OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Kamala Harris celebrated her birthday with a surprise party — but there appears to be some controversy around the word “surprise.”
Katherine Doyle, the White House correspondent for the Washington Examiner, tweeted a video of the event and it didn’t take long for it to go viral on social media.
As Harris walks into a room, she shouts “surprise!” to herself.
After that, the crowd awkwardly sang her the “Happy Birthday” but couldn’t agree on what to call her. The crowd sang, “Happy birthday, dear [overlapping voices].”
The crowd in the room reacted with awkward laughs as she walked in and kissed her husband with a mask on.
WATCH:
Kamala Harris na sua festinha surpresa de aniversário ontem 20/10 .. " Surprise" … que festinha mais sem graça.. 😒😒🙄🙄🙄😒😒😒😒 pic.twitter.com/gjOsWKfDgv
— ForçaPoderHonra (@florzinhaapime1) October 21, 2021
Here’s another angle:
Kamala Harris yells "surprise" when she arrives at party for her own birthday. pic.twitter.com/BWUjTwow0v
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 21, 2021
Twitter users had plenty to say:
How many times did she have to practice that?
— BPM (@bpm4532) October 21, 2021
Why are they wearing masks still?? They’re all vaccinated 🙄
— mattjensen (@_mattjensen) October 21, 2021
VEEP, the depressingly real version
— Tyler Cardon (@TyCardon) October 21, 2021
I can’t handle the cringe. Saying surprise herself before she enters the room. The applause she gives. Kissing her husband while wearing tff he ey both wear a mask… you know every mask was off the second the camera stopped. It’s all so fake.
— D. Young (@dyoung54321) October 21, 2021
This is both embarrassing & sad, nobody voluntarily showed up at her staged surprise-birthday party
— Propaganda Sniper (@HindlesKitchen) October 21, 2021
They kissed with masks on smh
— giovanni garr (@GarrGiovanni) October 20, 2021
Harris is also facing allegations that she broke the law to help the Democrat candidate for governor in Virginia.
Constitutional Law scholar Jonathan Turley has accused Harris of violating The Johnson Amendment in calling on black church parishioners to vote for Terry McAuliffe
The Johnson Amendment says, “voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.”
Turley said that Harris’ endorsement of McAuliffe directed specifically at black churchgoers violates the spirit of the law.
“Vice President Kamala Harris has taped an endorsement of McAuliffe that is being played at hundreds of African American churches around the state. The problem is the ‘Johnson Amendment’ makes such political pitches in churches a violation of federal law,” he said on Twitter.
“The IRS warns that such violations will not be tolerated because tax-exempt groups ‘are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,’” he said.
“Putting aside any violation, it is notable that the Democrats used the opposition to the Johnson Amendment by former President Donald Trump as a rallying cry in the last election,” the Constitutional expert said.
“That was before McAuliffe ran into trouble in what was viewed as a reliably blue state that Biden won by a wide margin. Now the same media and legal figures are silent,” he said.
“It is part of McAuliffe’s push called ‘Souls to the Polls’ and is a full-throated endorsement of McAuliffe that calls on black churches to turn out for his election,” he said on his website. “Harris declares, ‘I believe that my friend Terry McAuliffe is the leader Virginia needs at this moment.”
“The problem is that such direct politicking in tax-exempt churches has been unlawful for decades,” he said.
