When Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his history-making running mate, Donald Trump wasted no time in drafting a response, labelling the senator “phony and nasty.” Given the president’s rhetorical flourishes, Trumpworld’s response to Harris was always going to be toxic. But it reached a new tenor just the second day after her candidacy was announced, with Trump campaign legal advisor Jenna Ellis floating the conspiracy theory that Harris was not born in the United States. “It’s an open question, and one I think Harris should answer so the American people know for sure she is eligible,” she told ABC News. (It is not an open question; Harris was born in Oakland, California.)
It was the second time in 24 hours the theory had been floated. On Wednesday, Newsweek published an opinion piece titled, “Some Questions for Kamala Harris About Eligibility” theorizing that Harris is not a “natural born citizen.” (Newsweek holds that it is “entirely inaccurate” to depict the article as “an attempt to ignite a racist conspiracy theory.”)
That the theory has made its way from fringe op-ed to the outer reaches of the Trump campaign in record time is not entirely surprising. In 2012, back when he was a businessman turned reality star, Trump tweeted that **Barack Obama’**s birth certificate was a fraud, adding fuel to a years-long movement designed to raise questions about the former president’s citizenship. He maintained the theory for years, finally conceding that it wasn’t true after he won the 2016 election.
The next few months will likely feel very much like an echo of the past. Harris’s selection as VP makes her the first Black woman and first Indian-American to join a major party ticket, an achievement that owes a great deal to the legacy of Charlotta Bass, the first Black woman to run for vice-president with the Progressive Party, and Shirley Chisholm, who launched her own presidential campaign in 1972. It has also immediately ignited the worst instincts of the president, who tweeted confidently this week, “The suburban housewife will vote for me”—the clear implication being that suburbia won’t vote for a woman who happens to be a person of color.
This time around, the response may be more robust. Last week, a group of women leaders, including former Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett and Time’s Up CEO Tina Tchen, sent an open letter to news organizations urging them to consider how systemic racism “creeps into stereotypes and tropes that are common in our everyday lives,” and which are “amplified and weaponized for Black and Brown women.” For Harris, misogynoir was almost inevitable, particularly when facing off against a candidate whose racist dog whistles sound more like fog horns.
More even than Trump, though, the conversation around Harris will be shaped by how the media analyzes criticism directed at her. Trump’s statements on suburban women sit alongside perceptions of Harris’s toughness, which has received both praise and criticism. In general, women in politics are expected to toe the line between sweetness and strength, but Black women in particular are tasked with controlling their tone and movements to avoid being labeled as threatening and overly-assertive. In a year when the violent realities of anti-Black racism have made headlines, the discourse surrounding Harris will inevitably reveal whether anything has been truly learned.
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