Vice President Kamala Harris baffled disaster victims Monday, January 13, 2025, with another bewildering “word salad” during a White House briefing on the Los Angeles wildfires that have claimed 25 lives and left thousands homeless.
“It’s critically important that, to the extent you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and unprecedented crisis, that you do,” Harris said, attempting to advise Californians who had lost their homes and were desperate to return to their neighborhoods. Her circuitous response drew immediate ridicule online.
The Vice President’s convoluted message to fire victims marks the latest in a long series of perplexing public statements that have characterized her time in office. “So basically, these victims should be unburdened by what has been,” one social media user wrote, mocking Harris by referencing one of her previous famous verbal gaffes.
Harris’ meandering response came as flames consumed over 40,000 acres across Southern California, with the Pacific Palisades neighborhood suffering catastrophic damage after all three Los Angeles Water and Power Department water tanks ran dry within hours of the fire’s start. Fire officials confirmed the lack of water pressure left them virtually powerless to protect homes in the early hours of the blaze.
Critics labeled her response “tone-deaf” and “stunningly inappropriate” for a disaster where clear communication could mean the difference between life and death. Emergency management experts noted that crisis communication should prioritize clarity and directness – qualities notably absent from the Vice President’s remarks.
The situation struck particularly close to home for Harris, whose own Brentwood residence lies within an evacuation zone. She canceled her final foreign trip as Vice President to Singapore, Bahrain, and Germany scheduled for January 13-17, mirroring President Biden’s cancellation of his planned visits to Rome and Ukraine.
As 88,000 Californians remain under mandatory evacuation orders, emergency teams struggle to contain the blazes that have reduced thousands of homes to ash. The fires have destroyed entire neighborhoods, leaving residents with nothing but Harris’ advice to “find anything that gives you an ability to be patient.”
Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump seized on Harris’s latest verbal mishap, arguing that the country “dodged a bullet” in the recent election. “Yes. Be patient,” one Trump supporter wrote sarcastically, adding, “Competent leadership will be here in one week.” Another noted that “word salads are off the menu after January 20th,” referring to Trump’s upcoming inauguration.
The “word salad” critique dogged Harris throughout her failed 2024 presidential campaign, with critics maintaining that her tendency toward verbose, unclear statements reflected deeper issues with her leadership capabilities. Her latest remarks to fire victims have only intensified these criticisms in her final days in office.
Meanwhile, meteorologists forecast more dangerous high winds ahead, threatening further complicating firefighting efforts. The federal government has committed to covering 100% of firefighting costs for 180 days as emergency operations centers coordinate what may be one of their final major crisis responses under the current administration.