Van Jones says Trump gets to be ‘lawless’ while Kamala Harris expected to be ‘flawless’
The CNN commentator captured the double standard in media coverage and “tightrope bias” that Vice President Kamala Harris faces in her run for president.
During Wednesday night’s CNN Town Hall with Kamala Harris, commentator Van Jones called out a notable double standard in coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris.
On the heels of major news that Donald Trump was quoted admiring Hitler’s generals and was called “fascist” by his longest-serving chief of staff, Harris found herself being criticized by some TV analysts after the town hall for sometimes having long, nuanced answers to policy questions. Trump declined to attend the debate altogether despite multiple debates being standard for a presidential campaign.
“Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are not taking the same exam. And I think it bothers people,” Jones said during a political panel. “He gets to lawless, she has to be flawless. That’s what’s unfair.
“That’s what’s unfair tonight. They’re not taking the same exam. Look she has policies. She may not articulate them perfectly every time. She may not put the stories in the right places. But she’s fighting for actual ideas that will help real people. And he’s talking about people’s penises … It’s pissing me off.”
Harris was asked numerous questions by undecided voters in the audience about her past record as vice president and proposed policies to help with high costs.
“For too long, frankly, both administrations — I mean, both administrations in both parties, Democrats and Republicans — haven’t done enough to deal with the issue of housing,” Harris said. “And we need a new approach that includes working with the private sector. I say that as a devout public servant.”
Harris was also asked questions about her weaknesses and any regrets or mistakes she’d made while in office that she would change — questions most audiences would struggle to imagine Donald Trump answering directly.
Trump and Harris are neck and neck in swing state polling, which means every media appearance can matter for undecided voters still looking to make up their minds.
Van Jones’ comments about the double standard between what is expected of Harris and what Trump can get away with connects to a phenomenon known as “tightrope bias.” Tightrope bias is defined as “a narrow range of acceptable workplace behavior for women, people of color and other marginalized groups,” which isn’t applied to certain men in power.
For example, rambling speech from Trump about golf legend Arnold Palmer’s genitalia isn’t disqualifying — but Kamala Harris not getting to her point in under a minute suddenly is proof to her critics that she isn’t able to lead.
Despite some criticisms of her performance, there was praise from those who saw the town hall as proof that Harris can handle the hot seat, is calm, steady and relates well to diverse people.
Harris also had one standout line that will surely reverberate in a social media era of quick memes and short attention spans:
“Donald Trump would have an enemies list,” Harris said. “I will have a to-do list.”
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