Jesús Enrique Rosas Analyzes Kamala Harris Starbucks Lid Speech Versus Her 2006 Law Enforcement Remarks
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Jesús Enrique Rosas Analyzes Kamala Harris Starbucks Lid Speech Versus Her 2006 Law Enforcement Remarks
Body language expert Jesús Enrique Rosas examines a striking contrast in Kamala Harris's public speaking style. Analyzing her 2018 Spelman College speech about Starbucks lids and lipstick marks alongside her powerful 2006 remarks on law enforcement and community safety, Rosas highlights a dramatic shift in delivery, coherence, and professionalism. The 2018 speech, which went viral on X, shows Harris speaking in an extremely casual, disjointed manner with frequent laughter, while the 2006 footage reveals a focused, articulate speaker with clear messaging. Rosas questions what happened to the composed communicator from years earlier and invites viewers to consider how these communication styles would play out on the world stage.
A video of Kamala Harris speaking at Spelman College has been making the rounds on X, and for good reason. When body language expert Jesús Enrique Rosas first saw the clip, he thought it was a parody or an AI-generated deepfake. The speech, delivered in 2018, shows Harris discussing Starbucks coffee lids and how lipstick marks appear on the white lids during meetings.
In the clip, Harris speaks in an extremely casual, disjointed manner: "We talked about those lids, so here's what I said to her. Here's what I said to her. So you know how those lids are, because this is, I'm just gonna speak, OK? So this is it. So you know how those lids on those Starbucks cups, they're white, right? And so if you wear lipstick, they get all over the lid. And so then I find myself in meetings if I'm the only woman, and that's kind of, and so I keep taking the lid off and having my cup out so that I don't have that big lipstick mark on the lid. So I said, 'Can we do something about the color of the lid?'"
The video is legitimate, sourced from her 2018 Spelman College appearance, with comments turned off on the original posting.
When Public Speaking Goes Informal
Rosas acknowledges that while humor and levity have their place in public speaking, there's a significant difference between being engaging and appearing unprofessional. He emphasizes that being boring is a cardinal sin in public speaking, and he himself adds humor to his formal college speeches. However, Harris's delivery in this clip crosses a line from casual into something more concerning.
The body language expert notes several issues with the presentation. Harris's gestures appear unsynchronized with her words, as though she's gesturing simply to attract attention rather than to emphasize points. Her laughter throughout the anecdote seems disproportionate to the humor of the story itself. The anecdote is mildly amusing, Rosas admits, but not funny enough to warrant the level of laughter Harris displays.
What strikes Rosas most is how disorganized her thoughts appear. While he acknowledges that everyone can stumble or mumble when improvising, Harris should have significant speaking experience, and English is her native language. If the Starbucks lid story is real, which Rosas believes it is, why does she struggle so much to tell it coherently?
A Dramatic Contrast With Earlier Speeches
To illustrate how dramatically Harris's speaking style has changed, Rosas presents footage from 2006 showing a completely different communicator. In this earlier clip, Harris speaks with clarity, purpose, and conviction about law enforcement and the African American community.
In the 2006 speech, Harris states: "Nobody cares about the fact that we've got a bunch of young black and brown men in prison. That argument is not working. What I suggest we do as African Americans is own this issue in law enforcement and then define it in the way that works for us. Because it is a myth to say that African Americans don't want law enforcement. We do. We want our grandmothers to be able to walk to church and be safe. We want our babies to be able to walk to the park and be safe. What we don't want is racial profiling. What we don't want is excessive force. What we don't want is to have our civil liberties and civil rights be stripped. But we do want law enforcement."
Rosas notes that he first saw Harris during the Kavanaugh hearings and remembers her as this focused, articulate speaker. He admits uncertainty about whether he misjudged her back then or whether something has changed, but he emphasizes that he hasn't seen Harris speak with this level of coherence and power in any recent clips, interviews, or speeches since at least 2020.
Like a Parody of Herself
The contrast becomes even more stark when Rosas plays additional footage from the 2006 speech where Harris discusses crime statistics: "Only 18% of serious crime results in an arrest. So if I, as law enforcement, with my responsibility to keep you safe, only talk about keeping you safe by sending people to prison for a long time, I'm necessarily going to fall short, because the vast majority of that crime is not even hitting my system. So if I'm going to keep my promise to you to keep you safe, I better talk with you about what I'm doing in terms of crime prevention."
This two-minute segment, Rosas says, deserves its own analysis because of how impressive the body language, flow of ideas, and delivery are compared to recent performances. He expresses genuine puzzlement about where this version of Kamala Harris has gone and why her speaking style has deteriorated so dramatically.
Watching the 2018 Spelman College clip, Rosas observes that Harris now sounds like a Saturday Night Live parody of herself. This is deeply problematic for someone in her position. While he carefully avoids making accusations he cannot prove, he notes that many viewers might draw their own conclusions about her state during the speech based on her movements and demeanor.
Implications for Leadership
Rosas asks viewers to imagine Harris addressing world leaders in the manner she displayed at Spelman College. The thought experiment raises serious concerns about presidential-level communication. While the Starbucks lid anecdote might work in some casual settings, the disjointed delivery, excessive informality, and lack of focus would be completely inappropriate for diplomatic or serious governmental contexts.
The body language expert emphasizes that he has no theory about why this transformation occurred. The change in Harris's communication style between 2006 and 2018, and continuing to the present day, remains a mystery to him. He invites his audience to share their theories about what might explain such a dramatic shift in a public figure's speaking abilities and professional presentation.
The analysis serves as both a body language study and a broader question about leadership communication. Whether the 2018 speech represents an off day, a deliberate choice to be more casual, or something else entirely, it stands in stark contrast to the powerful, organized speaker Harris appeared to be earlier in her career.
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