Suggested Reading
President Kamala Harris made a last-minute entry into the presidential race after Joe Biden withdrew due to poor debate showings. Harris’s bid could have made her the first Black female president, but she claims her campaign was sabotaged by Biden’s own team—the very people who should have supported her. Keep reading….
Kamala Harris’s memoir “107 Days” is set to be released on September 23 by Simon & Schuster. The book details the behind-the-scenes of Harris’s presidential campaign, and this week The Atlantic published an excerpt from the memoir.
In the passages shared, Harris speaks of Biden’s decision to run for a second presidential term and reflects that it was a reckless choice for him to run. Still, she also explains that, because of her position as VP, it would not have been a wise decision for her to advise him to drop out.
“…Of all people in the White House, I was in the worst position to make the case that he should drop out. I knew it would come off to him as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run… Was it grace, or was it recklessness (to advise Biden to run)? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”
Harris states in the memoir that she proved her loyalty to Biden time and time again, she claims that the same loyalty was not shown to her, but in fact, the White House helped to fuel the negative attention on Harris.
“…I often learned that the president’s staff was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me. One narrative that took a stubborn hold was that I had a “chaotic” office and unusually high staff turnover during my first year.”
The former VP then clarifies that she didn’t hold onto staff who couldn’t “thrive” in their jobs because “it’s not fair to them, and it’s not good for the country.” Harris also adds that she was the first Vice President to have a dedicated press pool to track her public moves.
“…Because of this constant attention, things that had never been especially newsworthy about the vice president were suddenly reported and scrutinized. And when the stories were unfair or inaccurate, the president’s inner circle seemed fine with it. Indeed, it seemed as if they decided I should be knocked down a little bit more.”
But why would Biden’s team attempt to sabotage Harris? Well, the former VP states it very simply at the end of the excerpt, stating that they failed to understand her success was a reflection on Biden’s good judgment.
“Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well. That given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital. It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands. My success was important for him. His team didn’t get it.”
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.