Vice President Kamala Harris has been mocked online for putting on a french accent as she speaks to scientists in a COVID-19 lab in Paris.
Kamala Harris toured the Institute Pasteur in Paris and spoke alongside a group of scientists to advertise the US-France alliance on scientific research. She also made comments about how politicians should operate more like scientists.
While speaking at the science lab, where Americans and Europeans are tackling Covid-19, Harris said that “one of the things people in politics and government should really take from the approach of scientists – scientists operate with a hypothesis.”
“I love that,” Harris continued. “A hypothesis – it’s well-thought-out, it’s well-planned, they start out with a hypothesis and then they test it out knowing invariably, you’re trying something for the first time, there will be glitches, there will be mistakes.”
“Then everyone gets together, no one gets beat up about it, you analyze it- what went wrong, reevaluate, update the hypothesis and start again,” she added.
She also spoke about her dismay at how politics could not be as methodical and logical as their experiments. It’s the next part that has been swarmed with conservative mockery.
“In government, we campaign with “The Plan,” Uppercase T, uppercase P, The Plan!”
“And then the environment is such we’re expected to defend “The Plan” even when the first time we roll it out there may be some glitches and it’s time to reevaluate and then do it again,” she said, with what some said was a French accent to discuss “the plan”.
Harris’ linguistic tone didn’t go unnoticed in social media with critics pointing out the unsettling vocal shift. Critics of the vice president were quick to call her “cringe”.
Jake Schneider, a self-confessed Trump fan, wrote on Twitter: “Kamala “Cringe” Harris visits a group of French scientists and speaks to them as if they’re toddlers, lamenting that people expect their elected officials to keep their promises.”
“This is what Biden thinks of France, our oldest ally,” Scott Jennings of CNN also tweeted.
“Is she using a FRENCH ACCENT?!” Abigail Marone, press secretary for Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo), said on Twitter. “I love this episode of Veep.”
Becket Adams, Washington Examiner commentator said: “I thought we canceled pepe lepew,” referring to the French animated skunk from Warner Bros’ Looney Tunes.
Mike Pompeo, Trump’s Secretary of State, criticized Harris for “humiliating the United States.”
“The clip from Vice President Harris is more than embarrassing on the world stage,” Pompeo told Fox News. “Our adversaries watch that and see weakness. They see people who aren’t serious, they see people who aren’t determined – precisely the opposite of what we did for four years.”
“There really are no words anymore… #AuRevoir,” Joe Concha, a political columnist captioned a post from political action committee America Rising that included a clip of Harris addressing French scientists.
Harris’ five-day trip comes as Washington’s relationship with Paris hit a historic low this year after a US-British submarine deal with Australia scuttled a French contract to sell subs to the Australian navy.
As a result of the US deal, Australia canceled its own $65 billion contracts to buy French-made submarines. France briefly withdrew its ambassador to the U.S. in September.
Harris met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday for almost two hours. Harris and Macron were also expected to discuss global health, space, and other issues.
Late last month, President Biden told French President Emmanuel Macron the US had been “clumsy” in its handling of the issue.
Harris has been widely seen as the standard-bearer for the Democratic Party in 2024 if President Biden does not run for a second term, but polls have her viewed even more negatively than President Biden.
Recent figures from a USA Today/Suffolk University poll showed Harris having a 28% approval rating among Americans, which is ten points lower than Biden. Biden’s approval rating hit yet another new low, this time at 38%.
The vice president has long been criticized for her handling of the border crisis after she was tapped by Biden to address the source of the surge of migration.