‘Cardi B’ Bombs Her Kamala Harris Endorsement, and Van Jones Explains Why He’s ‘Nervous’

The race could not be closer, and when Democrats start to get nervous, they retreat to their comfort zone: Embracing celebrities. 

It doesn’t matter how many elections America has that show celebrity endorsements range from completely irrelevant to harmful, you can count on the Democrat nominee trotting out a slew of “stars” with awful records of decision-making. I mean, who wouldn’t want to take their voting cues from Diddy’s ex-girlfriend or female rappers who drop the n-word during rallies?

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Enter Cardi B, who is most famous for simulating sex acts on stage while lip-syncing about her genitalia. Vice President Kamala Harris, believing she needed a last-minute boost, trotted the performer out in Wisconsin. Things did not go well. I lost a few dozen IQ points just watching this once.

I’d normally transcribe a clip like that for you guys, but I just can’t do it. If you can’t watch the clip or want to save your brain cells, the teleprompter went out and Cardi B couldn’t muster a sentence on her own. A handler then ran out a phone so she could read her barely minute-long speech, and I use the word “read” very loosely there. It was an embarrassing and damning indictment of our culture. 

That leads me to Van Jones. Being one of the few remaining Democrat voices in the press who will tell it like it is, it’s worth noting that he’s very “nervous” about this particular Harris strategy.

CNN political commentator Van Jones said Monday that he was “nervous” about Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign events with celebrities in Pennsylvania in the final days before the election and likened it to 2016, when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump.

“The other thing that makes me nervous, in 2016, we had a big star-studded event right on the edge of the election, and we lost the state,” Jones said.  “I don’t think people understand, working people sometimes have to choose. Am I going to go to the big, cool concert and pay for babysitting for that or am I going to figure out a way to get to the polls? I don‘t like these big star-studded events.”

“In fact, they probably helped us lose less time,” he continued. “I’m just nervous, nervous.”

Any campaign wanting to use celebrities on the trail should be asking if these star-studded events actually move votes. Given what happened to Hillary Clinton in 2016, I would suggest they do not, and Jones is right to worry about the effects. The practical issue of drawing people to big rallies when you’d rather have them heading to the polls is understandable. I don’t think that’s the primary issue, though. 

I believe the optics of these endorsements are simply bad for Harris. Working-class people in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Georgia, among other places, do not want a minute-long appearance by Cardi B. They want lower grocery prices. They want to be able to afford a mortgage. They want the border to be secure. They want a foreign policy that doesn’t leave their taxpayer money being sent overseas instead of into their communities. Harris’ celebrity onslaught only makes her look more tone-deaf. It makes her look more out of touch with the everyday issues Americans deal with. 

So why do Democrats do this despite there being no reason to think it helps them? It’s a symptom of their narcissism mixed with their insecurity. When the going gets tough, they lean on what will get them backslaps in the press and make them feel like part of the special club. That means trotting out Cardi B and Jennifer Lopez instead of speaking directly to voters about what they care about. If that’s Harris’ closing strategy, Jones should be worried.