Joining CNN Newsroom on Sunday evening to react to President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will be ending his re-election bid, chief national correspondent John King predicted that “you can be certain that racism and sexism” will be directed against Vice President Kamala Harris as she replaces Biden as the likely Democratic nominee.
Host Wolf Blitzer led King by wondering, “And as you say, John, Republicans are recalibrating their approach as well. What can Democrats expect going forward?”
King rattled off a list of things Republicans are likely to throw at Harris, but warned that they “have always exaggerated what her job was at the border, but President Biden did put her in charge of trying to talk to the countries, Mexico and the other countries in Central America, to try to reduce the causes of migration.”
After also suggesting Republicans will try to paint her as a San Francisco radical, King, who is the kind of guys who sees hidden messages in Subway sandwiches, asserted, “You can be certain that racism and sexism, if not directly from the Trump campaign, from other forces, are going to come flying into this campaign.”
This is the same CNN that had Van Jones claim less than one week prior that the Republican National Convention having four African American speakers on day one was “cringey.”
King’s remarks further illustrate the two dominant media narratives coming out of Sunday’s events. One is that Biden is analogous to George Washington and the other is that Harris needs to be protected from supposed racism and sexism.
Here is a transcript for the July 21 show:
CNN Newsroom
7/21/2024
7:45 PM ET
WOLF BLITZER: And as you say, John, Republicans are recalibrating their approach as well. What can Democrats expect going forward?
JOHN KING: Democrats should brace and the vice president knows this, the Biden team, now the Harris Campaign knows this. Look, Republicans have always exaggerated what her job was at the border, but President Biden did put her in charge of trying to talk to the countries, Mexico and the other countries in Central America, to try to reduce the causes of migration.
And so, the Republicans have always said she's the borders czar, that this is all her fault. So, you can brace, look, immigration was going to be a central issue for Trump and Vance anyway. You can brace now for ads saying Kamala Harris was Joe Biden’s border czar, look how it went. Do you want her running the economy? Do you want her running national security and then other issues -- other issues about San Francisco and the like. And look, let's just be honest about this. You can be certain that racism and sexism, if not directly from the Trump campaign, from other forces, are going to come flying into this campaign.
