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Who is David Perdue? Senator branded racist for mocking Harris as 'Kamala-mala-mala-whatever': ‘How shameful’

'The most insidious thing that Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden are trying to perpetrate, and Bernie and Elizabeth and Kamala — Kah-ma-la or Kah-mah-la or Kamalamalamala, I don’t know,' Perdue said

Georgia Senator David Perdue mocked Senator Kamala Harris by mispronouncing her name in a warm-up speech for President Trump at his Florida rally on October 16. Senator David Perdue who is a Republican party politician fired up the crowd by asking a rhetorical question about what would happen if his opponents win. He himself answered the question by saying, “The most insidious thing that Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden are trying to perpetrate, and Bernie and Elizabeth and Kamala — Kah-ma-la or Kah-mah-la or Kamalamalamala, I don’t know,” he said, ridiculously pronouncing his Senate colleague Kamala Harris’ name.

Later, Perdue's campaign responded in a statement provided to the media stating, “Senator Perdue simply mispronounced Senator Harris’ name, and he didn’t mean anything by it. He was making an argument against the radical socialist agenda that she and her endorsed candidate Jon Ossoff are pushing, which includes the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-all, raising taxes, and holding up Covid relief for the people of Georgia.”

Before Perdue, who’s been Harris’s colleague in the Senate for years, Trump has similarly made fun of Harris’. “You know who’s further left than Crazy Bernie? Kamala. Kamala. Kamala,” he said at a rally in North California held in September.

Kamala Harris who is the Vice Presidential nominee for Democrats for the November 3 elections, has mentioned the meaning of her name in her 2019 memoir. The California Senator’s name is pronounced “‘comma-la,’ like the punctuation mark. It means ‘lotus flower,’ which is a symbol of significance in Indian culture. A lotus grows underwater, its flower rising above the surface while its roots are planted firmly in the river bottom”, as reported by Huff Post.

Despite the explanation from Perdue’s campaign he was blasted on social media, including from his opponent Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff for mispronouncing. Ossoff wrote in his tweet after Perdue spoke Harris’ name wrong. “My opponent, GOP Sen. David Perdue of anti-Semitic attack ad infamy, just mocked Sen. Harris' name as ‘Kamala-mala-mala-whatever’ at a Trump rally. We are so much better than this.” A user wrote bashing Perdue, “How shameful!! Perdue serves in the senate with Kamala, he knows how to pronounce her name. This might get him some laughs tonight, but he just inspired some new votes against him tomorrow. He is a Trump Puppet. Keep voting Georgia!” 

A user bashed him as racist, “So saying Kamala Harris' name for David Perdue is a difficulty. I get it though. When your name is as unmemorable as David Perdue, you have to find your testicular courage somewhere, anywhere, to make your minuscule, tiny, little, teeny weeny...irrelevant point.” Another concurred, “Sen. Perdue’s staff is trying spin this but anyone who listened knows exactly what it was: pure racism to gin up a white Trump rally.” However, some like Historian Kevin M. Kruse wrote in favor of Perdue, “Perdue and Harris have been colleagues in the Senate for three years — even serving on the sane budget committee together — but I’m sure this is an accident and not racist pandering from a desperate politician.”

Who is David Perdue?

Born in Macon, Georgia, David Perdue is the United States Senator from Georgia. He has a degree in industrial engineering and a master’s in operations research from the Georgia Institute of Technology. After graduating, he married his wife Bonnie in 1972.  

Perdue is aiming for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2020. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014. Coming to Perdue’s tenure in politics, he has stated his stance on several critical matters where he has many times supported Trump on contentious issues like immigration and Covid-19. 

On the climate change issue, Perdue admitted that the earth's climate is changing, but was unwilling to place the blame on their fellow human beings. He said as reported by AJCin his stance, “the scientific community is not in total agreement about whether mankind has been a contributing factor.” He added, “That’s why we must find an appropriate balance between responsibly protecting the environment and continuing to develop our abundance of natural resources in order to grow the economy and improve people’s quality of life.” 

Coming to immigration and support of Trump, Perdue has shown his defense for POTUS. After worldwide criticism on his immigration policies and POTUS' remarks on allegedly calling African nations “sh**holes” in 2018, Republican senators including Perdue said they, “do not recall the President saying those [sh**hole] comments specifically” VoxReported. 

In 2020, Perdue has praised Trump’s response on Covid-19 despite POTUS’ downplaying the virus, CNN reported. When he was asked if he was concerned about Trump's handling of the virus, Perdue said, "No, I think, given the uncertainty that we had at the very beginning, we've done everything we could. Right now he sees declaring Covid-19 as the enemy. We're not fighting among ourselves. We're all together: Democrats (and) Republicans should be fighting this virus."
 
Not just in politics, Perdue also has over 40 years of business experience as the former CEO of Reebok athletic brand and Dollar General stores.