Kamala Harris Reveals Why She Laughs The Way She Does — And It’s A Lesson For Us All
Kamala is proof that the only person you need to focus on is yourself.
lev radin / Shutterstock During a presidential election, it’s completely normal to have some mudslinging on both sides of the aisle. However, many would agree that personal attacks are too low a blow.
That has not been the case during this election cycle. Donald Trump and Joe Biden mercilessly traded barbs focused on both political and personal matters.
Now that Biden is out of the race, the attacks from Trump’s campaign have turned to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. One of the things Trump has mocked Harris for is her laugh.
In a recent interview, Harris addressed her gregarious laugh and taught us all a sweet lesson.
On April 29, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris was interviewed by Drew Barrymore on her daytime talk show.
Harris directly addressed her big laugh. A clip from the interview was posted on TikTok by the user @dreamforamerica.
“My staff, for example, um, sometimes they’ll show me little things that just amuse me,” she told Barrymore. “Like, apparently, some people love to talk about the way I laugh.”
Barrymore instantly knew what Harris was referring to but didn’t agree with the naysayers.
“Oh, yes,” she replied. “I love your laugh!”
Harris continued, “Well, let me just tell you something. I have my mother’s laugh, and I grew up around a bunch of women, in particular, who laughed from the belly.”
“They laughed!” Harris said, reminiscing. “They would sit around the kitchen drinking their coffee, telling big stories with big laughs.”
“You know, I’m never going to be …” she said before laughing more quietly. “That’s just, I’m not that person.”
That was when Harris reached the core of her message. “And I think it’s really important for us to remind each other, and our younger ones, don’t be confined to other people’s perception about what this looks like and … how you should act in order to be, right? It’s really important,” she concluded.
After a round of applause from the audience, Barrymore exclaimed, “I love your laugh, and I love that message.”
Despite the lesson that Harris taught with her laugh, political opponents still choose to use it as a way to bully her.
According to the Washington Examiner, Trump mocked Harris’ laugh at a July 20 rally in Michigan.
“I call her ‘laughing Kamala.’ You ever watch her laugh?” he asked. “She’s crazy. You know, you can tell a lot by a laugh. No, she’s crazy. She’s nuts.”
The attacks on Harris’ laugh come amid beliefs that she is being unfairly targeted by her opponents for her gender and race.
NBC News reported that “within a day, Harris was already facing attacks that centered on her race and gender, making it clear that while Republicans may try to tie her to some of Biden’s policies, she will face criticisms he never did.”
NBC also mentioned comments made by former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka on his show on Newsmax. He “said Harris was going to be the nominee ‘because she’s female and her skin color is the correct DEI color.’ He also said she ‘cackles like an insane woman.’”
Notably, people do not typically attack male politicians for the way they laugh.
Would things be different if Harris was a male candidate? Absolutely. While she would likely still face racism, she would not be subject to sexism or to comments on matters as petty as her laugh.
The battle over Harris’ laugh is proof of just how nasty politics has become. People are no longer respected for their accomplishments or disrespected for a lack thereof. Instead, candidates are treated with rudeness and volatility.
Perhaps we could all learn something from Harris and focus on being ourselves, regardless of what others say.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.