Republican Party presidential candidate donald trump is reinforcing why he keeps mispronouncing Vice President Kamala Harris’ first name.
Trump repeatedly I messed up Harris’ name on Friday while speaking at the Believers Summit, an event held by the conservative Christian group Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“Some people think I pronounce it wrong on purpose, but I’ve actually heard it seven different ways,” he said. “There are many ways.”
The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate has made it clear how she pronounces her own name. She released a PSA during his 2016 Senate run, demonstrating how to pronounce it. She is previously suggested People remember this by thinking, “comma, like punctuation mark.”
Its pronunciation varies from the traditional pronunciation from the Indian name, which is closer to “com’la”.
However, neither of these versions is the one Trump arrived at. He pronounced the name “Ka-MA-luh,” with heavy emphasis on the second syllable.
He claims he was once told that “KA-ma-luh” or “Ka-MA-luh” were OK, but ultimately, he told the crowd, he just doesn’t care about getting it right.
“I said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” he recalled. “It doesn’t matter what I say. I couldn’t care less if I pronounced it wrong or not. I couldn’t care less.”
Sociolinguistics professor Nicole Holliday told HuffPost this week that right now, many Republicans who pronounce Harris’ name incorrectly do so “on purpose”, and this may even be a way of signaling their political opinions.
“If you’re a Republican, or let’s say an independent but leaning Republican, and you say, ‘Kuh-MA-luh,’ then everyone knows…either you’re not really for it or you’re not consuming the media where people worry about saying her name, right? she said.
But “Kamala” wasn’t the only word Trump didn’t get right on Friday. At one point he also said “Harris” in a that sounded like “Harrah.” At the another timehe expressed the need for Republicans to defeat her “in a ‘campaign.’”
