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Far-left agitators at Vice President Kamala Harris’s rally on Wednesday night disrupted the festivities with chants and heckling, forcing the presidential nominee to shout them down. The incident interrupting the rally served as another reminder to Democrats that they have a long way to go if Harris is to unite liberals ahead of November.
Harris, speaking inside an airport hanger in Detroit, Michigan, attempted to soldier on through an onslaught of catcalling over the Biden administration’s support for Israel. Video of the interruption appeared to show dozens or more in the crowd repeating a familiar line: “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. We won’t vote for genocide.” At first, she attempted to speak over the ruckus and direct their anger toward the Trump-Vance ticket.
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Protestors shouting about genocide in Gaza interrupt rally. At first @VP waits patiently and talks about democracy. Then she gets fed up and says this: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that, otherwise I’m speaking.” pic.twitter.com/7ASmvR89LH
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) August 8, 2024
As the volume of their displeasure grew, it became increasingly clear that the protestors were getting under Harris’s skin. Former President Donald Trump, she said, would “give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations,” allow global warming to continue unabated, and eliminate the Affordable Care Act, familiar lines that didn’t soothe the crowd’s unrest. Finally, she raised her hand to clap back. “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise I’m speaking,” she yelled at the hecklers. Supporters in the crowd cheered in response.
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She continued, “I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters. But I am speaking now. I am speaking now.” Campaign staffers located the pro-Palestinian protestors in the crowd and eventually removed them from the venue, according to NBC News. The interruption was Harris’s first on the campaign trail since succeeding President Biden on the ticket, putting her face-to-face with the party’s base of young, extremely progressive voters who have been galvanized by Israel’s encroachment into Gaza at its forces attempt to root out Hamas fighters and leadership. Similar protests plagued President Biden during similar campaign stops this year.
The danger of alienating young progressives is real for the Harris campaign. During the Democratic state primaries, pro-Palestinian activists encouraged progressives to blank their ballot for president, putting the number of “uncommitted” Democrats in some states as high as 15%. The results were a black eye for Biden though didn’t badly jolt his campaign or change the direction of the administration’s support for Israel other than some forceful suggestions that the Jewish nation do its best to limit civilian casualties. Earlier this week, Republicans accused Vice President Harris of skirting the selection of Pennsylvania Gov. Joshua Shapiro for her ticket because he is Jewish and alleging that the far-left members of her party were openly antisemitic. The Harris campaign has denied that ethnicity played any role in their selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instead.
“In two cases, they’ve showed us who they are. Kamala Harris absolutely bowed down to the radical left by not giving [Joshua] Shapiro [VP],” Republican analyst Scott Jennings said on CNN. “There was a nasty campaign run against him. Everybody knows it. Nobody wants to admit it but everybody knows it. And she wound up choosing the person who was not Jewish and not as talented, and not from the state that she has to win.”