Kremlin propagandists and Russian media have launched scathing attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.
Biden, 81, endorsed Harris, 59, to take his place after he announced on Sunday that he will not seek a second term in office. He had faced intensifying pressure from the Democratic Party to withdraw following his disastrous CNN debate with Republican Donald Trump in June that raised concerns about his mental acuity and ability to serve another term in office.
Harris has since gained the support of a majority of Democrats in Congress and all of the Democratic governors for her bid to become the party's nominee for president against Trump. According to an unofficial tally by The Associated Press, Harris had by Monday night far surpassed the 1,976 delegates needed to win on a first ballot.
Guests on Russian state TV were quick to launch attacks against Harris after news broke that Biden was dropping out of the 2024 race for the White House.
"Kamala with a nuclear button is worse than a monkey with a grenade," Andrey Sidorov, dean of world politics at Moscow State University, said on the Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov show, which is aired by state TV channel Russia-1.
Harris' laugh was also scrutinized on the show, Agentstvo, an independent Russian investigative site reported. An excerpt of Trump dubbing the vice president "Laffin' Kamala" was aired.
Kremlin propagandists aired a clip of Trump saying: "I call her 'Laffin' Kamala.' You ever watch her laugh? She's crazy. You know, you can tell a lot by a laugh."
Solovyov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a state TV host, then described Harris as "a merry giggler."
In a separate broadcast on Russia-1, shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the Daily Beast's Julia Davis, Russian pundits took aim at the vice president.
"If Harris stays, what do we know about her? She is a distilled evil," said Oleg Matveychev, a member of Russia's parliament, the State Duma. "At least Biden represented a remnant of the old conservative America...In [Harris], you have the devil in his purest form."
Russian tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda described Harris on Monday as a "lame duck's accomplice with a nuclear button."
Newsweek has contacted a spokesperson for Kamala Harris for comment by email.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race on Monday by recounting remarks from Putin in February in which he said that "predictable" Biden was preferable to Russia than Trump, but that he was willing to work with any U.S. president.
"[Biden] is a more experienced, predictable person, a politician of the old school. But we will work with any U.S. leader who is trusted by the American people," Putin said at the time.
"The elections are still four months away, and that is a long period of time in which a lot can change. We need to be patient and carefully monitor what happens," Peskov told the Russian Telegram channel SHOT.
Harris said in a statement late on Monday that when she announced her campaign for president, "I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination."
"Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party's nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state's delegation helped put our campaign over the top," she added. "I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon."
Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
