Sure, Kamala Harris has been roundly roasted for her disastrously bad answer to Lester Holt's question about her plans to visit the border.
But the beleaguered VP still has one defender, in the person of Mika Brzezinski. On today's Morning Joe, Mika suggested to Richard Haass that Kamala "deserves some credit" for meeting with leaders of Central American countries and "getting in their face." Pity those leaders!
You'll see [screencap] Haass literally laugh at Mika's suggestion that Harris deserves credit.
Willie Geist, channeling Holt, then made this indisputable point:
"Yes, we have to look at root causes, but there is a crisis at the border right now, today. And you have to address that today while you look at the root causes down the road."
That forced Mika to somewhat back down from her call for hosannas for Harris:
So Richard, though, I mean, here she is — I get it. It wasn’t the greatest answer. Not defending that. But she’s on these trips meeting with these world leaders, talking about the origins of why these people want to leave their countries and she’s getting nailed on whether or not she’s been to the US/Mexico border. I get it. Her answer could have been better.
But isn’t the question about what is happening on these trips? What are the tough conversations that she’s having with these leaders about why people want to leave and what do we know about what happened there? Because that’s the very difficult, I'd say almost impossible-to-navigate landscape when you’re dealing with countries that have a lot of corruption, that have a lot of reasons why people want to leave and she’s going there and getting in their faces. Doesn’t she deserve some credit for that? And what do we know about what came out of it?
Yes, Mika. "Perhaps" Kamala could have found time in the 100 days since Biden named her border czar to make her way to, you know, the border.
Mika Brzezinski claiming failed border czarina Kamala Harris deserves some credit was sponsored in part by USPS, Allstate, and Buick.
Here's a partial transcript. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
6/9/21
6:00 am EDTLESTER HOLT: Do you have any plans to visit the border?
KAMALA HARRIS: [Throws up hands] At some point. You know, we are going to the border. We’ve been to the border. So this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border, we’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.
HOLT: You haven’t been to the border.
HARRIS: And I haven’t been to Europe.
. . .
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So Richard, though, I mean, here she is — I get it. It wasn’t the greatest answer. Not defending that. But she’s on these trip,s meeting with these world leaders, talking about the origins of why these people want to leave their countries and she’s getting nailed on whether or not she’s been to the US/Mexico border. I get it. Her answer could have been better.
But isn’t the question about what is happening on these trips? What are the tough conversations that she’s having with these leaders about why people want to leave and what do we know about what happened there? Because that’s the very difficult, I'd say almost impossible-to-navigate landscape when you’re dealing with countries that have a lot of corruption, that have a lot of reasons why people want to leave and she’s going there and getting in their faces. Doesn’t she deserve some credit for that? And what do we know about what came out of it?
. . .
WILLIE GEIST: And Mika, the point of Lester’s question there, of course he was there covering her trip and looking at the root causes of that was, yes, we have to look at root causes, but there is a crisis at the border right now, today. And you have to address that today while you look at the root causes down the road.
MIKA: I think also part of leading is optics, and showing, and showing what you care about and what your goals are. And going to the border would have made a big difference. This has been a discussion for weeks. I’m not sure why it hasn’t happened. It’s a lot easier said than done, but perhaps should have been a priority.
