This is an adapted excerpt from the Sept. 18 episode of "Deadline: White House."
If you can’t confront your opposing candidate on policy, you attack them personally. We’re witnessing that tactic firsthand, as Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue to take swipes at Vice President Kamala Harris for not having biological children.
On Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders became the latest Republican to levy that attack on Harris, telling the audience at a Trump town hall, “My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
Let me tell you about the first time I met Harris. She was a sitting U.S. senator, and I was a professor and the senior vice president for social justice at the New School. I had been asked to deliver the convocation to the entering first-year class. In that speech, I focused on how important it was for society to come together as a “we” and not fall victim to the “us vs. them” mentality.
Harris sat in the back of the auditorium, a humble and supportive Momala, not a sitting senator seeking any attention for herself.
When I got offstage, I saw that I had received a text from then-Sen. Harris. At this point, I had never met her, but I know her sister well — so I’m guessing that’s how she got my cellphone number. Harris told me she thought I had done a good job and that she enjoyed my speech.
The reason Harris was in the audience listening to my speech was because it was her stepchild’s first day of college. She didn't bring attention to herself that day. She sat in the back of the auditorium, a humble and supportive Momala, not a sitting senator seeking any attention for herself.
Tell me what you think a parent is and I’ll tell you that a parent is someone who shows up. Not because they’re biologically related to you, but because it’s the right thing to do for the person you want to support — whether you gave birth to that child or not.
Harris is the type of leader who says I’m going to care and understand that even if I haven’t had a child biologically, child care costs are a top expense for families. She’s a person who understands that if you’re a child care provider, you’re probably earning less than $30,000 a year and in most major cities, that’s your rent.
So many of us have people we love, who we did not give birth to, who we care about, and who we will show up for. Still, Trump and some Republicans can’t seem to comprehend that kind of compassion. And if you can’t come up with a way to express compassion for others, all you can do is cling to your extremism.