Do you remember Jacob Wohl? He’s the guy who accused Robert Mueller of being a rapist based on an investigation by a made-up company called Surefire Intelligence. Today, Wohl tweeted that Kamala Harris is not eligible to run for President because…well, it doesn’t really matter:
Kamala Harris is NOT eligible to be President. Her father arrived from Jamaica in 1961mother from India arrived in 1960
Neither parent was a legal resident for 5 years prior to Harriss birth, a requirement for naturalization
Kamala was raised in Canada
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) January 22, 2019
Here’s the only part that matters in this apparent attempt to jumpstart Birtherism 2.0: Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California. Her parents divorced when she was a kid and she moved with her mom to Montreal, then returned to the U.S. to attend Howard University. But again, the only part that matters here is that she was born in Oakland. She’s an American citizen. Fin.
Ana Navaro immediately piled on this and for once she was right:
Here we go again with the birther crap. Same drummed-up charge used against Obama to question his citizenship and legitimacy. Hmmmmm…..I wonder what Obama and @KamalaHarris have in common? 🤔 https://t.co/FJALAcAsXd
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) January 22, 2019
At this point, CNN’s Chris Cuomo tried to jump on the bandwagon and it didn’t go well (Note: he deleted the tweet so I’m using a screencap):
Maybe if he’d stuck to the first half of that first sentence he’d be making some kind of a point, but the rest of this is just a mess. What “legit info about Harris” are we waiting on here? She was born in Oakland. That’s it. It’s settled. Cuomo compounds his problem when he adds that “the longer there is no proof either way, the deeper the effect.”
Huh?
What proof are we waiting on and who is supposed to provide it? I thought this response from Popehat seemed apt:
Be less stupid
— NeverSaid"Hat" (@Popehat) January 22, 2019
But Cuomo tried to explain:
Go look at Obama scenario – first it was the mother then the father then no records then fake records then about his faith and his name … if the accusers keep shifting to avoid fact and harness animus, we must call it out. Period. Ok?!?!? https://t.co/a1Oqh6nZao
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2019
I guess that sort of explains his line about “righty accusers” changing stories. But what about the rest?
Talking abt the accusers. Not the senator. Read, think…this is Twitter…dont just assume things. Ask. They made the accusation. They need to back it up. Period. https://t.co/0DiOwNa4CN
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2019
That bullshit. It is on the ACCUSER to prove what they say about Harris. Not on her. Thats my point. Thats the only point here. https://t.co/rIQb3t6afB
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2019
But…you said the legit info about Harris had to come out. Are the accusers going to provide that legit info? Does Chris Cuomo think it was the Obama birthers who got the correct information to the public? If not, then who is going to do it? Next he tried some humor which might have been funny if he wasn’t obviously trying to change the subject:
I owe you no such response. You accuse, you prove. First, whatever my hair is it is better than yours…second, if it is an actual dead animal on my head – does that count as a toupee? https://t.co/hdt3zgJqh0
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2019
Finally, he just pretended he’d said something completely different from what he actually said:
Agreed https://t.co/2Im016s3jK
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2019
I’ve seen some folks on Twitter suggest that Cuomo is just trolling, that it’s a cunning attempt to keep himself relevant by stirring up people. I honestly don’t think that’s it. There’s no 11-dimensional chess happening here. This is the guy, after all, who defended Antifa on the grounds that “all punches are not equal” and “fighting hate is right.” And in that case, he’d clearly thought about it beforehand. So, I don’t think he’s being clever hear to get clicks but YMMV.
And now I see that Mother Jones is blaming this on “conservatives” when it’s actually one guy on Twitter who has been widely and openly mocked by people on the right. The link leads to a post by Kevin Drum who doesn’t actually blame this on anyone but Jacob Wohl. So I guess it’s just the social media people at Mother Jones spreading the blame.
Conservatives have already launched a racist, disgusting lie against Kamala Harris https://t.co/1d4hZwzRTL pic.twitter.com/5p04YiA8G5
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) January 22, 2019