Attempting to play for Trump's MAGA base, Sen. David Perdue of Georgia resorted to the same tired race-baiting that Trump uses, particularly egregious in this case because Perdue knows Kamala Harris well, having spent the last four years with her in the U.S. Senate.
Perdue is presently in a toss-up race with Democrat Jon Ossoff where turn-out on election day will likely determine the winner.
Source: NBC News
Sen. David Perdue, at a Georgia campaign rally for President Donald Trump, on Friday appeared to intentionally mock the first name of Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris.
At the Macon rally, Perdue, R-Ga., pronounced Harris' name as: "Kamala, or Kamala, Kamala-mala-mala, I don't know," with various emphasis on parts of the name, video showed.
Perdue made the comments while naming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and others when attacking what he called "radical socialism."
Perdue was elected to the Senate in 2014 and serves in Congress with Harris, who was elected in 2016.
Perdue's Democratic opponent in the Senate race, Jon Ossoff tweeted that Perdue "mocked" Harris' name, and added: "We are so much better than this."
Ossoff seized on Perdue's sleazy pandering in this tweet, and later in an appearance with Joy Reid on MSNBC.
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. pic.twitter.com/9AvoQK4RdN— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) October 16, 2020
Twitter contempt followed swiftly:
By deliberately botching the name of his fellow U.S. senator, Sen. Perdue is communicating that Kamala Harris’s name is different and so is she - a black woman who is not like us and is underserving of our respect. It is his reprehensible conduct that is undeserving of respect. https://t.co/1PwNCFdhVL
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) October 17, 2020
Kamala Harris is just as easy to pronounce as Saxby Chambliss, Perdue’s predecessor in the Senate https://t.co/M9mAtYMRvt
— Fenit Nirappil (@FenitN) October 17, 2020
Perdue? Perdew? Perdouche? Whatever it is.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 17, 2020
everyone's being too hard on David Perdue for his racist pronunciation of "Kamala" I mean who among us hasn't mispronunced "David" as "Dickless"pic.twitter.com/nzf6XFZCGw
— shauna (@goldengateblond) October 17, 2020
