- In a verbal slip-up, Harris spoke of reducing the ‘population’ in order to breathe clean air
- The White House later confirmed that he meant to say ‘reduce pollution’
- However, the mistake has sparked wild and unfounded conspiracy theories
Vice President Kamala Harris made a verbal slip on Friday that fueled a flurry of conspiracy theories, after she spoke of the need to ‘reduce population’ instead of pollution.
‘If we invest in clean energy and electric vehicles and reduce the population, more of our children will be able to breathe clean air and drink clean water,’ Harris said during a speech in Baltimore. in the fight against climate change.
The official White House transcript of the comments corrected the apparent error, crossing out the word ‘population’ and adding ‘pollution’ in brackets to show what Harris meant.
The gaffe quickly drew derision from conservatives on Twitter, especially after a clip of the event was posted by Republicans. The National Committee’s @RNCResearch account, which quickly seized on Harris’ slip-ups.
‘I see Kamala Harris subscribes to the Thanos approach to dealing with scarce resources,’ one user joked, referring to the fictional Marvel villain who wiped out half the population of the universe.
The comment also fed into long-standing conspiracy theories that a cabal of the world’s elite had a plan to dramatically reduce the world’s population in order to more easily monitor and control people.
‘He speaks the quiet part out loud,’ one user commented, presumably jokingly.
Versions of the unfounded theory date back to at least the 1960s, when fringe figures suggested that vaccines or water fluoridation were communist plots to wipe out the US population and control the country.
The theory enjoyed a renaissance during the COVID-19 pandemic, when conspiracy theories falsely suggested that vaccines to protect against the virus were a ploy to control the world’s population.
Like Harris’ other recent gaffes, the mistake diverted attention from the purpose of his remarks, in which he spoke about a $20 billion investment in a national financial network to fund projects in clean energy as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Harris has repeatedly drawn conservative ridicule in recent days for his verbal gaffes, including a mixed explanation of artificial intelligence earlier this week.
‘AI is a wonderful thing. First of all, it’s two letters. It stands for ‘Artificial Intelligence,’” Harris told a roundtable gathering of labor and civil rights leaders in Washington DC on Wednesday.
He continued: ‘It’s about machine learning, and so, the machine is taught – and part of the issue here is what information goes into the machine to learn later – and we can predict before, if we think about which information goes into, what then can be done in terms of decisions and opinions that can be made through the process.’
On Tuesday the VP faced similar criticism for his simplified explanation of transport at an event with Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday.
‘This transportation issue is fundamentally about making sure people have the ability to get where they need to go,’ he told a gathering of disability rights advocates. ‘This is fundamental.’
Harris has had a string of similar recent gaffes, and last Friday he awkwardly blurted out a ‘word salad’ when trying to describe the ‘culture’ of New Orleans’ Essence Festival.
‘Culture – it is a reflection of our time and our time. Right?’ the vice president thought.
‘And today’s culture is how we express how we feel about the moment, and we always have to find times to express how we feel about the moment,’ Harris continued.
‘It is a meditation on happiness. Because, you know,’ he said, pausing and then laughing, ‘it’s coming in the morning.’
Then he added, ‘We have to find ways to also express what we feel about the moment in terms of just having the language and connection to how people experience life. And I think about it that way, too.’
While President Joe Biden, 80, has sometimes been criticized for verbal stumbles and gaffes, Harris has been accused of speaking almost nonsensically at times.
His signature gaffes include any strange simplistic truisms, or convoluted explanations that are difficult to understand.
The Daily Show compared he is not in favor of HBO showing Veep’s fictional character Selina Meyer, who has a penchant for using truisms and circular explanations.
In real life, other vice presidents have also faced severe ridicule for their outspoken remarks, as Republican Dan Quayle discovered during the George HW Bush administration.
Biden has already pledged to keep Harris on his 2024 ticket as he seeks re-election, even though he faces approval ratings that are generally lower than his.
Through the latest polling data from July 14, Harris holds a 51.3 disapproval rating, with only 39 percent of Americans saying they approve of him, according to FiveThirtyEight. com,
