Vice President Kamala Harris pulled the plug on the crowd’s energy during a Michigan rally on Monday after a bizarre request that left her supporters in stunned silence.
“We are all here because we are fighting for a democracy and for the right of people to be heard and seen,” the Democratic nominee explained to the exuberant crowd in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“We’re not about the enemy within. We know we are all in this together. That’s what we are fighting for,” Harris added.
The lines drew applause from her supporters and chants of “Ka-ma-la, Ka-ma-la.”
Apparently eager to move her stump speech along, Harris deployed what many on social media called a “cringe” joke that abruptly shut down the cheers.
“Now I want each of you to shout your own name. Do that,” Harris demanded.
The befuddled crowd went almost silent as the vice president laughed at the confusion she created.
“It’s about all of us,” Harris explained, before moving on with her speech.
Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller shared a clip of the awkward moment on X, captioning it with three facepalm emojis.
“Classic Kamala! Her lack of connection with the audience is cringeworthy,” another X user wrote. “This is not leadership!”
Several people compared Harris’ rally request to the incompetent and cringeworthy behavior of Selina Meyer – the fictional vice president on the hit HBO comedy show “Veep”.
“I swear they could redo Veep with clips of Kamala and it would be even funnier than the original,” an X user wrote.
“The way the crowd stopped is hilarious,” another person observed.
Harris was mocked earlier on Monday when during a tour of a semiconductor plant in Saginaw she asked if she could touch a razor-sharp piece of silicon on display at the manufacturing facility.
“Do not touch it,” a hard-hat wearing factory worker immediately told the vice president, as her hand hovered over a rod of the metaloid.
Harris was accompanied at the Ann Arbor rally by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers, who performed several songs ahead of the Democratic nominee’s speech.
Last week, some Harris supporters in Houston were left disappointed that Grammy-award winning artist Beyonce’ didn’t perform during a brief appearance at a rally for the vice president.
The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Harris trailing former President Donald Trump in Michigan by one-tenth of 1%.
There are 15 Electoral College votes up for grabs in the Wolverine State on Election Day.
