MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend suggested she had a bad experience working for her ex-boss, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Sanders-Townsend, who served as chief spokesperson and senior adviser for Harris before joining MSNBC in 2022, appeared with fellow Biden administration veteran-turned-fellow MSNBC host Jen Psaki to discuss the attacks against the new presumptive Democratic nominee and how she handles them.
“The thing about being the first is because you’re the first- whether you’re the first woman, first person of color, so on and so forth, folks just sometimes don’t know how to deal with you. They don’t know how to process it,” Sanders-Townsend began Thursday. “And so they resort to, unfortunately, sometimes racist, sexist tropes and memes and stereotypes.”
The liberal MSNBC host then pivoted to her own personal experience working with Harris.
“It was new for me when I worked for her because I never worked for a high-profile woman before. I had only ever worked for men,” Sanders-Townsend told Psaki.
She continued, “There was one day at work where I was like ‘Ma’am, you might be the last woman I work for because this is- it’s a lot that we got to deal with over in here.”
“There’s a story there,” Psaki said with a chuckle.
“But she was always aware of the criticism of her, right?” Sanders-Townsend said. “When I worked there, we didn’t hide it from her. But it did not deter her. It was something though that I think any candidate, any candidate, any person in power needs to be aware of the criticism.
“Because when you’re not aware, the last thing you want is your candidate, your principal, the vice president of the United States of America to be out there and someone says something and they’re like ‘Well what’s that all about?’ ‘Well, ma’am, we discussed that this morning at 10 a.m.'” she added.
“Yeah,” Psaki agreed. “I mean, it’s important for them to be aware, which is such an interesting thing. It’s how they respond to it.”
During her time as vice president, Harris has faced multiple rounds of staff exoduses from her office, fueling criticism of a high turnover rate within her orbit.
Harris swiftly became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee after President Biden announced his exit from the 2024 race.
