By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-10-09 10:26:24 | Updated at 2026-10-09 14:44:07
4 hours ago
Kamala Harris went looking for a laugh at a congressional opponent’s expense and ended up having to prompt the crowd to help her out. Her tangled punchline about his political identity was followed by a pause, then her appeal for a response from listeners. Nearly eleven years after Jeb Bush’s “Please clap,” Harris had a version of her own.
The former vice president was campaigning for Democrat Richard Pan in Sacramento on October 2nd when she took aim at Rep. Kevin Kiley. Kiley, previously a Republican, is running as an independent in California’s 6th Congressional District. Harris mocked the change, portraying him as a politician trying to escape his past by presenting himself as somebody different.
Harris acted out Kiley’s supposed reinvention, then delivered her punchline: “Well, this guy who was that guy and is still this guy and that guy.” She paused afterward, appearing to wait for a bigger response. When the room failed to oblige, Harris added, “Come on now,” before breaking out in one of her signature fits of hysterical laughter.
Bush’s infamous appeal came at the Hanover Inn in New Hampshire on February 2nd, 2016. The Republican presidential candidate had been explaining how he would approach national security, arguing for a president who spoke more quietly while making clear that America was prepared to act. In the recorded exchange, he finished his point about creating a more peaceful world, paused, and told the audience: “Please clap.”
Trump had already branded Bush “low energy,” and the request for applause seemed to lend credence to the insult. Trump was building his campaign around large rallies and leading the Republican field; Bush was trying to get any applause out of the people already in the room. Days before Bush’s plea, Trump had filled a 700-seat hall at Drake University while staging his own event opposite a Republican presidential debate.
Harris’ habit of getting stuck on a phrase was also on display at a March 21st, 2022, broadband event in Sunset, Louisiana. She began discussing a library tour, according to the transcript. “The Governor and I and we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time. Right? The significance of the passage of time,” she said.
Watch Harris’ Sacramento punchline and appeal to the crowd here:
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In Louisiana, she kept going: “So, when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs.” Harris followed that with another reference: “And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children and what that means to the future of our nation, depending on whether or not they have the resources they need to achieve their God-given talent.”
As Trending Politics reported, Harris also has campaign appearances lined up for Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford. Her Sacramento footage was already circulating among critics, with the X user sharing it on October 6th. The account described the audience’s eventual response with three devastating words: “Audience mercy claps.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.
