Joe and Kamala – Bumble and Fumble

If you were writing a comedy script – or tragedy filled with cringe – you could not top Joe and Kamala. The question is asked, given Biden’s age and Harris’ inexperience, “who is pulling the strings?” Sadly, even with socialists running amok, these two look like stringless puppets.  

Last week, with America’s southern border overrun by drug traffickers and illegal aliens – increasingly global – Vice President Harris arrived in … Guatemala. 

Having yet to visit the US border – one that she is charged with protecting – she focused blame and pity on the region.

The irony was comic, planning pathetic, diplomatic exchanges embarrassing in the extreme. Two pie-throwing clowns could not have gotten more groans. 

First, Harris promised $310 million in US economic aid to the region; Trump delivered $5.8 billion on the heels of signing 15 treaties linking that aid to US national security interests. Trump did the same with Mexico. Once Mexico agreed to hold asylum applicants, Trump lifted tariff threats and delivered $10.6 billion in aid. The result was a secure border. See, e.g., Kamala Harris announces US will send $310 million in humanitarian aid to Central America ; SHOCK: U.S. Commits $10.6 Billion In Aid To Mexico, Central America. Still No Border Wall.

Spoiler alert: For all that Biden-Harris put down, Mexico and Central America – and relations have seldom been worse – leaders in these countries can count. Trump was true to his word, tough on border security, generous in offering support for job creation, training, law enforcement, and foreign investment. Biden-Harris have been the reverse – slow, condescending, disorganized, and duplicitous. 

But it gets worse. Harris arrived and promptly declared “root causes” of the border crisis – which she refuses to deem a “crisis” – Central American “corruption” and “climate change.” To her shock – would you be shocked? – Guatemala’s leaders and people resented that putdown. Protestors met her at the airport, signs reading “Kamala Go Home.”  

When Harris jumped to Mexico, President Lopez Obrador was blunt. He put the crisis squarely on Biden-Harris’s mismanagement. 

With little diplomacy, less respect, he told fumbling Harris: “Expectations were created” by Biden-Harris inviting (illegal) migration. Their Administration “caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do.” He placed the pie eye-high; he resents what is happening.  See, e.g., Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blames migrant crisis on Biden

Harris just went from bad to worse, saying she did not “understand the point” of visiting the US border, then snapping at a Univision reporter who asked her – as many have tried – when she planned a border visit – as the appointed “border czar.” 

An irritated Harris cut off the reporter – and again failed to answer.  See, e.g., Kamala Harris’ response to border crisis a head-scratcher: I haven’t ‘been to Europe’ either

Harris’ problems, fundamental lack of understanding, inattention to regional history, misstatement of core facts, and personal cowardice in addressing a border crisis she fostered goes beyond fumbling diplomacy. 

Serious questions are being asked about her emotional maturity, not just by conservative reporters or administration critics. She consistently laughs at inappropriate times, often when facing serious issues, questions, or criticisms. She rolls her eyes at times when accountability is sought. She giggles – in the spirit of an adolescent – when confronted. Even foreign leaders wonder what is up – is she alright, up to the job?  See, e.g., BORDER CHAOS Kamala Harris latest: VP slammed for LAUGHING at ‘tough question’ on Mexico trip after ‘defensive’ Lester Holt interview; VP Harris laughs when asked if she has plans to visit southern border; Kamala Harris’ awkward laughs spark outrage. Why laughter is not her best medicine; Pavlich calls out VP Harris: ‘Stop laughing when you’re asked serious questions’.

Bottom line on Harris: She is “0 for 1” on foreign diplomacy, “0 for 1” on the border crisis, and “0 for 1” on emotional maturity. On predicates for serious leadership – she is fumbling badly. The only issue taking light off her, making her underperformance second fiddle, is Biden’s.

Last week at the G-7, in his first foreign trip, the US President seemed badly overmatched by almost every foreign leader. So much was his doddering obvious that foreign staff commented offstage – on his mental wellbeing. Even Britain’s “Labor Party” caught Biden’s slack jaw, saying “at least Trump was attentive” and “notecards have proven completely useless.” See, e.g., Joe Biden Reportedly Having Trouble Keeping Up with Everyone Else at G-7 Summit

After forgetting to mention the anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, which no other president in modern history has overlooked, Biden then showed up at a Royal Airforce (RAF) base – and promptly commended them for being the “RFA.” 

His wife was heard urging him, “Pay attention, Joe.” Now, frankly, does it get any worse? See, e.g., Joe Biden hails the ‘RFA’ in major embarrassing gaffe on arrival in the UK for G7 summit

Perhaps yes. Biden then undertook a series of action which, in a word, were simply embarrassing – including an awkward photo with the wife of the British Prime Minister, his hand “rather low on her back,” and awkwardly dismissing Britain for France, after describing – cue cards – the “special relationship” between the United States and Britain. The whole episode was cringe-worthy, as was much of this trip. 

The truth is, if this were just a sitcom, an inconsequential collection of preening actors, stakes would be low enough to laugh or shrug. The G-7, allies, adversaries – these are high stakes, no game. 

Watching Biden bumble – and Harris fumble – is like watching an amateur electrician mismatch red and black wires – painful with the promise of more pain. 

Laurel and Hardy, or Bing and Bob, performing this skit would be worth a chuckle. Watching a President and Vice President mismanage America’s foreign diplomacy – and everything else – is just not funny.