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In case you've had occasion to forget it in the last 30 seconds, Donald Trump and the rest of the GOP commentariat would like to remind you that Kamala Harris is a woman. She's also Black, they keep saying, and Indian.

Trump recently shared on social media posts that have suggested Harris traded sexual favors for career advancement and that she spent her career "on her knees." He's also posted a picture of Harris as a dung beetle wearing what looks like blackface and, at the recent National Association of Black Journalists interview, said she just recently "became a Black person."

But he's not the only one with a laser focus on lameness.

Fox News' Tucker Carlson replacement Jesse Watters got into a little bit of hot water the other day for saying that generals in the White House Situation Room would "have their way" with Harris, which he later, with a smirk, denied was meant in a sexual way. Watters, who has a history of saying obnoxious things, has also called Harris a "frightened woman."

JD Vance, for his part, wants you to remember that those aren't Harris' biological kids clapping for her at the convention. They're only her stepchildren. She's a childless cat lady, you see.

Americans, they're all saying, these are the important things to know about Kamala Harris: her gender. Her race. How many children she has.

It's all highly ironic coming from a party that can't stop complaining about liberals and identity politics, claiming to hate how everyone always talks about how they're a woman or bisexual or Latino or a dog mom.

The truth, clearer now that we're used to watching these guys in action, is that conservatives are the ones who are truly obsessed with identity.

It's the GOP that never lets an opportunity pass to remind you that Caitlyn Jenner wasn't born a woman. It never goes unremarked upon in conservative circles that Pete Buttigieg is married to a man.

They do it about almost everything, about what jobs someone had and whether they're divorced or Muslim or a single parent.

How do I know that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used to be a bartender? Because the right-wing commenters won't shut up about it.

Even if you wanted to hear them say something else when it came to Harris, Trump and the GOP mouthpieces can't deliver. They can't bring themselves to discuss anything of substance. They see differences as too startling, too memorable, too important.

When Tim Walz's son Gus cried at the Democratic National Convention, telling his dad that he loved him, the worst of the worst in the Republican Party took it as a chance to finger-point.

"Talk about weird," Ann Coulter said on X (formerly Twitter).

After a deluge of criticism, she deleted the post, but the damage was done. It shouldn't matter that Gus Walz is neurodivergent and has disabilities. We shouldn't have our attention drawn, in a negative way, to the fact that some kids are different from others.

But the conservative elite hive mind is about judging, categorizing, ranking. However a person falls short (even if they aren't really falling short at all but are just not a bland, anesthetized version of what they consider normal), someone on the right will point it out.

Trump loves his insults. And since Harris is too beautiful to call ugly, and "nasty" doesn't fit someone who smiles as much as she does, he dwells on what he considers her shortcomings: her gender and her race.

Americans are watching, though, and I have a feeling they don't consider these characteristics shortcomings in the same way that Trump and Watters and Coulter do.

I have a feeling that most of us see in Gus Walz a boy who loves his dad. We see in Pete Buttigieg a man with a warm and full family life. We see in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a young lady who worked hard and achieved great things.

What voters see in Kamala Harris isn't quite clear yet. It will be a short, crazy ride to November, and they might learn any number of things that will shape their perceptions of her.

We do know one thing, though: That the GOP wants you, while you're in the voting booth, to focus on the least important details about her.

And I wonder why that is.

To learn more about Georgia Garvey, visit GeorgiaGarvey.com.

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