President-elect Donald Trump made an incredible offer to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign in a Truth Social post on Saturday, writing that he would pay off its debt after Harris’ team spent north of $1 billion to win the White House. After raising over a billion dollars from corporations, financial firms, and celebrity donors, Americans were shocked to learn that the Harris-Walz Campaign ended the cycle with $20 million in debt.
The campaign’s strategy of hiring high-profile music artists to perform at concerts with elaborate sets before the vice president’s rallies is being cited as a major factor in the debt. Vendors and staff are now concerned that they may not be paid, according to a report from the New York Post. Trump reassured them not to worry, as the president-elect indicated he would cover the costs in a social media post. “I am very surprised that the Democrats, who fought a hard and valiant fight in the 2020 Presidential Election, raising a record amount of money, didn’t have lots of $’s left over,” Trump wrote.
“Now they are being squeezed by vendors and others. Whatever we can do to help them during this difficult period, I would strongly recommend we, as a Party and for the sake of desperately needed UNITY, do. We have a lot of money left over in that our biggest asset in the campaign was ‘Earned Media,’ and that doesn’t cost very much. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he added.
Harris’ inability to secure the victory has frustrated Democrats, including those who worked in the Biden-Harris administration and on her campaign. “I’ve worked on five presidential campaigns. I knew this would be hard. Others acted like they knew they were going to win,” one person who lent some support during the late stretch of the race told The Post. “They were arrogant.”
Among those receiving blame on Wednesday were Harris herself and campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon, with one insider questioning, “Where did $1 billion go?” Insiders also pointed fingers at Obama campaign veterans David Plouffe and Stephanie Cutter, alleging that they misjudged the issues that truly resonated with voters. The two of them “tried an Obama play with a non-Obama candidate,” said one source close to the Harris campaign. “They are the worst.” Ultimately, Harris failed because “people didn’t connect with her,” this person said.
“[O’Malley Dillion] managed political and ground operations — Cutter and Plouffe were doing messaging and ads and they misjudged what people cared about because cable news and Twitter are not real life. Biden should have never run [in 2024] AND the party is too far left,” the person added.
Harris’s message centered largely on restoring abortion rights and upholding democratic norms, while Trump emphasized the effects of inflation driven by government spending, which has led to nearly a 22% increase in prices since Biden and Harris took office, as well as security and economic concerns related to record levels of illegal immigration. The VP also tried to distance herself from many of her previous progressive policy positions, choosing to disavow or avoid commenting on issues such as banning hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas, decriminalizing illegal border crossings, and providing free gender-affirming surgeries to detained undocumented immigrants.
