Vice-President Kamala Harris wasn’t even the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee when the bigotry began. Far-right pundit Matt Walsh tweeted that she got her start in politics by “sleeping with Willie Brown,” then the state’s assembly Speaker. Megyn Kelly agreed. Others recycle the racist claim that Harris is not a U.S. citizen, based on a 2020 piece by John Eastman, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute who helped orchestrate Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the election. Elsewhere, conservative operative Will Chamberlain — who worked for Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign — tweeted that Harris should not be president because she has “no children.” (Harris has stepchildren, which he said doesn’t count.) “Kamala Harris is the same woman who had to drop out pre-Iowa four years ago … She’s a mediocre, awkward, intensely dislikable politician …,” Chamberlain added. “Hillary 2.0.”
That comparison to Clinton might spook some liberals, though it shouldn’t. Harris struggled badly four years ago, but circumstances have changed since 2016 when Clinton lost to Trump. Like her, Harris will have to contend with misogyny. Otherwise, the two candidates have little in common, so their shared gender is not a reason to think that Harris is doomed. A woman can defeat Trump with the right vision and the........