She's not much of a VP, but she's unquestionably the Queen of Cringe.
Vice President and gaffe-maker Kamala Harris strengthened her supposed credentials during an embarrassing visit to the Howard University men’s basketball locker room Thursday after the Bison absorbed a thorough beating from the Kansas Jayhawks. She gave March Madness another maddening moment, too.
The VP made a series of childish, syrupy comments to her alma mater’s team after it was eliminated from the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Des Moines.
“You keep playing with chin up and shoulder back,” Harris told the men’s college basketball team. Someone get her the facts! It appeared she was unaware that March Madness is a one-and-done deal and her team’s season is over. Done. Finished.
“You guys are so good, you guys are so good,” Harris said as if she was speaking to first-graders during story hour. Uh, the Bison lost to Kansas by 28 points – that's how “good” they weren’t.
Harris continued: “You played hard. You played to the very last second.” Yeah, good enough to get crumpled 96-68 by Kansas. It was just the kind of loss that quiets the guys in the losing locker room, not one that invites an uninformed, insensitive politician trying to score political points.
This wasn’t exactly Knute Rockne imploring the team to “win one for the Gipper,” either.
No matter, Harris said what Howard had accomplished was of “historic” proportions. Really? Then what did 15th-seeded Princeton do when it knocked out second-seeded Arizona? She kept on blabbering: “I see Bison literally all over the world, and we’ve been talking about you, this team. You make us so proud. So I know you may not be feeling great right now, but know who you are. You are excellence. You are hard work. You are powerful, and you are winners. So please know that.”
Shreyas Laddha, a Harris fanboy from the Kansas City Star, wrote: “The speech left a mark on multiple Howard players.”
Outkick’s Anthony Farris had a completely different take, writing, “If Harris sought to have the most awkward speech of March Madness, she succeeded.”
Wait, though. Harris wasn’t done. She had a “we are the world” moment, too. “You showed the world who Bison are,” Harris told the Howard team.
Harris felt so insecure about getting her message through the team that she made one final plea: “We’ve been talking about you. This team. You all. This team. This year. This team.” Good information to know!
The Howard locker room had to feel like a safe haven for the vice-president. With the game being played in Red state Iowa, she was showered with boos when the arena video screen focused on her, the New York Post reported.
Farris made another laugh-inducing comment about the bumbling VP: “Howard University may have been bested by the Jayhawks, but they did survive Kamala Harris, and that’s saying something.”
