OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former California Assembly speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown has responded publicly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month and endorsed Brown’s one-time girlfriend, Vice President Kamala Harris, to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.
Brown spoke to Politico and also did a street interview with a local outlet, KRON-4, during which he joked that Harris, if she becomes president, would “deport my ass” back to Texas. He also called her elevation to the top of the party “historic.”
“It is historic, of course it is and everybody wants desperately to be a part of it,” he told the outlet. “Harris will be in charge of the ticket. “She is probably the one person that can beat [former President Donald] Trump.”
He went on to say that she “has to show to Democrats she can beat Trump — the goal is to beat Trump, not get the nomination or anything of that nature. The goal is to win the election for Democrats and keep Trump out. That’s what she has to prove.”
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While Harris obviously still impresses her former lover, not everyone is enamored with her, and that includes her own father.
During her failed 2020 presidential bid, Harris admitted she smoked pot and supported marijuana legalization because “half my family’s from Jamaica” during an interview in February of that year, which led her father to publicly rebuke her for fraudulently stereotyping Jamaicans as “pot-smoking joy seekers” and accused his daughter of pursuing “identity politics.”
Donald Harris, a retired Stanford professor, refuted his daughter’s linking of her Jamaican heritage to pot smoking during her appearance on “The Breakfast Club” morning radio program.
“My dear departed grandmothers…as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their graves right now to see their family’s name, reputation, and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not, with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” he said in a statement to Jamaica Global Online before his Breakfast Club appearance.
“Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” Donald Harris added.
Also, working for Harris as a staff is nightmarish, according to several ex-employees.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) most recently raised concerns about Harris’ documented struggles with keeping staff, telling Fox News that “nobody lasts very long” while working for her and that “how she treats people around her is a real indication of what she’ll do in the future.”
McCarthy made the comments during an appearance on “Life, Liberty & Levin” this week, when he said, “Nobody lasts very long. Even as VP, when she didn’t do anything, she could not keep staff. That is a person that the press will never talk about… How she treats people around her is a real indication of what she’ll do in the future.”
He added, “It is known in California, and it’s known in Washington. It is a heroic work environment if you work for her.”
The former Speaker added: “When she got elected to the U.S. Senate, I was the Majority Leader. I reached out to meet with her. Not once would she meet with me. If I talked to the Democrats inside the California delegation, they didn’t care for her because she would not meet.”
The former California House Republican’s comments follow a report from OpenTheBooks.com, which describes itself as a “government watchdog organization,” in which the group revealed last week that Harris is facing a 91.5% staff turnover rate within the Office of the Vice President.
The organization, referencing payroll records, reports that as of March 31, 2024, only four of the original 47 staffers from Harris’ first year as vice president in 2021 remain employed without interruption. Additionally, it notes that 24 staff members left in the year leading up to that date. Currently, Harris reportedly has 50 staffers working for her.
