Racism should not be a part of this year’s US Presidential Election, but it looks like it will be. As the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris tightens, the nastiness of divisive politics is showing itself.

Far-right extremism and racism is surfacing as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris gains ground on former President Donald Trump.

Last week, it was generally thought that Harris did better in the ABC debate.

Trump allay and far-right Republican Laura Loomer took to social media racially insulting Kamala Harris who is of Indian and Jamaican descent.

Loomer wrote that if Vice-President Kamala Harris should win the election, “the White House will smell like curry and White House speeches will be facilitated via a call centre and the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand”. 

This is reprehensible and should be condemned. Donald Trump should come out and say this is uncalled for and dissociate himself from Loomer. He has not.

Kamala Harris could become the first black female president, another first for the United States and a sign of how far the United States has come. This prospect would have been unfathomable fifty years ago.

Harris is a former senator and is a trained lawyer. In 2003 she was elected District Attorney of San Fransisco. She was elected Attorney-General of California in 2010 and reelected in 2014. In 2020, President Joe Biden chose her as his vice-president.

Her mother Shyamala Gopalan who unfortunately has passed was a scientist and her father Donald Harris is an esteemed economist who is professor emeritus at Stanford University. He has provided invaluable advice to the Government of Jamaica. Her sister, Maya is also a lawyer and her niece Meena is an author.

Kamala Harris hails from a successful, educated family who have notable accomplishments. Yet that counts for nothing with racist Trump supporters.

What is astonishing is those of Indian descent in the Republican Party have not come out and said Laura Loomer’s comments are racist and outrageous and that there is no place in America for this hatefulness. Where is Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal on this? Why are they so quiet? Where is their courage? 

Right-wing commentator Candace Owens who normally has so much to say has also not come out and said Laura Loomer was out of order and that there is no room for racism in America.

It seems people rally around party lines as opposed to standing up against what is patently wrong and distasteful. 

Laura Loomer, who was part of Trump’s debate entourage last week, has not apologised or withdrawn her odious comment.

Donald Trump had this to say: “Laura is a supporter…she has very strong opinions… she’s a free spirit. I can’t tell Laura what to do.” He really has to do better than that here. It is not a good look if he is seen associating with racists and is regarded as a figurehead of ethnic hatred in the United States. It could cost him the general election.

Kamala Harris has been criticised for not being more fulsome on her policies and not outlining her vision for America. Her economic road map it is said is opaque.

But she has conducted her campaign with decorum and decency. She has not descended into nasty personal invectives. To date, she has been a class act and has demonstrated that American politics does not need to employ gutter tactics.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responding to former Congressional candidate Laura Loomer’s racist rant said: “No leader should ever associate with someone who spreads this kind of ugliness, this kind of racist poison, that’s what this is.

“It is exactly the kind of hateful, decisive rhetoric that we should denounce and should not be part of the fabric of this country. It doesn’t matter your political views, you should stand and condemn these types of repugnant words.”