Book Reignites Scrutiny on Vice President Kamala Harris Amid Tight Presidential Race
A recently resurfaced book, written by progressives and focused on key figures within the movement, has reignited criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris at a critical juncture in her political career. With speculation swirling around her potential replacement as Joe Biden’s running mate, the book offers a scathing critique of Harris’s leadership, highlighting concerns from White House aides about her struggles to define a clear political agenda and her reliance on personal appeal.
As Harris finds herself in a tight presidential race against former President Donald Trump, the scrutiny has only intensified. The book, The Truce: Progressives, Centrists, and the Future of the Democratic Party, originally released in January 2023, is being revisited by political commentators and insiders alike, just eight months after its initial publication.
Criticism from Within the Ranks
In the summer of 2023, as leading Democrats like California Governor Gavin Newsom began to showcase their leadership credentials, there were growing calls for President Biden to step aside. As attention shifted to Harris, left-wing critics seized on her historically low favorability ratings, raising questions about her viability as the Democratic nominee.
The book, penned by Hunter Walker and Luppe B. Luppen, dives deep into the internal workings of Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign and her subsequent tenure as vice president. It offers a candid, often brutal, assessment of her political acumen—or lack thereof.
“It was rotten from the start,” a top aide from her 2020 campaign told the authors. “A lot of us, at least folks that I was friends with on the campaign, all realized that: ‘Yeah, this person should not be president of the United States.’”
A Lack of Leadership
The book paints a picture of a leader unprepared for the national stage. “Kamala is not ready for prime time,” a senior White House staffer candidly stated. “She ain’t made for this.”
These sentiments are echoed throughout the book, with multiple insiders from Harris’s 2020 campaign depicting her as a leader without a clear vision or strategy. The authors detail numerous conflicts within her campaign team, exacerbated by tensions between Harris’s family members and the consulting firm she had hired for advice.
Internal Turmoil
A significant portion of the book focuses on the dysfunction within Harris’s 2020 campaign. The strained relationship between her sister Maya, who chaired the campaign, and Juan Rodriguez of Bearstars Strategies, the campaign manager, is highlighted as a major source of internal conflict. The rift became so severe that the two were forced to work in separate wings of the campaign headquarters and held separate meetings with staff.
“It was the most awkward day of my life,” a senior staffer recalled. “People were literally having a thirty-minute audit meeting with Juan about how the campaign was going and then they were walking across the hall into the same meeting with Maya … I remember Juan popping into my office to find out how the meeting with Maya went.”
The book also touches on the broader issues of mismanagement within the campaign, including the mishandling of funds. These problems contributed to what the authors describe as a “toxic climate” that ultimately led to Harris’s withdrawal from the primary race in December 2019.
A Troubled Campaign
One of the more damning accounts comes from Kelly Mehlenbacher, the state operations manager, who resigned in November 2019. In her resignation letter, which was leaked to The New York Times, Mehlenbacher condemned the campaign’s treatment of its staff. “This is my third presidential campaign, and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,” she wrote.
As Harris battles to secure her place in history as the first female president of the United States, the revelations in The Truce serve as a stark reminder of the challenges she faces, both from within her party and from the broader electorate. With the 2024 election looming, the book’s critique may prove to be more than just a footnote in her political journey.