President Joe Biden reportedly delayed his announcement that he would end his reelection campaign over concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris’s ability to defeat the GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, especially since she has consistently polled even worse than he has, especially over the past year.
Three Biden aides who spoke with Axios said that the 81-year-old president who is in obvious mental decline ultimately made the decision he made, “but his private anxieties reflect broader questions among some Democratic leaders about Harris as their nominee this November,” the outlet reported, adding: “This next week will be critical for Harris, 59, to prove doubters wrong as she moves quickly to try to clear the field of potential challengers for the Democratic nomination.”
Harris has already picked up Biden’s endorsement as well as other leading Democratic figures including former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and others. But other reports say she isn’t really inspiring much confidence among elected Democrats and at least some of the party’s donors. And notably, former President Barack Obama did not endorse Harris, saying: We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead, But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
Axios pointed out several problems with Harris if she becomes the party’s nominee:
- 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.
- During Obama’s first term, then-Vice President Biden had far more staff stability, as 17 of 38 of his aides stayed with him over a similar period, according to the disclosures for staff paid by the Senate.
Some say Harris just has high standards that most staffers don’t want to meet, but others say she grills them like a prosecutor which makes her hard to get along with. “Former aides often refer to it as Harris’ ‘prosecuting the staff,'” Axios reported, adding: “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.” Jean-Pierre moved over to the White House’s press team after the election.
Also, Axios reported, “Democrats found the Biden team’s quiet trashing of Harris ironic, given that they had complained for the past decade about how Obama aides had done the same thing to Biden when he was vice president.”
A longtime Democrat megadonor did not hold back his disappointment and anger at the party elite who appear to have now pushed Biden out of his reelection bid and ‘anointed’ Harris as heir apparent. John Morgan, a key donor to President Biden, has declared that he will cease supporting Democratic fundraising if Harris is chosen as the presidential nominee.
“It’s one thing to vote for somebody; it’s another thing to raise millions of dollars for somebody; you have to really be in,” Morgan told ABC News. The founder of Morgan & Morgan, America’s largest personal injury law firm, accused Biden of taking his anger out on America when he supported his vice president. “Joe Biden’s endorsement of Kamala is his fuck you to all who pushed him out,” he wrote on X. “Be careful what you wish for.”
Morgan also questioned her electability, saying she is too liberal to win. “If Trump World could pick anybody to run against, I think they pick her,” he said. “If she’s a nominee, Mar a Lago has a real big party that night.” He went on to say that he lacked enthusiasm for a Harris candidacy. “You have to be enthusiastic or hoping for a political appointment to be asking friends for money,” he wrote on X. “I am neither.”
“It’s others turn now,” Morgan added, per the New York Sun. “The donors holding the 90 million can release those funds in the morning. It’s all yours. You can keep my million. And good luck.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.