The frontrunner status of Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination has led right-wingers to lose what little self-control they already possessed.

Rather than focus on issues where Harris, President Joe Biden, or the Democratic Party, in general, might be weak, MAGA trolls and pundits — especially those on social media — have decided to play to their base and employ various sexist, sexualized, and misogynistic attacks.

The most common refrain echoed by conservatives is that Harris is a “DEI hire,” based on the assertion that she was only selected as vice president due to her race and gender, as well as claims that she lacks intelligence, and is otherwise unqualified to be president.

Harris’s critics leave out that, prior to becoming the duly elected vice president, she served as the duly elected district attorney for San Francisco, the duly elected Attorney General for the state of California, and the duly elected U.S. senator for California — which happens to be the nation’s largest state and home to the world’s fifth-largest economy.

MAGA pundit Matt Walsh has gleefully circulated the accusation that Harris owes her political career to a short relationship she had with Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco.

Both Harris and Brown have acknowledged the relationship but downplayed it as largely irrelevant, especially with regard to Harris’s professional career — which started in 1990 when she was working for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, not in Brown’s home base of San Francisco, according to a fact-check by Reuters.

“Kamala Harris got her start in politics by sleeping with Willie Brown,” Walsh wrote on X. “She became Vice President because Biden needed a non-white female on the ticket…. She’s made a career out of begging for hand outs from powerful men.”

Kamala Harris got her start in politics by sleeping with Willie Brown. She became Vice President because Biden needed a non-white female on the ticket. Now she likely becomes the Democratic nominee for president because the guy at the top of the ticket has dementia. She’s made a…

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) July 21, 2024

Other online commenters attacked Harris for having an affair with Brown while he was still married to his wife. Brown had been separated from his wife for 13 years when he and Harris began dating, and the couple appeared at public events together, making no effort to conceal the relationship.

“Democrats spent eight years telling us Trump’s alleged sex with a porn star was major news,” Clay Travis, the right-wing founder of OutKick, whined. “So how is Kamala Harris starting her career in politics as the side chick of the married mayor of San Francisco not a hugely important story?”

Democrats spent eight years telling us Trump’s alleged sex with a porn star was major news. So how is Kamala Harris starting her career in politics as the side chick of the married mayor of San Francisco not a hugely important story?

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 21, 2024

Missouri Republican Secretary of State candidate Valentina Gomez posted a video of herself in front of the White House in which she attacked Harris.

“Kamala Harris slept her way to the top, and Tulsi Gabbard already destroyed and exposed her in 2020. Kamala is just another DEI hire, and President Trump is going to eat her alive,” Gomez said in the video, which has since been put on “limited” visibility for possibly violating X’s rules on “violent speech.” 

“Kamala Harris is a little whore and @TulsiGabbard exposed her in 2020. Truth hurts,” Gomez captioned the video post, referencing Gabbard, a former U.S. congresswoman from Hawaii who spends much of her time appearing on conservative media to attack the Democratic Party.

🚨Kamala Harris is a little whore and @TulsiGabbard exposed her in 2020. Truth hurts❤️ pic.twitter.com/5Lnu6d9n0G

— Valentina Gomez (@ValentinaForSOS) July 21, 2024

Others started circulating a video clip from 2021 featuring Republican presidential candidate J.D. Vance, in which the then-candidate for the U.S. Senate told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that Harris and other prominent Democrats should be disqualified from running the country because they do not have any biological children (a statement in keeping with Vance’s anti-abortion, pro-natalist views). 

“We’re effectively run in this country…by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance said.

“It’s just a basic fact,” he continued. “You have Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC [U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)] — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. How does that make any sense when we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t have a direct stake in it?” 

Vance made nearly identical comments at a conservative conference organized by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Alexandria, Virginia, that same year, disparaging Harris and other Democrats as the “childless Left,” regardless of the fact that Harris has two stepchildren. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, another target of that same rant, has two adopted children who Vance apparently views as not legitimate, in keeping with his opposition to LGBTQ rights.

The barrage of hateful social media posts about Harris shows no signs of abating, with some users posting memes sexualizing Harris. One post compares Harris to the “Hawk Tuah” girl, a woman who has become part of Internet lore after a video of her making glib comments about engaging in fellatio went viral. 

I’m going to show all the racism and misogyny that comes out. Some of you may not like it, but American needs to see exactly who they are. pic.twitter.com/Qfd0xznJhW

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 21, 2024

Right-wing pundit Konstantin Kisin referred to Harris’s sole qualification as having a “vagina of colour,” while another user, responding to a Harris-supportive post from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, referred to the vice president and Buttigieg (whose name has been floated as a possible running mate) as the “blowjob ticket.”

You couldn't write a better finale to the last 8 years than a demented President resigning and handing over the candidacy to someone who was picked because she had a vagina of colour.

— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) July 21, 2024

pic.twitter.com/dBgOxaMzL9

— Coloradosearcher (@Coloradosearch1) July 22, 2024

One political cartoonist made a comic of Harris preparing to fellate the Washington Monument, while another made a post suggesting that Harris would perform sexual acts in exchange for votes.

A left-wing user compiled a series of memes, including fake campaign logos, shared on multiple accounts sexualizing Harris or implying she is sexually loose.

Defenders of those memes have jumped on board, claiming that the attacks aren’t sexist, they’re just specifically targeting Harris.

“Explain to me how criticizing Harris for how she got her job somehow has anything to do with other women? Most women don’t sleep thier way to the top. You lumping her in with other women is gross on your part,” wrote one user.

Explain to me how criticizing Harris for how she got her job somehow has anything to do with other women?
Most women don’t sleep thier way to the top.
You lumping her in with other women is gross on your part.

— Hot Hand Sports (@hothandsports1) July 22, 2024

Left-wing commenters have already hit back at the attacks.

“‘We aren’t racist or sexist’ says the party that IMMEDIATELY makes racist jokes about black presidential nominees and sexist jokes about female presidential nominees,” wrote one user.

"We aren't racist or sexist" says the party that IMMEDIATELY makes racist jokes about black presidential nominees and sexist jokes about female presidential nominees.

— Christlevania (kris-uhl-vane-yuh) (@stealthmantis) July 22, 2024

“Watch them lose this election and then dedicate a plank in their party platform for repealing the 19th amendment,” another user said of Republicans.

Watch them lose this election and then dedicate a plank in their party platform for repealing the 19th amendment.

— highprogressive🥂🇦🇶 (@highprogressive) July 22, 2024

“The fit they’ll throw if they lose to Kamala will be legendary,” wrote a third. 

The fit they'll throw if they lose to Kamala will be legendary 🫡

— Blasco (@Blasco_Tweets) July 22, 2024