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If Senator Kamala Harris was such a terrible candidate why was there such a massive effort to destroy her campaign and secondly why are so few people talking about it. What happened to Harris does not bode well for our democracy nor the fairness of the 2020 presidential election.
Before Harris declared she was running there was a concerted effort to stop her campaign. As early as the summer of 2017 some Sanders supporters saw her as a threat and started pushing out disinformation. Michael Sainato wrote a hit piece. https://observer.com/2017/08/kamala-harris-criminal-justice-reform/
To give you more context on Michael Sainoto he wrote a (now deleted) HuffPost blog attacking Michelle Obama. He wrote that she had a polished insincerity and that, "Jane O’Meara Sanders provides an authentic alternative...". Who attacks Michelle Obama? https://www.mediaite.com/online/pro-bernie-sanders-huffpo-freelancer-picked-the-wrong-michelle-obama-to-mess-with/
The original "Kamala is a cop" social media smear was the Never Kamala hashtag started by Bernie Sanders supporters and pushed out in late 2017 into early 2018 . This was 4 months before the senator announced her historic run. https://twitter.com/yashar/status/892928959289192448?s=20
On January 27, 2019, six days after announcing her historic run for POTUS on GMA Senator Harris held a rally in her hometown of Oakland that attracted 25k supporters. Little did we know forces great and wide had already gathered against her.
Just four days before Harris announced Lara Bazelon wrote an op-ed in the New York Times attacking Kamala Harris's prosecutorial record. Much of what she wrote has been debunked but it was the first salvo in what was to become a massive smear campaign. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/kamala-harris-criminal-justice.html
Just four days after Kamala's massive Oakland rally in January Twitter was already suspending and deleting suspected Russian troll accounts set up to spread disinformation about Senator Harris. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/twitter-has-suspended-suspected-troll-accounts-posting-anti-kamala-harris-content-.html
2 weeks later Russian trolls targeted Black Twitter to spread the idea that Kamala Harris had lied about listening to rap music during an interview on the Breakfast Club. This time Trumpers joined in--looking at you Nutmeg McCain. Charlamagne debunked it.
Speaking of Republicans, they were terrified of her. Even Rush Limbaugh mentioned that Trump insiders were "scared to death of Kamala Harris". They knew she would crush Trump in the debates and that she had the charisma to electrify the Dem base. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Rush-Limbaugh-kamala-harris-republicans-scared-13577594.php
GOP bundlers even started fundraising using Kamala as the boogeyman way before Joe Biden became a factor and Trump tried to blackmail Ukraine. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/07/gop-insiders-fear-kamala-harris
Then came the debates. After her brilliant showing in the first debate all hell broke loose. Russian bots went into overdrive and started targeting Far Left/ Far Right Twitter users to help them spread as much hate and negativity as possible. https://www.wsj.com/articles/bots-pushed-divisive-content-misinformation-on-race-during-debates-11564678048
Old racist tropes started popping up in the media framing Kamala's critique of Biden's record as her being "mean" or **gasp** "over confident". https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/grey-s-anatomy-star-ellen-pompeo-is-slammed-for-racist-remarks-after-she-called-2020-democratic-hopeful-kamala-harris-overconfident-when-defending-her-record-during-debate/ar-AAFhTmg
As a matter of fact there entire "Kamala is a cop" meme was racist. Specifically it was misogynoir at its finest. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/kamala-harris-cop-racism-campaign-2020-history-democrats-a9231761.html
If you don't believe me Dr. Avis Jones Deweever breakdowns how racism and misogyny completely shaped the narrative and coverage of Kamala Harris's campaign. https://twitter.com/SistahScholar/status/1200982200042299392?s=20
Kamala Harris is not about reproach. I think voters deserve a well vetted-candidate. Harris had a record in public service she should've had to answer for. I have no problem with valid criticism even about one of my favs. But what happened to Harris was not normal.
Harris nor her campaign were prepared for the sheer volume and relentless onslaught of disinformation, both foreign AND domestic. If we don't reckon with what happened to her Trump, Russia and the GOP are more than willing to subvert the will of the people to keep him in office.
