AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson
Politico stepped in it on Friday with an oddly framed headline about a response Vice President Kamala Harris gave during an interview the day before.
On Thursday, Harris sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash for her first interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. At one point, Bash asked the vice president about some recent comments by former President Donald Trump.
“I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black,” Trump told a gathering of Black journalists last month. “And now she wants to be known as Black”
Harris was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. Ergo, she is Indian and Black.
“I want to ask you about your opponent, Donald Trump,” Bash said to Harris. “I was a little bit surprised. People might be surprised to hear that you have never interacted with him, met him face-to-face. That’s gonna change soon. But what I wanna ask you about is what he said last month. He suggested that you ‘happened’ to turn Black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.”
“Same old, tired playbook,” Harris replied. “Next question, please.”
In other words, as much as Trump has been trying to goad her, the vice president did not take the bait.
On Friday evening, Politico published an article about the moment, titled, “Harris sidesteps spotlight when it comes to her identity.” But the tweet Politico sent to promote it was incredibly misleading and stated Harris had dodged a question about herself.
“‘Next question’: Harris evades questions about her identity,” read the tweet, which elicited multiple Community Notes.
That framing set off a firestorm.
One of the worst headlines written in a long time, and that’s saying a lot, given the intense competition. Anyone at Politico involved in this headline should reconsider their future in journalism.
Beyond bad: https://t.co/zjYBh157pT
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 30, 2024
Omg. When someone showed this to me I wasn’t sure if it was real. “Evades questions about her identity?” What? This was refusing to dignify Trumps racist attack abt her ‘turning Black’. Whats wrong w you, @politico? I think you need to address your identity as journalists. https://t.co/LDh2GtHdFw
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 30, 2024
Throw “Politico” into the River Styx, please.
This is easily the most bad faith, disgusting, dishonest headline I have seen in years.
I realize you sacks of shit have a CEO who literally asked people to “pray” for Trump’s victory but this is atrocious. https://t.co/zEDW8Es6q2
— A.J. Delgado (@AJDelgado13) August 30, 2024
Evades questions? Seriously? This is a ridiculous and shameful headline. No wonder so many people have lost faith in the corporate media. https://t.co/ern46xzgba
— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) August 30, 2024
Fuck you, @Politico. This wording is trash. https://t.co/d2WZEqCVf7
— Dan Ewen Ⓥ (@VaguelyFunnyDan) August 30, 2024
Evade? Only racists have a ‘question’ about her ‘identity’. https://t.co/aUvMTloxUt
— Patrick Skinner (@SkinnerPm) August 30, 2024
A more accurate headline would be “Target of racist attack declines to comment on smear.” https://t.co/6osQfVIaz0
— Sam Wang is at samwang.bsky.social (@SamWangPhD) August 30, 2024
I had to type delete and retype twice on this one. Such a horrible headline and, frankly, we need to talk about how we address the racism and sexism women of color face and stop making it a debate about how women of color behave when they try to be seen as leaders! https://t.co/BtTu1X7eBF
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) August 30, 2024
This is a terrible headline. She didn’t evade – she refused to entertain nonsense. There is a big difference. https://t.co/phXZ9d5JHL
— Rachel Barnhart (@rachbarnhart) August 30, 2024
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