White House press secreatry Karine Jean-Pierre has “no idea” about Vice President Kamala Harris’s use of a southern-fried drawl she occasionally deploys on the campaign trail.
Harris, who hails from California and has black and Indian heritage, deploys a southern-fried accent during speeches in certain areas of the nation. The accent raises concerns about Harris’s sincerity. Voters are often attuned to inauthenticity in politicians.
“Since when does the Vice President have what sounds like a Southern accent?” Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre in Tuesday’s press conference.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she replied.
“Well, she was talking about unions in Detroit using one tone of voice. She used the same line in Pittsburgh, and it sounded like she at least had some kind of southern drawl,” Doocy followed up.
“I mean, do you hear the question that you’re – I mean, do you think Americans seriously think that this is an important question?” Jean-Pierre pushed back. “It’s just — hearing it sounds so ridiculous. The question – I’m talking about the question – is just insane.”
“We’re moving on,” she said:
Harris used the southern-fried accent on Monday in Detroit.
“You better thank a union member for the five-day work week,” Harris said. “You better thank a union member for sick leave. You better thank a union member for paid leave. You better thank a union member for vacation time.”
Harris also used her fake southern accent to speak with auto workers in Detroit, Michigan, on August 9.
“You know the one thing about all of us is we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is good work,” Harris said with a drawl.
“The thing that we like about hard work is we have fun doing hard work,” she said.
“Thank you to the sisters and brothers of UAW for all you are and all we will do over these next 89 days,” she said, “God bless you. God bless you.”
During a campaign rally in Georgia in July, she also used the southern accent.
“And you all helped us win in 2020, and we gon’ do it again in 2024,” Harris said. “Yes, we will.”
Since as far back as 2019, Harris has at times used a fake drawl. “Look, there’s a lot at stake in this election, and I’ve said many times that justice is on the ballot in 2020,” Harris said. “It’s about economic justice. It’s about justice for children. It’s about justice for our teachers.”
“This issue is not, ‘What is the fight?’” Harris added, deploying the accent. “The issue is: ‘How we gonna win?”
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.