Tipsheet

Did We Forget that Kamala Harris' 2020 Campaign was a Total and Complete Train Wreck

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  August 12, 2020 2:40 PM

The pick is in, with the first pick in the Democratic clown car draft, former Vice President Joe Biden selects, Kamala Harris, Senator, from California. The 2020 ticket is in—and it’s literally the ‘lock all the black people up’ duo to lead the party in an era where they’re increasingly pro-riots and anti-police. The media is giving her the manufactured hot air needed in order to sail over the troubled waters of her 2020 campaign. It’s as if we don’t remember the articles from non-conservative publications that exposed her 2020 run as a total disaster. There was no plan, no message, and no direction. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) nuked her from orbit, highlighting her prosecutor record that many in Democratic circles would find problematic, and she never recovered from it.

But first, let’s walk down memory lane and survey the wreckage of the sunken wreck called Kamala 2020 (via Politico):

As the California senator crisscrosses the country trying to revive her sputtering presidential bid, aides at her fast-shrinking headquarters are deep into the finger-pointing stages. And much of the blame is being placed on campaign manager Juan Rodriguez.

After Rodriguez announced dozens of layoffs and re-deployments in late October to stem overspending, three more staffers at headquarters here were let go and another quit in recent days, aides told POLITICO. Officials said they’ve become increasingly frustrated at the campaign chief’s lack of clarity about what changes have been made to right the ship and his plans to turn the situation around. They hold Rodriguez responsible for questionable budget decisions, including continuing to bring on new hires shortly before the layoffs began. 

Amid the turmoil, some aides have gone directly to campaign chair Maya Harris, the candidate’s sister, and argued that Rodriguez needs to be replaced if Harris has any hope of a turnaround, according to two officials. 

“It’s a campaign of id,” said one senior Harris official, laying much of the blame on Rodriguez, but also pointing to a leaderless structure at the top that’s been allowed to flail without accountability. “What feels right, what impulse you have right now, what emotion, what frustration,” the official added. The person described the current state of the campaign in blunt terms: “No discipline. No plan. No strategy.” 

This account is based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former staffers as well as others close to the campaign, including donors. The sources were granted anonymity to speak freely about the turmoil within the organization and protect them from repercussions.

The VP side will be different for sure as she’s no longer the captain of her shipwrecked 2020 ship. Still, this notion that she was a heavyweight and somehow brings something to this ticket is…interesting. You can either play to the base or make a play for suburban voters given Harris and Biden’s law and order roots at a time when the nation is being engulfed with leftists rioting. You cannot have both, however. So, maybe Biden has decided to screw the base, engaging in fighting a two-front war by hoping to clinch these voters, while assuring them that the Democratic masses clamoring to defund the police isn’t what they’re going to do. Talk about threading the needle. At the same time, maybe Harris doesn’t care about this at all. If they win, God help us all, does anyone think she wouldn’t channel her inner-Claire Underwood and invoke the 25th Amendment, or plot a way to make that happen, once they’re in 1600.