Fox News personality Laura Ingraham was criticized after mockingly calling Vice President Kamala Harris the "hugger-in-chief" before showing a video montage of Harris hugging various people.
Speaking on Friday's episode of The Ingraham Angle, Ingraham questioned the presumptive Democratic nominee's qualifications, dismissively minimizing Harris's accomplishments as the elected DA of San Francisco, the Attorney General of California, a U.S. Senator, and Vice President.
Ingraham took aim at a speech Harris delivered at the 2022 Munich Security Conference, just days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
She said:
"Her brilliance about topics like Ukraine — it’s just too much for most mortals to digest. It's better for her [Harris] to stay in her sweet spot as the hugger-in-chief."
At this point, a montage played showing Harris hugging numerous people including Morehouse College graduate Tyler Greene at an Atlanta rally on Tuesday, sorority head Rasheeda S. Liberty at Sigma Gamma Rho’s convention in Houston the following day, and Bill and Hillary Clinton at the eulogy for Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democratic Representative who died last month.
You can hear what Ingraham said in the video below.
Ingraham's assertion was so ridiculous that X influencer Chris Evans noted the absurdity of Fox News "now attacking [Harris] for….hugging people."
Others were also quick to mock Ingraham.
Harris has had even her smallest actions scrutinized since she took office, a sign, according to her supporters, of the culture of rampant sexism and misogyny that regularly disparages women in power.
Harris's supporters have accused conservatives of racial animus by leaning into racist tropes due to her Tamil Indian and Afro-Jamaican ancestry; previously, Harris has had her intelligence questioned and was, for instance, referred to as "colored" by ex-Trump aide Sebastian Gorka last month.
An analysis published by Time's Up Now, an advocacy and legal defense group founded in the wake of the #MeToo movement, reported that a quarter of media coverage incorporated at least one racist or sexist stereotype, including the "angry Black woman" stereotype.
These attacks were so pervasive that the organization announced a "We Have Her Back Campaign" to counter sexist, misogynist coverage of Harris ahead of the 2020 general election.
