'Kamala-mala-mala, I Don’t Know, Whatever': GOP Senator Mocks Kamala Harris’ Name Because…Honestly, Do I Even Need to Say It?

For people who have the hissiest of fits anytime anyone even suggests that they might be racist, Republicans sure do appear to have a rough time not demonstrating clear bigotry, especially when they get around their constituents. Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) spoke at a Trump rally in Macon, Ga., Friday and decided to put some racism on vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-Calif.) name instead of respect.

Apparently, Perdue was in the midst of explaining to a crowd of MAGA enthusiasts that the Democrats are agents of Hydra riding on the backs of Decepticons on a mission to turn America into Mordor and if Trump isn’t reelected, neither the Avengers, Autobots or the Fellowship of the Ring will be able to save us.

According to The Hill, Perdue was actually decrying the “insidious” plans Democrats will put in place should they take power in Washington. He rattled off a bunch of names like that of senate minority leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) basically calling them members of the Liberal Legion of Doom. But when he got to Harris, Perdue got a little tongue-tied (think nooses, not Boy Scout knots) and called her, “Kah-mah-la or Kah-ma-la or Kamala-mala-mala, I don’t know, whatever.”

Perdue—the senator of people who will throw away your job application if the name on it can’t be found in a Mark Twain novel—serves with Harris on the Senate Budget Committee, according to CNN, so it’s pretty safe to say he knows how her name is pronounced. But hey, when you can get cheap laughs out of the equally appalled when called racist MAGA crowd, putting on xenophobic airs is fair game.

Predictably, Per-dont’s off-color (and I mean that literally) attempt at humor quickly drew the scorn of Democrats including Jon Ossoff who is gunning for his senate seat in a tight race for the upcoming election.

From CNN:

Ossoff quickly criticized Perdue for the remark, writing in a series of tweets, “My opponent, GOP Sen. David Perdue of anti-Semitic attack ad infamy, just mocked Sen. Harris’ name as ‘Kamala-mala-mala-whatever’ at a Trump rally. We are so much better than this.”

Sabrina Singh, Harris’ press secretary, condemned Perdue’s statement.

“Well that is incredibly racist,” she said on Twitter. “Vote him out and vote for @ossoff.”

“Senator Perdue’s intentionally disrespectful mispronunciation of Senator Harris’s name is a bigoted and racist tactic straight from President Trump’s handbook. He owes Georgians an apology for his offensive display,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Nikema Williams.

But because being blatantly bigoted and then falling all over themselves to explain why everyone is overreacting is a basic tenet in the white conservative playbook of dog-whistling, Perdue’s campaign spokesperson Casey Black (who is much, much whiter than her last name suggests) decided to play dumb.

“Senator Perdue simply mispronounced Senator Harris’ name, and he didn’t mean anything by it,” Black tweeted. “He was making an argument against the radical socialist agenda that she and her endorsed candidate Jon Ossoff are pushing.”

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that conservatives would defend Per-doo-doo and others like him by pretending they don’t know the difference between accidentally mispronouncing someone’s name and openly mocking it (I’m looking at you, Fox News), but anyone who listened to his tone and the extent to which he butchered Harris’ name knows the difference.

Throwing stones and hiding your hands is a coward’s move. If you’re going to be a bigot preaching to a bigoted choir, at least own that shit.