They weren’t playing her song.
Vice President Kamala Harris brought a new definition of embarrassment to her office on Friday during a visit to Puerto Rico as she stood and clapped cluelessly for a band serenading her in Spanish in San Juan.
She didn’t know they were mocking her in the process.
According to The Associated Press, Harris was visiting the U.S. territory for a Democratic fundraiser — and bringing attention to the federal aid Puerto Rico has received in the seven years since Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
During a stop at La Goyco community center, she was greeted by a small crowd of protesters criticizing the Biden administration’s increasingly reluctant support for Israel in its war against the terrorist group Hamas, according to Fox News.
One held a sign declaring “Kamala Harris war criminal,” Fox reported, while another claimed the U.S. and Israel are “genocidal.” That might have been a clue that this might not be friendly territory, but apparently the messages didn’t reach Harris.
So when a band began playing, Harris played along, clapping and nodding her head to the music.
Check out the video here. And see Harris’ face freeze about the 35-second mark.
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Harris’ clapping stopped when a woman accompanying her, identified as Mariana Reyes, executive director La Goyco, according to Fox sourcing the AP, apparently explained what the song was actually saying.
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It’s not exactly complimentary to Harris.
According to translations posted to X, it complained about the federal government overseeing Puerto Rican finances, which might be considered a local affair, but also included an obligatory leftist demand for a “free Palestine” and, for good measure, “and also Haiti.”
It was, boiled down, an insult straight to Harris’ face. And that face became stone when the vice president was informed what was being said.
(It’s almost funny when she casts her eyes up about the 1-minute mark, pretty clearly wishing she were anywhere else at the moment.)
Now, this moment could be disregarded as another “ugly American” stereotype, where a visitor from the States — ignorant of the local language — gets made fun of and doesn’t even know it.
But there are two problems with that. The “ugly American” image generally applies outside of American soil. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and Puerto Ricans are American citizens. The vice president being mocked in song by American citizens would be grist for the establishment media mill if the vice president in question were a Republican.
(Not to mention that Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and a former attorney general in California before becoming a U.S. senator from the Golden State, must have had mucho opportunities to pick up some Spanish in her career. If she had, the whole problem might have been avoided.)
The second is that Harris was clearly expecting to be greeted warmly by the crowd, the benevolent benefactress symbolizing the idea of government-as-provider-of-all-things that Democrats want to impose on the country.
But she got a public rebuke instead — that she didn’t even understand.
Clearly, the Biden administration isn’t as popular as it thinks it is. And the leftist element in its base — a group that supports the murderous rapists of Hamas over a democratic ally like Israel — is a bigger problem that it understands.
Considering the state of President Joe Biden in his polling matchups with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, both of those factors could be crucial come November.
