Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Thursday that Vice President Kamala Harris, who would be in the running for the Democrat presidential nomination in November if Joe Biden withdraws from the race, is the perfect example of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Before the 2020 election, Biden vowed he would pick a Black woman as his running mate. He chose Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent.
"When I hear her talk, I just scratch my head and think, is this what DEI is really about?" Burchett told "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE." "And it clearly is. She checks all the boxes. She'll say she's of Indian descent one day, and then when it fits, she'll say she's of Black descent.
"It's just the box-checking White House is really all we've got. But she's very unlikable. She has trouble keeping staff. That's kind of the unkept secret in Washington. Her thought process, to me, is questionable."
Burchett was surprised by a CNN poll released Tuesday that showed Harris trailing former President Donald Trump by just 2 percentage points (47%-45%) in a head-to-head matchup in November. It is much closer than the poll showed Biden is to Trump, with the former president holding a 49%-43% lead. Trump's lead over Biden is still 6 percentage points (41%-35%) with the addition of independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West.
"I wondered if that was [taken] in the boardroom there at CNN or if it was out in mainstream America," Burchett said. "I've just finished knocking on doors here in Knoxville, Tennessee. It's hot and I'm staying hydrated. But I'm going to tell you, brother, people ... they laugh at her. It's unbelievable. She is not taken seriously.
"She's the classic vice president. Don't do anything. Don't break anything. But everything she touches, she seems to break."
Burchett said Trump is much better equipped to manage a national security crisis than Harris and that his vision for Americans — less government interference, lower taxes, a tighter border, fewer regulations — is much better than what Harris would provide.
"Can you imagine Kamala Harris in charge of anything?" Burchett asked. "It would be more bureaucracy, more DEI, less productivity, higher prices, more inflation, more people over the [border]. The so-called border czar, she couldn't find the border if it was on the back of her hand.
"She has no qualities that I think are in leadership, and she should not be the vice president nor the president."
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