(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris’s controversial record on truancy as California attorney general is resurfacing, as certain media figures attempt to whitewash her past actions.
A new video compilation shared on Sunday by X user “Mazemoore” contrasts MSNBC anchor Jonathan Capehart’s past and present coverage of Harris’s truancy record.
In a 2019 MSNBC segment, Capehart acknowledged that Harris faced significant criticism for championing a 2011 law that allowed district attorneys to prosecute parents whose children missed school.
“One of the programs that she started on truancy, which is what a lot of people have been hitting my Twitter feed about how that program … separated black children from their families,” Capehart said in the 2019 video.
Harris herself strongly advocated for the law during her 2011 inaugural address as attorney general. “We are putting parents on notice. If you fail in your responsibility to your kids, we are going to work to make sure you face the full force and consequences of the law,” she declared at the time.
The law disproportionately affected minority parents, quickly drawing widespread backlash. As the criticism mounted, Harris began to distance herself from the program, expressing regret that parents had been threatened under the law.
By 2024, however, Capehart seemed to have forgotten his 2019 coverage, as he attempted to revise history. “Kamala Harris never sent parents to jail for their kids’ truancy,” he confidently asserted, echoing the tone of a spokesperson determined to defend their principal.
Capehart, who also serves as a columnist for The Washington Post in addition to hosting his MSNBC show, did not respond to a request for comment from Headline USA sent to his Post email.
Responding to these comparisons, Mazemoore remarked, “We are witnessing one of the most heavily coordinated gaslighting campaigns that the MSM has ever put together. … In 2024 the media has one message, nobody went to jail because of Kamala’s truancy policy.”
Truancy is just the latest example of how legacy media has whitewashed Harris’s record.
Similarly, the media has bafflingly claimed several things about Harris that are clearly inaccurate. They have falsely claimed that she was never appointed “border czar” (she was), that she didn’t target black Americans as a prosecutor (she did), that she never supported abolishing ICE (she did), and that she has never endorsed Medicare for All or a ban on fracking (she has endorsed both policies and has yet to publicly disavow them).
Videos shared by the Media Research Center below highlight the extent to which the media has gone to shield Harris, even at the cost of contradicting their own previous coverage.
Journalists were calling Kamala the border czar until like five minutes ago. Don't let the media gaslight you. pic.twitter.com/oveoFcBn4G
— Bill D'Agostino (@Banned_Bill) July 24, 2024
Those leaked DNC talking points may as well have been an instruction manual for the media.
Just look at this. They're practically reciting the list point-by-point. pic.twitter.com/w365u927nY— Bill D'Agostino (@Banned_Bill) July 25, 2024
