We’ve now gotten to the point where it looks like Kamala Harris might be the Democrat nominee for president, despite not even getting a single vote in the primary for that position. As some are saying, it’s a selection rather than an election, and an end run around “democracy” from the party that likes to pretend they are the saviors of democracy.
The ironic karma of it all, as I wrote about on Monday is that after all that, Kamala’s poll numbers are still behind former President Donald Trump, at least so far. And she’s just as unpopular, if not more so, than Joe Biden. She’s also directly tied not only to all the bad policies that were put in place but to her own failure to actually do things, like help deal with the border, one of her few charges from Biden.
She of course has all her own issues of being seen as a lightweight cackler who speaks in word salads. Then on top of that, she can also be tagged with the cover-up of Joe Biden’s condition.
Now there’s even more damning information that’s being leaked about her allegedly from Biden aides according to a new report. So much for that endorsement from Joe Biden.
Axios said three aides dished that Biden had hesitated in dropping out because he was concerned Kamala “wasn’t up to taking on Trump.” Some of the elites like Barack Obama did not immediately endorse her when he dropped out, perhaps having the same concerns or perhaps thinking of other candidates.
Then there was more.
Harris’ time as vice president has been occasionally rocky, defined in part by large staff turnover, retreating from politically risky responsibilities, and mocking from some Beltway insiders.
- Much of Harris’ staff has turned over in the past 3½ years.
- About half of the vice president’s staff is paid by the Senate, which requires regular disclosures. Of the 47 Harris staffers listed in 2021, only five still worked for her as of this spring, according to the disclosures. Her full staff list is not publicly disclosed.
Ouch.
Part of the high turnover is how she treats the staff. That’s not a good recommendation for even higher office if she treats the staff badly. We’ve reported on this before going back three years, but it looks like it’s continued, with that much turnover.
Some former aides said Harris had high standards that some did not want to keep up with, but others felt that she frequently grilled them the way she grilled Trump officials, such as then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, when she represented California in the U.S. Senate.
Former aides often refer to it as Harris’ “prosecuting the staff.”
During the 2020 campaign, Biden aides recall watching Harris interrogate her then-chief of staff Karine Jean-Pierre to the point that it made others uncomfortable.
Then she doesn’t like to participate in events that aren’t “tightly controlled” Harris and Biden aides said. The report mentions her approach to attending a couple of dinners.
- In 2022, the White House internally pushed Harris to be the headliner for D.C.’s traditional Gridiron Dinner, but she resisted. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo did it instead. [….]
- In April 2022, Harris was the guest for a dinner at D.C. news mogul David Bradley’s home — a salon-style event Bradley hosts with Washington journalists and newsmakers.
- Harris’ anxiety about the dinner was such that her staff held a mock dinner beforehand, with staffers playing participants, according to two people familiar with the event.
- Harris aides even considered including wine in the mock prep so Harris could practice with a glass or two.
- They ultimately decided against it.
Yikes.
Are they really saying that she was hesitant to attend dinners if she was anxious or unsure about them? That she had to do “dinner prep”? We had Biden who needed prep to practice standing for 90 minutes in a debate and we see how that turned out. But she’s seriously so anxious/unable that she needs this kind of prep? That should raise big honking alarm bells, particularly given what we’ve been dealing with, with Joe Biden.
The job of leader of the free world needs someone who can deal with a lot of things that are much more pressing than dinners and it involves a lot of things that aren’t “tightly controlled.” It needs a leader. We don’t want to trade from incoherent to more incoherent, especially as a result of the Democratic elite’s slimy efforts to try to hold onto control.
