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Now we know where the sex smears against Kamala Harris came from

Published on 80 Comments on Now we know where the sex smears against Kamala Harris came from

Semafor published a story this evening about a mysterious right wing financier who organized a secret¹ group of conservative influencers to smear Kamala Harris with sexual innuendo:

This influencer network was organized over emails and Zoom calls....The money was good: One participant made more than $20,000 for several weeks of boosting assigned messages, according to the Zelle receipts.

....An invitation to a call on Monday, July 22, arrived under the subject line “War Room — Kamala Messaging”....The influencers’ marching orders were clear: make a series of lurid sexual jibes aimed at Harris, the least crude of which was comparing her to Haliey Welch, the “Hawk Tuah girl” who became a viral sensation over a video of her discussing oral sex.

But wait. There's a punch line. Nobody knows who was on these calls, with one exception:

Semafor was able to identify one of them: former New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who spoke up on one conference call to object when the parties discussed making sexual allegations against Harris.

In other words, this operation was so disgusting that even George Santos refused to be a part of it. And Semafor was too embarrassed to describe it. But apparently everyone else had no problems at all. They happily took the money and followed their marching orders. Welcome to right wing social media.

¹Really secret: "None of the participants identified themselves by name, and all joined calls with their cameras off to preserve their mutual anonymity."

80 thoughts on “Now we know where the sex smears against Kamala Harris came from”

  2. Brett

    Probably a big part of the reason why a number of conservative influencers took no-questions-asked money from a shady business front for Russian intelligence is that this is basically the state of play in that economy: it's all awash with dubious dark money funding right-wing stuff.

  3. KenSchulz

    Bad enough that so many in the GOP are gullible, willfully ignorant cultists; now add amoral money-grubbing sleazeballs — yecch, time to take out the garbage. Vote Blue, up and down the ballot.

    1. barry bear

      MEOOOOOW !! The Republicans are up shit creek without a paddle ! What do the poor Republicans do ? WHY what they have always done....smear, lie, cheat, steal. What do you expect? The Republicans are being lead by a CROOK. A CONVICTED SEX FELON!! Kitties know.

  5. lancc

    Not too terribly surprising. Whatever Trump gets nailed on, the Trumpies and the right wing try to pin something similar on the opposition. Trump got impeached, so the House had to do its own impeachment inquiry against Biden. Similarly the claims that the Bidens are corrupt. So now, in the face of the Stormie Daniels story, they want to add some editorial balance by attacking Harris.

    It doesn't seem to be sticking very well, at least out here in sane-land. To the contrary, weird is still working.

  6. Justin

    Funny part is… I only hear these things from lefty folks. I’m not plugged in to the right wing memes so people like Mr. Drum (and I guess semafor) end up being the ones spreading them.

    Maybe don’t do that?

    1. zic

      Because if you are 'not plugged into the right wing media,' just because you don't hear about the smears unless an ally on the left repeats them, does not mean the smears go away when you can't hear them.

      Traditionally, men (mostly white) have honor until their dishonor is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

      Traditionally, women (worse for black women) have reputations which can be smeared by a rumor, making the unfit for general society.

      So don't act like a child and pretend this will go away if you can just ignore it. Better to be a man with real honor and stand up for a woman's good reputation and her right to bodily autonomy. Same as the honorable men already have.

  7. MF

    What sex smears?

    I do not think anyone denies that Harris was Willie Brown's mistress and that he played a key role in launching her political career. I think we all assume that means they had sex ace such an assumption is hardly a smear.

    Is there anything else?

    1. TheMelancholyDonkey

      You could read the article, or even Kevin's summary, but I guess that's too hard for you.

      An invitation to a call on Monday, July 22, arrived under the subject line “War Room — Kamala Messaging”....The influencers’ marching orders were clear: make a series of lurid sexual jibes aimed at Harris, the least crude of which was comparing her to Haliey Welch, the “Hawk Tuah girl” who became a viral sensation over a video of her discussing oral sex.

              1. ScentOfViolets

                Well, I read it, but I can't find the part where it says there was an explicit quid pro quo of sex for advancement. Did you even read the article?

                  1. ScentOfViolets

                    Oh dear lord. I'm not going to waste any more time googling the many, many people who've said exactly that. Including Trump. I'm not even going to say the word he used, it's so disgusting. So looks like you're all done in, son:

                    Gotcha.

                  2. memyselfandi

                    No where does your citation support your bald face lie that she was Brown's mistress or that he played the key role in launching her political career. You truly are an example of the lowest type of human filth that lives on this planet.

              2. Steve C

                From *your* source.
                "The claim Harris “had an affair with a married man” is technically true. But given Brown had been separated from his wife for more than a decade, the claim is misleading"

                Why did you choose to phrase your accusation in a way that you admit is misleading?

