Vice President Kamala Harris was ripped online after she offered a confusing consolation for Californians besieged by ongoing fires on Monday.
President Biden, Harris and White House officials gave remarks during a briefing on the federal response to the wildfires across Los Angeles. Many people, including celebrities, have lost their homes in the Pacific Palisades area as wildfires continue to rage there and elsewhere in Los Angeles County, burning more than 27,000 acres, destroying over 10,000 structures and killing at least 25 people, according to local officials.
Harris argued that, amid all of this, her fellow Californians must remember that this is a time to be “patient.”
“Lots of people who still have a home who are under evacuation order, I know you want to get back home, but this is a time to be patient,” she said. “There is still so much work that firefighters, police officers, FEMA, and others are doing that is about search and rescue. The work that still needs to be done to ensure the safety around utility lines — this work is still very much in progress.”
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She then offered a confusing statement some would refer to as one of her trademark “word salads” in telling those affected by the fires, “It’s critically important that, to the extent you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and unprecedented crisis, that you do.”
Her statement was quickly skewered across social media.
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell said, “It’s terrifying to think how Kamala would have treated the American people if this is how she treats her home state supporters.”
“No thoughts just word salad,” American Family Association senior policy advisor Jenna Ellis said.
“We really dodged a bullet!” New Jersey assemblyman John Azzariti declared.
The Federalist’s senior legal correspondent Margot Cleveland rewrote Harris’ words as: “Those of you fleeing the fire, the most critical thing for you to pack is your patience.”
“Such sage advice from a gifted communicator,” journalist Miranda Devine quipped sarcastically.
Breitbart’s Joel Pollak offered his “Translation” of her statement: “it’s not our fault! Wait a week, and then you can blame Trump.”
“Harris wants us to know the wildfires in California are not because of bad Democrat management of fire risk,” cartoonist Scott Adams replied, making a similar attempt to translate Harris’ thoughts.
“The real problems are citizens being impatient and citizens causing too much climate change. Will there be some kind of punishment for the bad citizens so we can avoid this in the future?”
“What she’s trying to express here with this confusing word salad is that it’s super important for LA residents to be patient with the bungling incompetence & appalling stupidity of CA Democrats & not to link the ongoing disaster to their woke, civilization-destroying policies,” Deb Heine of American Greatness said.
Since the fires broke out last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other local officials have faced backlash over their lack of preparation and response to the crisis as the flames continue to wreak havoc on the area.
