Katie Porter isn’t necessarily above criticism, and it’s fair to say maybe she could have done things better in the recent CBS interview, which is currently going viral. I do not condone or defend Porter snapping at her staff to “get out of [her] fucking shot.” But I am asking why nobody seems to have a normal, proportional response to it. Pundits across the board have agreed that these videos are career-enders in and of themselves. Meanwhile, the commentariat at large has taken them as license to indulge in unchecked, gleeful misogyny.
Random commenters on social media platforms Bluesky and X have now begun opining that they’ve always had issues with Porter. Some cited her “arrogant” attitude and her appearance. Some claimed she always seemed too “angry” to be trusted. Some called her “kooky.” Even her whiteboard wasn’t immune.
It shows a cultural shift, one in which men feel emboldened to attack women in public without shame or consequence.
Personally, I think it’s simply that the patriarchy stew we’ve all been swimming in for our entire lives has gotten thicker without us realizing it.
In basic terms, here’s what happened. Porter, who is running for governor of California, sat for an interview with CBS’s Julie Watts. Watts pressed Porter on how she would reach out to Republican voters, who she will need in order to win. Porter scoffed that she doesn’t need Republicans, who make up around 40% of the electorate, to win the governorship. Watts pressed further, Porter grew visibly frustrated, and finally Porter accused Watts of being unnecessarily combative.
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Not a great look. But I’ve seen a certain Republican politician resort to calling his interviewer “nasty” and then suing the networks. And to be clear, Porter did stay for the rest of the 20-minute interview, per her own spokesperson as well as CBS. We’ve seen many politicians bristle in interviews before, so why is it suddenly disqualifying?
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My assessment is that this interaction from Porter is worth no more than a single “yikes,” yet the video went immediately viral on social media, where it was declared a “meltdown.” There seems to be an eagerness, on both sides of the aisle, to cut Porter down to size that is disproportionate to what she actually did.
Bluesky users suddenly said they had never liked Porter. Her rival for the governorship, Bett Yee, called it a “temper tantrum.” Few observers criticized the content of Porter’s argument with Watts, but many took issue with her attitude. “She almost said I shouldn’t have to answer this question because I’m better than everyone else,” claimed one user, with no evidence but imagination to back up the statement. Her problems of temperament are now being compared to John Fetterman’s troubling policy decisions.
Naturally, on X, the response was even less measured. Users compared her to Kathy Bates in Misery, mocked her appearance, and began bringing up her personal relationships, including a contentious divorce. There is even a deepfake video of Porter physically attacking Watts.
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At the same time, a second video of Porter has also gone viral. This clip, published by Politico, is from a few years ago and shows Porter angrily snapping at a staff member during a video call. “Get out of my fucking shot,” the candidate yells, while the staffer tries to fact-check a statement Porter had made. This video sparked a slew of comments rife with hearsay. The rumors could be true, but people can’t seem to address them without resorting to gendered insults like “nasty” and “bitter.”
It’s not as if similar stories, about both men and women politicians, haven’t come out. It’s just that few seem to have made such a serious impact. In 2019, similar stories about Senator Amy Klobuchar’s management style surfaced, with allegedly “terrified” aides comparing her to Trump. Yet, it did not doom her presidential campaign, as pundits predict Porter’s gubernatorial campaign has been doomed. In fact, contemporaneous op-eds defended Klobuchar against sexism seemingly inherent to some of the accusations. Mine is the first such op-ed that I’ve seen in relative defense of Porter.
Now, is Katie Porter really that much worse? I don’t really think so. The year 2019 became a post-MeToo world that thought seriously about sexism in politics. In 2025 cultural misogyny is on the rise, and there is a lot less eagerness to check it.