Politics - News Analysis

WH Reporter Gets Flamed on Social Media for Accusing Kamala of Using a ‘Fake’ French Accent

You know, you can just NOT write up the stuff you think is dumb, ma'am.

Jennifer Jacobs, a White House reporter for Bloomberg News, is probably regretting her decision to post a pretty dumb tweet on Friday. There comes a time for any journalist to examine if the thing they’re about to report on is worth reporting, and Jacobs seems to be a poor judge of that worthiness.

The backstory is that conservatives, desperate to portray any word or action from any liberal as hypocritically offensive, began floating a story about Vice President Kamala Harris this week, accusing her of adopting a “fake French accent” while visiting the country.

But the most annoying thing about conservatives’ faux-outrage at things like Obama’s tan suit or the order of Joe Biden’s words while he recounts an old story is when mainstream media picks up the story as though it has some merit. These things are literally non-stories made up by Republicans specifically and obviously to jab at Democrats.

Seeing nonsense like this legitimized by an actual reporter is infuriating.

Jacobs tweeted:

“Some critics,” Jen? Who are they? This sounds an awful lot like Donald Trump saying “a lot of people have told me,” when we know in fact that there is no one who has told him the thing he’s about to say.

Just take the claim as being as ridiculous as it is. Have none of these critics ever watched an NFL football game where the players introduce themselves on the broadcast and literally half of them say they’re from “THEE Ohio State”? I bet they don’t think those guys sound French.

Jacobs caught some flak, though, and rightfully so. Even the New York Times‘s Maggie Haberman called her out on “some critics”:

Jacobs tried to defend herself, but the damage was done.

Everyone saw Jacobs’ tweet for exactly what it was — an unnecessary amplification of an already-silly topic. Hardball host Matt Negrin tweeted:

The news industry allows reporters to amplify bad-faith Republican propaganda without fear of discipline because the default starting point for political news-gathering is ‘what are my Republican friends saying in the group chat?

Intercept writer Dan Moritz-Rabson noted:

‘Some critics’ gives a lot of credit to Josh Hawley’s press secretary and right wing groups whose mission is to create scandal where there isn’t one. The critics/supporters dichotomy is a bad press tactic that gives equal weight to 2 sides, even when that balance isn’t merited.

Hey, Jen. Let’s stick to the real stories and not give any more airtime to what the Republicans want people to be talking about when there are actual grownups doing grownup things.

Others were just as angry:

meet the author

Andrew is a dark blue speck in deep red Central Washington, writing with the conviction of 18 years at the keyboard and too much politics to even stand. When not furiously stabbing the keys on breaking news stories, he writes poetry, prose, essays, haiku, lectures, stories for grief therapy, wedding ceremonies, detailed instructions on making doughnuts from canned biscuit dough (more sugar than cinnamon — duh), and equations to determine the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. A girlfriend, a dog, two cats, and two birds round out the equation, and in his spare time, Drewbear likes to imagine what it must be like to have spare time.

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