Male Senators Keep Interrupting Kamala Harris, But She's Using It To Her Benefit

There's no denying Kamala Harris is a powerful force in Congress despite being a freshman senator. But, of course, even she isn't immune to the kind of disrespect women often face from male colleagues.

During Senate Intelligence Committee hearings regarding possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia the last two weeks, Sen. Harris has been interrupted not once, but twice. In both hearings, she was the only committee member interrupted by a colleague (she was also the only Black woman).

However, Harris is using the sexist incidents to her advantage by raising money for her campaign. Don't ever question the depths of her politically savvy.

"It's happened to me, Elizabeth Warren, and countless others," a fundraising page for Harris says. "Too often women are silenced in society and in the Senate. Make a contribution to defend the women of the Senate and fight back."

The senator also tweeted out a link to the page, writing: "The women of the United States Senate will not be silenced when seeking the truth. Fight back."

Last week, Harris was questioning Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, when the committee chair, Sen. Richard Burr, cut her off.

Members of the committee should "provide the witnesses the courtesy, which has not been extended, fully across, for questions to get answered," Burr said, criticizing Sen. Harris.

Then on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate intel committee, and Harris was unrelenting in questioning what written policy gave Session the right to not answer queries about his conversations with President Trump. She cut off the attorney general when he dodged her question and repeated what she was asking him, which led him to claim she was going too fast and making him nervous. (Sessions' comment about being nervous was no doubt a reference to the "angry Black woman" stereotype, as he didn't claim anyone else's pointed questions made him jittery.)

This time, Sen. John McCain interjected to say the witness should be allowed to answer the question. Sen. Burr quickly jumped to McCain's aid, saying, "Senators will allow the chair to control the hearing. Senator Harris, let him answer."

Male Democrats got just as aggressive while questioning Sessions, but none of them were interrupted.

While her male colleagues refuse to show her the same respect they do one another, Harris will be filling her campaign coffers with cash, gearing up for her next run. Obviously it would be nice if she could just do her job without sexist interruptions, but at least she's using their insulting behavior to her benefit.