                  1. memyselfandi

                    You really are the most worthless human scum imaginable. Nothing in your citation supports the use of the word mistress or that Brown played a key role in launching her political career. They broke up before he ran for mayor of San Francisco. She had the same job when they broke up as when they started dating.

            1. Coby Beck

              As per Steve C above:

              From *your* source.
              "The claim Harris “had an affair with a married man” is technically true. But given Brown had been separated from his wife for more than a decade, the claim is misleading"

              Why did you choose to phrase your accusation in a way that you admit is misleading?

                2. ScentOfViolets

                  What does misleading have to do with being true?

                  God, please tell me you've been drinking. Heavily. Come to that, it explains your performance art to a 'T':

                  You're a troll, subtype the drunk-posting troll.

          1. ScentOfViolets

            Well, I read it, but I can't find the part where it says there was an explicit quid pro quo of sex for advancement. Did you even read the article?

          2. Coby Beck

            As per Steve C above:

            From *your* source.
            "The claim Harris “had an affair with a married man” is technically true. But given Brown had been separated from his wife for more than a decade, the claim is misleading"

            Why did you choose to phrase your accusation in a way that you admit is misleading?

    4. memyselfandi

      "I do not think anyone denies that Harris was Willie Brown's mistress and that he played a key role in launching her political career. " When Harris and Brown began dating, she was a deputy district attorney for Alameda County CA. Brown was a state legislator (and speaker of the state house) whose district did not include Alameda County. When the broke up, she was still a deputy district attorney for Alameada county and he was still a state legislator from a district that did not contain Alaemeda county.. Your claim she was Brown;s mistress is in fact entirely do to the indisputable fact that you are an extremely dishonorable lying piece of human garbage. Your claim that Brown played a key role is again, entirely due to the indisputable and irrefutable fact that you are an extremely dishonorable lying piece of human garbage.

  8. James B. Shearer

    "In other words, this operation was so disgusting that even George Santos refused to be a part of it. ..."

    It appears the likely source for this is George Santos. Who maybe isn't totally reliable.

  9. Traveller

    Thank the United States Supreme Court and Citizens United for all this dark money and the inevitable, if the Court had had any foresight, they would have known, this slide into money corruption.

    The Robert's Court will go down in history known for the American blood they helped spill with gun violence everywhere and corrupt rivers of foreign and domestic dirty money.

    I am always too easy on the Robert's Court

    1. Austin

      If they win and destroy our democracy and constitution, the Roberts Court will go down in history as the bestest court ever. The victors write the history books and burn everything else.

    2. golack

      I remember Alito saying "No" when Obama called out the Citizen's United ruling for what it was at the State of the Union...good times...

    3. zaphod

      if the Court had had any foresight, they would have known, this slide into money corruption.

      The Court did have foresight. In the eyes of the five Republicans who voted for it, money corruption was a feature, not a bug.

    5. memyselfandi

      "f the Court had had any foresight, they would have known, this slide into money corruption." The justices who voted for citizens united did so explicitly because they are very pro-corruption.

  14. Austin

    Kamala obviously needs to do MOAR interviews, with mainstream media interviewers who will focus on policy and certainly won’t ask her to respond to the sex smears, right Kevin?

    1. Joseph Harbin

      Having mainstream news reporters ask Harris for her reaction to the lies that are being spread about her has become what mainstream journalism considers "good" journalism.

      "Well, she denied the allegations. But she did seem rather defensive and in a hurry to get to the next question. Hmm."

      Harris, like Biden, is absolutely right not to run the campaign using news media's ground rules.

      1. Josef

        The MSM in its haste to be fair and balanced has lost all objectivity. Trump has succeeded in neutering the MSM for the most part.

  15. Joseph Harbin

    One of the paradoxes of our political media age is that more people will hear about the sex smears against Harris through the Semafor article and other media (and related discussions like this one) than through the secret network of influencers that the financier paid.

    Of course, anyone paying attention knows the smears are lies. But if you tell ten people "here are the lies they're spreading," a certain percentage (a third? more?) will remember the lie but forget it's not true. It all becomes fodder for the gossip mill.

    1. memyselfandi

      "that more people will hear about the sex smears against Harris through the Semafor article and other media (and related discussions like this one) than through the secret network of influencers that the financier paid." That's a 100% false. AS MF posted, almost all americans have been told that Harris was Brown's mistress and became a successful politician solely through her performance of oral sex.

  17. golack

    How many front page articles are now about Trump. How many about Harris.
    Harris is out campaigning, coverage is, at the best, below the fold (kids will have to look up that one). Trump sends out nonsense tweets--headlines!!!

      1. Josef

        Elon Musks supposed bastion of free speech is nothing more than a different and worse form of the National Enquirer. I prefer the name Shitter™. It's far more fitting than X.

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