Essential Politics: VP Harris’ new communications director faces

It’s a familiar cycle in Washington: Someone lands a new job, and reporters and critics dig through the person’s social media accounts. With lightning speed, inflammatory or out-of-context posts go viral.

That’s what happened earlier this month to Jamal Simmons as he was taking over as Vice President Kamala Harris’ communications director.

Simmons tweeted over a decade ago that he had just seen “2 undocumented folks talking on MSNBC. One Law student the other a protester. Can someone explain why ICE is not picking them up?”

Not long after news organizations on Jan. 6 published stories on Simmons’ appointment, Twitter erupted. Many on the left accused Simmons of advocating for the arrest of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Meanwhile, some on the right lauded him. Stephen Miller, a Trump White House senior advisor who was a hard-liner on immigration, tweeted: “I agree with @jamalsimmons. If you break into our nation there must be deportation.”

Simmons on Jan. 7 apologized on Twitter, saying “at times I’ve been sarcastic, unclear or plainly missed the mark.” “I apologize for offending ppl who care as much as I do about making America the best, multiethnic, diverse democracy+I’ll rep the Biden-Harris admin w/humility, sincerity+respect,” he added.

Simmons is scheduled to meet with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Thursday to discuss the matter.

Hello, besties. I’m Erin B. Logan, a reporter covering the White House for the L.A. Times. Welcome to the latest installment of Essential Politics, which I will call “The Cycle of Online Outrage: Kamala Harris Edition.”

The internet is forever

When asked for comment, the White House directed The Times to Simmons’ apology tweets.

“Frankly, it’s depressing ppl can forget about every other thing I’ve said in public on this bc of bad tweets,” Simmons tweeted, noting he’s advocated for “comprehensive immigration reform for…