On Sunday, social media users hit out at Vice President Kamala Harris, who posted a tweet featuring herself unmasked, posing with a young black girl wearing a mask.
Harris posted the picture from her personal account along with a comment meant to inspire “Black women and girls everywhere.”
“My message to Black women and girls everywhere: Never ask for permission to lead,” Harris tweeted.
However, she received near immediate pushback from Twitter users, who joked at the irony of combining the caption with the image.
“The rage I feel when I see adults without masks and children wearing them is not good for my health,” comedian Bridget Phetasy wrote.
“Make damn sure that kid knows she’s a second-class citizen to you, Kamala,” commented lawyer Viva Frei.
“Did you mean ‘never mask for permission’?” wrote WalkUp Foundation founder Ryan Petty.
“But she needs to ask permission to breathe freely? GTFO,” defense attorney Marina Medvin commented.
“Are you serious? You’re muffling a child and think you’re conveying the message that she has the right to lead? You can’t be serious,” replied Civil liberties attorney Jenin Younes.
“All this picture does is remind us that you support masking children while you are unmasked yourself. You’re anti-science,” said conservative host Liz Wheeler.
Washington Examiner columnist Ian Hayworth joked, “Lead? Your boss is an old rich white guy.”
DeSantis Rapid Response Director Christina Pushaw tweeted, “Kids should not have to ask for permission to show their faces and breathe freely.”
Conservative Twitter personality Noam Blum remarked, “Interesting that the image description doesn’t mention the girl is masked.”
“Brainwashing and forcing kids to wear masks is child abuse,” commented the conservative duo the Hodge Twins
Why is the child masked but you are not? Aren’t you more the target age for Covid than she is? You disgust me,” commented California Republican Senate candidate James Bradley.
The photo in question came from an event from July 2021 where the vice president touted the American Rescue Plan allowing families to receive their first monthly Child Tax Credit relief payments.
This isn’t the first example of Harris facing backlash for appearing maskless while surrounded by masked schoolchildren. In April 2022, Harris attended a political event where a similar situation unfolded. She said at the time she declined to wear a mask because it was optional for both students and staff, yet every student in her general vicinity was wearing one.
Just days later, while presiding over the Senate, the vice president violated guidelines yet again, neglecting to wear a mask despite having been exposed to an infected staffer. She was frequently spotted without wearing one on the Senate floor. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines at the time recommended that people who received their COVID-19 booster shot and were exposed to COVID wear a mask in public for 10 days.
In a statement from the White House, an official insisted that Harris practiced “social distancing” with “limited” and “brief” interactions with others after consulting with a doctor.
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