NY Times: “As is the case for many people who grew up in the Deep South but have lived somewhere else for many years, the Southern accent I once had has given way to the “nowhere man” accent that I think of as generically American. But it comes roaring back when I visit my family in central Alabama, and even lingers for a few days after I have returned to Brooklyn. It’s also a little more pronounced after a martini (or two).
No one gets offended when my Southern accent comes and goes. For Kamala Harris, it’s a different story. Figures on the political right, including JD Vance, Donald Trump and various conservative internet celebrities, have accused Ms. Harris of affecting a Southern accent on the campaign trail, and implied that it was a kind of deception….
So what’s really bothering Republicans? The answer has nothing to do with linguistic purity. It has everything to do with cultural stereotypes — and electoral math.
…When Mr. Trump does photo ops in a big rig and says, “I love the uneducated,” he’s not so much code-switching as code-hitching, adopting signifiers that he — a billionaire with inherited wealth and an Ivy League degree — has no authentic claim to understanding, but which he thinks will appeal to his base. This is the same reason the private school alum and two-time Ivy League graduate Ted Cruz elongates his drawl while declaring that liberals can “kiss my ass.” Because he and Mr. Trump think it’s useful.
So Republicans who think that white, possibly racist working-class people (or white people who believe themselves to be working class) are their base might feel that a Black Democrat using a Southern accent is stealing their shtick, or their votes. And that’s equally true of Ms. Harris’s distinctly Midwestern running mate, who wears camouflage because he actually hunts (and not big endangered game on expensive safaris like the Trump sons), who knows how to coach high school football and can tell you how to fix a carburetor. He doesn’t have to pretend to be that guy; he is that guy.
If you’ve spent the past few decades driving giant pickups with suspiciously pristine truck beds, waving the Bible (occasionally upside down) and suddenly speaking as if you have a mouth full of molasses anytime you’re presented with a microphone, it might be upsetting to realize that your opponents speak like who they authentically are. Worse, you might realize that they expose your claim to be the party of the working class for what it is: pure artifice.”