Speaking at a very awkward moment during a Kamala-Walz rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Thursday, August 29, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff attempted to start a chant in support of his wife and her party, but instead found himself in the middle of an awkward fiasco that was more embarrassing than cheering.
What happened was that Emhoff, standing in front of what was, on the whole, a relatively small gathering when compared against many of the Trump rallies, first started reading from his notes when praising her, leading some puzzled viewers to wonder why he needed to read off of notes to say nice things about his wife.
In any case, it got a good bit worse when the Second Gentleman attempted to start a “USA! USA! USA!” chant from the crowd. Instead of leading to an exciting chant that rallied the crowd and built energy, it created an incredibly awkward environment in which the chant fizzled out and Emhoff looked quite ridiculous.
Reading off his notes first, commenting on his wife and what he professes to see as her good qualities, the Second Gentleman said, “Who is that person? She’s joyful, which is a good thing. She’s also tough, which is a good thing. And it’s her empathy, it’s her superpower. Her ability to understand what other people are going through, that is really her strength.”
Continuing, he tried to kick off a patriotic chant, the “USA! USA!” chant that spontaneously happens at many Trump rallies. It didn’t work, however, as when he started shouting the chant, saying, “USA! USA!” his voice was a bit too eager. It immediately got worse and even more awkward, however, as the response to his chant was only a smattering of cheers and chants and it fizzled out nearly immediately.
Watch that here:
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And watch Emhoff read off his notes about his wife here:
Commenters on X (formerly Twitter) were quick to savage both Emhoff and Kamala. One commenter, for example, asked, “Homie, you are married to her, and you need notes to say nice things about her?” Replying to that comment, another person said, “If Kamala were actually empathetic…she’d feel that NOBODY wants her to be POTUS.”
On much the same note, another commenter joked that Kamala and Emhoff must have to have a teleprompter in their bedroom given his reliance on notes and hers on a teleprompter, joking, “Doug Emhoff reading off notes to talk about Kamala’s qualities? How touching. I wonder if they have a teleprompter in the bedroom?” On the same topic, yet another commenter joked, “He has notes to remember what he’s supposed to say about his wife! WOW! Their relationship looks about as real as the one I have with Beyonce.”
Another commenter questioned whether Kamala is really empathetic given that she lives on the taxpayer dime, saying, “It’s a bit easier to be joyful when you’re living a life of relative ease and most certainly comfort, all in the taxpayer’s dime. Why do we expect to get good representation from people whose lives bear no resemblance to the vast majority of citizens? And empathy? Really???”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video