GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is doubling down on why he keeps mispronouncing the first name of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump repeatedly botched Harris’ name on Friday while speaking at the Believers Summit, an event held by conservative Christian group Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“Some people think I mispronounce it on purpose, but actually I’ve heard it said about seven different ways,” he said. “There are a lot of ways.”
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has made it very clear how she pronounces her own name. She released a PSA during her 2016 Senate run demonstrating how to pronounce it. She’s previously suggested people remember it by thinking, “comma-la, like the punctuation mark.”
Her pronunciation varies from the traditional pronunciation of the Indian name, which is closer to “com’la.”
However, neither of those versions are what Trump has landed on. He pronounced the name “Ka-MA-luh,” with a strong emphasis on the second syllable.
He claims that he was once told either “KA-ma-luh” or “Ka-MA-luh” were OK, but ultimately, he told the crowd, he just doesn’t care about getting it right.
“I said, ‘don’t worry about it,’” he recalled. “It doesn’t matter what I say. I couldn’t care less if I mispronounce it or not. I couldn’t care less.”
Sociolinguistics professor Nicole Holliday told HuffPost this week that at this point, many Republicans who pronounce Harris’ name incorrectly are doing so “on purpose,” and it can even be a way for them signal their political views.
“If you’re a Republican, or let’s say an independent but leaning Republican, and you say, ‘Kuh-MA-luh,’ then everybody knows … either you’re not really for her, or you’re not consuming the media where people bother to say her name, right?” she said.
But “Kamala” wasn’t the only word Trump didn’t quite nail on Friday. At one point, he also said “Harris” in a way that sounded like “Harrah.” At another moment, he expressed the need for Republicans to defeat her “in a land ‘slade.’”
