There are two idioms I see exercised frequently in the American political landscape: If you tell a lie enough times, it becomes the truth and lies travel further than truths. There is no politician impervious to committing an occasional lie since it’s a feature of the job, not a bug.
But there are some lies that set the groundwork for political dialogue surrounding a topic solely for the purpose of making their adversaries fight an uphill battle to disprove a false narrative or statement and attempt to slow down a fast-moving and well-traveled lie.
Her school version
This lie gains even more momentum when it’s attached to a group of people with the hopes of causing an emotional reaction and forgoing the criticality of the message being sent. This is exactly the strategy that our vice president, Kamala Harris, executed to further slander Florida Republicans, especially presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis.
After the Florida Department of Education approved its new curriculum, including specifications surrounding teaching about slavery in public schools, Harris presented her version of events Saturday at a convention for the traditionally black sorority Delta Sigma Theta in Indianapolis:
“Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.”
She still claims to be African American?
She is NOT!