “contempt for the base.”
We are in the midst of the largest protest movement in American history, the subject of which is excessive policing, and the Democratic Party chose a “top cop” and the author of the Joe Biden crime bill to save us from Trump.
The contempt for the base is, wow.
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) August 11, 2020
Biden has made overtures toward Sanders and other radicals on the Left’s socialist fringe, raising concerns among many that he, too, has been radicalized.
Both he and Harris have been notoriously indecisive in their positions as the younger generations of leftists continue their drift from the center.
Both have modified their stances to support some variation of leftist measures like “Medicare for all” and the “Green New Deal,” as well as unqualified support for abortion.
