The secretary of the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, was unable to escape the control of Twitter users on Wednesday after calling vice president Kamala Harris “the president” during a conference.
Jean-Pierre initially mentioned Harris when she talked about the vice president’s plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Roe V. Wade’s decision in the commitment to speak in Florida Sunday. While reiterating that “the president and vice-president are still committed to fighting these extreme attacks against women and expanding access to reproductive treatments,” she apparently used the title of President Biden when he referred to Harris.
“This Sunday, the president will speak about the fight to guarantee women’s fundamental right to reproductive health in the face of these attacks,” Jean-Pierre said. “She will speak about what is at stake for millions of women across the country and, more importantly, the need for Congress to codify Roe’s protections into law.”
She didn’t correct himself for the mistake or seem to notice the slip.
Social media users noticed this by teasing the White House press secretary and wondering whether or not it was a Freudian slip.
“She’s SO bad at her job,” tweeted comedian Tim Young.
“It is strange that President Biden and his White House press secretary keep referring to Kamala Harris as the ‘President.’ It happens over and over again. Is this standard? Did President Trump or President Obama refer to their vice presidents as the “President”? Did their Press Secretary?” asked Outsports writer Cyd Zeigler.
Radio host Mike Opelka quipped, “I took a 30-minute nap and missed Kamala’s swearing-in?”
Townhall.com web editor Rebecca Downs wrote: “It will be interesting to see if the official WH transcript corrects this… Also, the GOP has taken back the House, Roe v. Wade won’t be ‘codified’ anytime soon.” not to mention that the bill in question here would radically expand it.”
“They keep jumping forward in the script,” commented Substack writer Jim Treacher.
Biden himself made the same mistake several times, calling Harris president. No later than Jan. 5, referred to “President Harris” for his work on the southern border.
“President Harris has led this effort. He has led this effort to make it better in the countries that they are leaving,” Biden said. “Through his leadership, she was able to generate more than $3.2 billion from the private sector to create jobs and opportunities in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.”
