The alert was given in the middle of the afternoon. The Air Force Two plane in which the Democratic candidate for the US presidential election on November 5 was traveling had changed route. The specialists in tracking plane trajectories were categorical: Kamala Harris, coming from North Carolina, was no longer heading towards Michigan as planned, where she is due to campaign this Sunday, November 3, but towards New York City. For what ? The secret had been well kept and the answer came a few hours later. The Democratic candidate made a surprise, and very happy, appearance on the cult NBC show, Saturday Night Live.
The scene, at the start of the show, showed a dressing room equipped with a mirror, in which actress Maya Rudolph, dressed as Kamala Harris, seemed to be preparing for a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, for a final push before the vote , which promises to be very tight, on Tuesday. The actress, who began her career on this show, has taken over since last summer, after the nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate in place of Joe Biden. She imitates the vice president quite spectacularly. Dressed in an elegant black tuxedo suit, the lapel of which is adorned with a small golden brooch, her neck surrounded by a pearl necklace, the actress sits in front of the mirror saying: “My God, if only I could talk to someone who has been in my shoes – you know, a black and Indian woman, running for president, preferably from the Bay Area [la baie de San Francisco en Californie, d’où est originaire Kamala Harris, ndlr].»
As she stands in front of the mirror, her reflection appears… And it's the real Kamala Harris, in person, dressed exactly like her, with a big smile on her lips. “It’s nice to see you Kamala,” she said to her double, “I just wanted to remind you that it’s okay, you manage. You manage because you can do something that your opponent cannot do: you can open doors.” The vice president was referring to footage showing former President Donald Trump having difficulty opening the door of a garbage truck during a campaign event last week.
Diverting classic meetings
The two women, laughing, then exchange a series of puns around the first name of the Democratic candidate. “Now Kamala, take my palm-ala,” yells Maya Rudolph to Kamala Harris. “The American people want to end the chaos and end the drama,” the latter replies. The actress ends by claiming that she “go vote for us”. And Kamala Harris asks her if she is registered as a voter in Pennsylvania, one of the seven swing states where the outcome of the election could well be decided. Unfortunately, Maya Rudolph does not vote in this state.
The show, which is in its 50th season and remains very popular, has multiplied in recent weeks the parodies of the various protagonists of the campaign, with Maya Rudolph to imitate Kamala Harris, but also Andy Samberg for her husband Doug Emhoff. James Austin Johnson plays Donald Trump while Dana Carvey parodies Joe Biden. As soon as her appearance was over, she described it as «fun», Kamala Harris is back on the campaign trail.
While the campaign is coming to an end and the two candidates are neck and neck, with polls so close that nothing allows us to guess the final result, they have been trying for several days to deviate a little from traditional meetings campaign to try to mobilize less committed voters. It is these potential voters, undecided, indifferent or lazy, who could make the difference. Kamala Harris has recently appeared in podcasts like Call Her Daddywhich attracts a large audience of young women, and in All the Smoke, presented by two former professional basketball players, Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, which captivates many listeners in the African-American community, a section of voters who seem having, in part, turned away from its traditionally Democratic vote. She also appeared on the show The View, on ABC, where the audience is largely female.
Kamala Harris is thus targeting a segment of voters, women, who could actually swing the vote. In these last crucial hours, she tries to capitalize on an increasingly palpable rejection of Donald Trump by women. During his campaign, he increased macho and vulgar attacks, such as on Friday November 1 during a campaign meeting in Wisconsin, where, frustrated by a faulty microphone, he imitated fellatio at length with his microphone.
