Harris aide mocked for ‘love’ of job tweet amid turmoil: ‘Blink twice if you need help’
An aide to Vice President Kamala Harris responded to the exodus of staffers from her office by publicly proclaiming how much he loves his job — only to get roasted online.
Following a blistering report in which Harris was described as a “bully” who dishes out “soul-destroying criticism,” David Gins took to Twitter to say he’d never been happier.
“Hi. My name is David Gins. I work for Vice President Harris on behalf of the American people as Deputy Director for Operations and absolutely love my job,” he tweeted Sunday.
He added, “Just thought some of you should know” along with a smiley face emoji.
Gins — whose profile lists previous work for the Georgia Democratic Party, President Biden’s 2020 campaign and the Civis Analytics data firm — also posted a photo of himself sitting stiffly in a jacket and tie behind a desk in an ornate office.
A large photo in a gilt frame on the wall to his left showed Harris standing behind a desk next to second gentleman Douglas Emhoff.
Gins’ tweet quickly racked up more than 7,000 comments, many of which suggested he was being less than candid.
“blink twice if you need help dave,” one commenter mocked, likening him to a hostage.
“You look like you’re going to the gallows, bro,” another tweeted.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, noted what she called Gins’ “Thousand yard stare” and added an emoji of her own — although it was crying.
In response, Andrew Follett, a senior analyst at the conservative Club for Growth free-market advocacy group, tweeted: “Its a call for help…Even has an encoded secret message…”
Underneath was a screenshot of Gins’ tweet with red outlines around a series of letters that spelled out “i am a Hostage.”
Other tweets in that vein included, “David, please post a photo of you holding today’s newspaper.”
“Good for you, David. You in no way look or sound like somebody’s just out of frame, holding a sign that says, ‘Make this sound good if you ever want to work again,’” another said.
Some Twitter users replaced the picture inside the frame, including images of the words “help me” scrawled in white letters against a black background and a kitten clutching a rope line under the words “HANG IN THERE!”
On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that Harris’ caustic management style has led to churn among her top-level staff and cited the recent resignations of four people hired to shape her public image, including chief spokesperson Symone Sanders and communications chief Ashley Etienne.
Harris’ 2020 presidential bid — which collapsed in early December 2019 — was also plagued by reports about unhappy staffers, including a top aide who resigned in a letter that said, “This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly.”
During Monday’s daily White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked if anybody asked Gins “to put out a positive tweet…or was that all him?”
“I’m not aware of any ask for a positive tweet or a specific tweet,” Psaki replied.
“But I work with a number of people who certainly are looking forward to continuing their jobs.”
