'Failing Across the Milky Way': Kamala Harris Grilled Over Her STEM Promo For Space Exploration

As vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris has also been tasked with leading the country's response to the migrant crisis on the southern border and chairing the National Space Council. She, however, has been keeping a low profile of late in terms of both these occupations.

Kamala Harris "loves the idea of exploring the unknown", as she herself puts it in a trailer for a YouTube Kids special "Get Curious" that was released on Thursday. Yet, despite her push to encourage kids to learn more about space, science, and technology, she received a lot of recommendations on what she could also explore as vice president - for example, America's southern border.

"There's so much out there that we still have to learn. As the chair of the National Space Council, I'm eager to get our young people interested in STEM and space exploration", Harris tweeted, sharing the trailer for "Get Curious With Vice President" on her account.

In the video, she is trying to dazzle children who visited her at the US Naval Observatory with promises like "you're gonna literally see the craters on the Moon with your own eyes!".

Netizens immediately flocked to the threads to question whether all terrestrial issues have already been resolved given that Harris is already promoting discoveries in space.

Perhaps Mrs. Harris may wish to focus on more terrestrial matters of more immediate concern such as Americas porous southern border, homelessness and poverty in America.

— Cherif Barsoum (@jetdriverman) October 7, 2021

Looking into space for new places to hide exonerating evidence?

— Jarrod Walker (@JarrodAWalker) October 7, 2021

From failed border czar to stargazer. @VP @KamalaHarris failing across the Milky Way. https://t.co/7oOUVBQKFP

— Andrew_Jackson (@old_hickory14) October 9, 2021

If you're sending her into space, we can support that.

— Elizabeth Ferrari (@48thAve) October 7, 2021

Republican lawmaker Lauren Boebert commented sardonically that Harris is "not allowed to speak to adults" anymore. The video where the vice president is trying to share her apparently overwhelming space enthusiasm was even turned into a meme.

She’s not allowed to speak to adults anymore. pic.twitter.com/oURKkSjsnp

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 8, 2021

Me when I miscalculate a micro dose and start fully tripping midday pic.twitter.com/tiGgfw1r4e

— ben (@ben_awareness) October 9, 2021

Other netizens, who seemed to be in a less jolly mood, came up with things that Kamala Harris - who is also meant to be dealing with the US border crisis - could actually explore before diving into the mysteries of the universe.

@VP Want to explore the unknown and learn a whole bunch? Take a walk into any Black or Hispanic community to see all the children left behind to learn in dilapidated buildings with poor equipment and burned out teachers! https://t.co/56mfacisNK

— EnglishSpringerSpaniel21 (@ESpaniel21) October 7, 2021

You should explore the border https://t.co/sVeQ9gVWJE

— fyan pitzratrick (@gymfaithbibya) October 8, 2021

"Democrats -

We're the 'F*ck the Homeless, Were Putting Billionaires in Space' party"

— America - Squid Game Run By Old White Racists (@2BNH4NO3) October 7, 2021

Apparently referring to how Harris has stepped out of the spotlight recently, rarely making public appearances or drawing too much attention, one user joked that perhaps she was at the space station this whole time.

You guys found kamala!! Has she been on the Spaces station this entire time?

— ExNihilo (@AnthropicDualiT) October 9, 2021

Harris was appointed to lead the National Space Council in early May, with her portfolio also featuring tasks like dealing with the surge of migrants on the southern border and expanding broadband internet under the American Jobs Plan.

While she appears to have embraced the role of Space Council head, Harris has been receiving massive backlash from conservatives over the way she's tackled the migrant crisis, with critics lambasting her failure to make appearances on the border. The vice president only visited the border area once, when she travelled to El Paso, Texas, in June.

Many critics have pointed to Harris' absence at a US-Mexico border security meeting that took place in Mexico City and involved Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas - but not the so-called "border czar".