Vice President Kamala Harris, alongside running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), visited a marching band at Liberty County High School on their two-day bus tour through rural Georgia, with the vice president sharing her thoughts on leadership and teamwork. The unscripted talk has some critics panning her comments as “painful to watch.”
Walz, a former high school teacher and coach, began the visit on Wednesday by discussing the importance of education and telling the students they are the future. He introduced Harris as “a really great head coach” and the “next president of the United States.”
“We wanted to come by to let you know that our country is counting on all of you. You are leaders by the very fact that you all are here in this room,” Harris said with big hand and arm gestures.
She continued talking in incomplete sentences and with more big hand gestures. “Doing what you do at this incredible school. Doing it as one big team. Understanding all the different parts that fit together to create a team,” she said.
“You are doing some of the best work any of you can do, and we’re so proud of you. And we’re counting on you,” she said.
The vice president further elaborated on her thoughts about leadership.
“Your generation, all that you guys stand for, everything you have at stake, is what is going to propel our country into the next era of what we can do,” the presidential candidate said.
Her talk grew more inspirational as she turned to a different side of the room.
“And I want to say to you that you must always lead as you have chosen to lead. Understand that you don’t have to ask anybody’s permission. And I think you all can figure that out. You’ve decided to be a leader. And in doing that, you are also role models, right? Welcome to the role model club,” Harris said. “Being a role model, right, means that there are members of your family, live in your neighborhood, your classmates, who watch you and see that’s how it’s done.”
Harris shared more wisdom with the Georgia teenagers about hard work and being a “role model.”
“You are showing what hard work can achieve, what discipline can do, what teamwork can do, and that’s the stuff of great leadership. All of you,” she said.
She then told them how proud she and Walz were of their hard work.
“We wanted to come by to remind you that our nation is counting on you. We’re so proud of you and everything you have achieved,” the Democratic presidential candidate said.
Harris said she was in a band when she was in high school and acknowledged there is “a whole lot of” practice and rehearsal.
MSNBC anchor Jen Psaki praised Harris’s talk and the “authenticity” of the high school stop.
“If they’re showing up at a high school, it’s probably appealing to the parents and people who have kids who are in bands and the grandparents and things along those lines. But I love these local stops, too, because it does show you the authenticity. You look at that and compare it with J.D. Vance at the doughnut shop,” the former Biden press secretary said.
Social media users had a different reaction to Harris’s talk and said it reminded them of her previous “kindergarten teacher” mode when talking to large audiences.
“Kamala Harris goes full kindergarten teacher mode while explaining what ‘teamwork’ means to a group of high schoolers. Painful to watch,” Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk said on X.
“Why is Kamala speaking to these high schoolers as if they’re toddlers?” another social media user asked.
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“Another Kamala word salad, a whole bunch of circular nothing about ‘leadership’ to high schoolers, each of which can probably speak better than she can,” another person quipped.
“Kamala explains the concept of how teams work together to a high school band as if they are 5 years old. It’s a real mystery why her handlers never let her speak without a script,” a critic responded.