“Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzenzinski slammed Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett for stating that Vice President Kamala Harris only got her job because she’s a woman of color.
“Is it 1951?” an exasperated Joe Scarborough questioned Tuesday during the MSNBC news and talk program. “Was he about to go into a country club in like rural Tennessee there, like in 1951? Is he serious? If you are a Black woman, then you’re a ‘DEI hire’?”
The political commentator’s remarks come after Burchett told CNN’s Manu Raju that Harris is “100%” a “DEI hire” during an interview, claiming that seeking diversity was the reason for Biden choosing her as his running mate in 2020 rather than her extensive experience.
“He’s going to hire a Black female for vice president. He just skipped over— what about white females, what about any other group,” Burchett said during his chat with Raju. “It’s just, when you go down that route, you take mediocrity, and that’s what they have right now as a vice president … her record is abysmal at best.”
Brzezinski immediately pointed out that Burchett seemed to ignore the series of lies Trump has said himself over the years. She also noted Trump’s lack of experience compared to Harris.
“[Burchett] talked about mediocrity. Take any part of any Trump’s speech. Any answer, he’s either lying or is not sounding fit,” Brzezinski said. “I say that with a straight face. It’s not a joke.”
Rep. Tim Burchett, a conservative Republican from Tennessee, attacks VP Kamala Harris as a "DEI hire." pic.twitter.com/5bZGml31Kx
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 22, 2024
Scarborough touted Harris’ political resume.
“She was the attorney general of California, United States senator from California,” Scarborough said. “Now listen, I’ve got nothing against members of the House of Representatives from the Deep South. I was one. But I can tell you, it’s a lot harder to be elected as senator from California than it is — they even let me into the House. So that tells you how laborious. Where does he get off saying this, again, just because she’s a Black woman?”
Concluding the conversation, Brzezinski said the Republican Party is merely in shambles because it doesn’t know how it plans to take on a contender with the type of experience Harris has, which is why it appears the GOP has been reduced to making offensive comments about Harris.
“This is the kind of challenge they’re going to have, because she speaks beautifully, she knows her issues, she has the experience, she’s part of a winning administration that has been historic in what it’s been able to get done. And by the way, on the world stage she, again, is working with a team that has been very successful on the world stage,” Brzezinski said.
“I’ll just leave Trump’s experience on the world stage for the imagination,” she added. “We all can remember what that looked like. The fact that he wants to cozy up to dictators — and she also has access to this winning team. She’s already taken on the very successful members of the campaign. So this is going to be very interesting. Using words like ‘DEI’ and news hosts mocking her voice — what is this, junior high? Middle school?”
On Sunday, Biden announced that he would be stepping aside from his presidential run and subsequently endorsed Harris as his replacement in the Democrats’ fight against Trump on the road to this November. As of Tuesday, per an AP survey, Harris has accumulated enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee.
