'Dumb' and a 'DEI' candidate: Trump and allies attack Kamala Harris based on race, gender

When President Joe Biden announced he was dropping his re-election bid and throwing his support to his vice president, Kamala Harris, the dynamics of the entire presidential race radically shifted.

No longer was it two white men born in the 1940s facing off — again — for who should return to the White House. Instead, it’s between Trump, a man who is 78, against Harris, who is 59 and would make history as the first woman of color to be president if she is elected.

And within a day, Harris was already facing attacks that centered on her race and gender, making it clear that while Republicans may try to tie her to some of Biden’s policies, she will face criticisms he never did.

It is some of the same playbook that Trump and his allies ran the last time a woman was on top of a major-party ticket. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s qualifications, look and voice were also scrutinized. But this time, Republicans are also going after the background of Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., called Harris a “DEI vice president” on social media, referring to workplace policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion that conservatives have maligned.

“When you go down that route, you take mediocrity, and that’s what they have right now,” Burchett told CNN.

Sebastian Gorka, a host on the conservative network Newsmax who served in the Trump administration, said Harris was going to be the nominee “because she’s female and her skin color is the correct DEI color.” He also said she “cackles like an insane woman.”

Fox News host Jesse Watters said Harris secured Hillary Clinton’s endorsement, “obviously, because she’s a woman.”

And Richard Grenell, U.S. ambassador to Germany in the