Kamala Harris Attempts to Capitalize on Puerto Rico Joke, But She Had Her Own ‘Epic Fail’ on the Island This Year

In the homestretch of the 2024 campaign, the Kamala Harris campaign seems focused on driving home two things. First: unity. Second: Donald Trump hates Puerto Rico.

Never mind that the unity thing isn’t really going to work, particularly as President Joe Biden is on record calling Trump supporters “garbage” now. Never mind, too, that Trump-hates-Puerto-Rico is a step down from Trump-is-a-literal-Nazi. Also never mind that Trump isn’t the roast comedian who told the joke in question at Trump’s Sunday rally in New York City; that would complicate things, and the Kamala campaign doesn’t deal well with complexity or nuance.

Instead, the idea that she might get a boost off of the joke is problematic when you consider that Harris had a bad moment of her own in the island territory earlier this year, one that even an opinion writer for The New York Times called an “epic fail.”

The moment came during her first official visit to Puerto Rico in March, part of what the Times called a trip to “highlight the Biden administration’s dedication to aiding the island’s recovery.”

However, there were plenty of protests that met her when she arrived, with a lot of people singing protest songs. Harris is apparently not too linguistically equipped in all things en español, apparently, which led to some awkward moments.

For instance, she clapped along with a protest song in which people asked, “We want to know, Kamala, what did you come here for? We want to know what you think of the colony.”

She did this until an aide told her what they were saying, at which point she stood, stone-faced, like someone who knew she’d just gotten herself into a viral moment:

Kamala Harris mindlessly dances to song protesting her visit to US colony of Puerto Rico, stops clapping once her aide translates it.

🎵 “We want to know, Kamala, what did you come here for? We want to know what you think of the colony.” pic.twitter.com/lkko4hCnW3

— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) March 23, 2024

“In a scene reminiscent of the HBO show ‘Veep,’ the vice president clapped haplessly along to the Spanish protest songs that greeted her, apparently not realizing the lyrics were critical of her visit,” Yarimar Bonilla wrote in the Times.

The reason that this was important, as Bonilla notes: “While working-class Puerto Ricans suffer the blows of austerity and second-class citizenship, tax incentives have attracted a wave of investors and remote workers, further straining the island’s resources and displacing its residents. Under the tax incentives consolidated under Act 60 in 2019, wealthy investors receive breaks on local and federal taxes as long as they buy property in Puerto Rico and reside there half the year. This has led to a loss of billions of dollars in revenues for the island’s coffers and a land grab that has significantly raised housing costs.”

The full lyrics of the song, as per social media: “We want to know, Kamala / What did you come here for? / We want to know, Kamala / We want to see / If you’re going to talk about law 60 / Or about the Fiscal Control Board / The vice president is here / Making history / We want to know / What she thinks of the colony.”

Full lyrics per @IstraPacheco:

“We want to know, Kamala
What did you come here for?
We want to know, Kamala
We want to see
If you’re going to talk about law 60
Or about the Fiscal Control Board

The vicepresident is here
Making history
We want to know
What she thinks of the…

— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) March 23, 2024

“After briefly experiencing the local culture, Ms. Harris moved on to a fund-raising event with wealthy ‘expat’ donors,” Bonilla noted.

“The event was held at the upscale residential and commercial complex Ciudadela, owned by an Act 60 beneficiary named Nicholas Prouty, whom Ms. Harris acknowledged as a good friend who kept her updated on the situation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

“Ciudadela is also a symbol of Act 60, with a working-class community having been cleared to build luxury apartments and a dog park. It also played a role in the corruption trial of Puerto Rico’s former secretary of education Julia Keleher, who pleaded guilty to charges related to signing a letter ceding to developers the right to build on land adjacent to a public school in exchange for a discount on an apartment in the Ciudadela complex.”

In other words, the Biden-Harris administration kept in place a law that activists see as a form of gentrification; they also happen to not be especially happy with the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, which was created in the wake of the island’s de facto bankruptcy in 2016.

But, lo and behold, Harris has released a last-minute video in which she promised to “create a new Puerto Rico Opportunity Economy Task force, where the federal government will work with the private sector, with nonprofits and community leaders to foster economic growth and create thousands for new, good-paying jobs in Puerto Rico.”

Again, what are the odds? What are the odds that, after four years of inaction, Harris wants to tackle all of the Puerto Rico stuff that she hasn’t gotten to yet? And just coincidentally, on the same day that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a joke about the debt-ridden, politically problematic island?

Now, just to be clear: Puerto Rico’s problems are of its own making, New York Times opinion writers’ take on it not withstanding. But the only time the Democrats care about it is when they become convinced that they can make hay out of it while the sun is shining. They either want to make it a state — and thus pick up its two Senate seats — or get votes by pretending it’s actually former President Trump who dissed it and not some roast comedian.

If you require any proof, you need only to look back at Harris’ “epic fail” on the island to realize just how little she knows or cares about what the activist base wants on Puerto Rico.

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