Two new books published this month are revealing insights on the inner workings of former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Joe Biden’s respectively unsuccessful and abandoned presidential campaigns.
Interviews with hundreds of individuals inside the inner circles of Harris, Biden, and President Donald Trump provide a behind-the-scenes perspective on the tumultuous 2024 campaign in “FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” by NBC reporter Jonathan Allen and The Hill journalist Amie Parnes.
Chris Whipple’s “Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History” also offers an intimate look at the drama that played out inside the Harris and Trump camps.
These are five of the best discoveries found this week.
Former chief of staff says Biden was ‘out of it’ before terrible debate.
Ron’s Klain, former chief of staff for the Biden White House, remembered Biden being “exhausted” and “out of it” during his June debate preparation against Trump in “Uncharted.”
Whipple said, “The president was tired, confused, and uninterested,” in a passage made public before the book’s April 8 publication. Klain was concerned the Trump debate would be a catastrophe broadcast nationwide.
On Wednesday, Klain told Politico he believed the book’s characterization of his comments was incorrect.
My point was not that the president lacked mental acuity… He told Politico, “He was out of it from [sidelined] not lacking ability.” A WH staff disconnected from hill Democrats had kept him away from domestic politics.
Democratic legislators and Biden’s advisers shared worries about his advancing age, as Allen and Parnes’ “Fight” revealed.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., allegedly grew concerned about the president’s deterioration in June 2023 when Biden failed to acknowledge him at a White House event and Swalwell had to jog the president’s memory about who he was.
Allen and Parnes reportedly said the president saw a cosmetic artist every morning before talks with his advisors and travel to hide obvious aging.
Biden secretly wanted Harris’s “loyalty.” No sunlight
According to “Fight,” Biden allegedly advised Harris not to deviate from him on ideas she backed as his vice president during her presidential campaign.
Publicly, he would suggest Harris should do what she had to win. “But privately, including in talks with her, he reiterated a warning: let there be no daylight between us,” the writers said.
They said the president “expected Harris to protect his legacy.”
Biden, meanwhile, called on the day of the debate to provide Harris an odd sort of pep talk and another reminder about the commitment he expected. No longer able to justify his own record, he hoped Harris would safeguard his legacy, they said.
He believed she would only hurt him by publicly distancing herself from him, particularly during a debate seen by millions of Americans, whether she won or lost the election. Biden had no desire to let her choose her own route to the degree she desired, the book said.
Obama was ‘working against’ Harris, didn’t believe she could win
Former President Obama, according to “Fight” co-author Jonathan Allen, hesitated for days to support Harris’ presidential candidacy as he did not think she could win.
Our sources near President Obama said he certainly did not believe Joe Biden should carry on. He also didn’t want Kamala Harris to take Biden’s position. He didn’t believe she was the greatest option for Democrats, and for a long time he toiled tremendously behind the scenes to try to have a mini-primary, or an open convention, or a mini-primary leading to an open convention; he lacked confidence in her capacity to win the election.
In fact, she lost; nonetheless, Allen said he was quite fighting against her.
The book said Harris was “very annoyed” by Obama’s five-day wait to support Harris following Biden’s withdrawal from the contest.
Harris thought she could have won with additional time; she was “totally shocked” by loss.
The “Fight” writers claim Harris was shocked by the outcomes on election night.
Parnes said Harris was caught off guard by the outcome and inquired of staff members whether they were sure.
And she’s like, are you certain? Have we counted again? Should we count again? Parnes stated on the “Somebody’s Gotta Win with Tara Palmeri” program from Thursday.
Harris allegedly eventually began to think that with more time and if Biden hadn’t ran for re-election, she may have won the race.
She could have won, she assured friends, if only the election was later in the calendar or she got in sooner. The writers said, “In other words, Joe Biden was to fault.
Harris’s friends claimed she thought her late race participation and Biden’s unpopularity hurt her candidacy. The writers said, nevertheless, that not all of her pals shared this viewpoint.
One Harris buddy said in the book, “That is f—ing bonkers.” “We might have really somehow pulled it off if Election Day was October first. Shorter was really better, not longer.
Harris had to persuade Biden to support her immediately.
The “Fight” writers said Harris begged Biden to support her the same day he declared he was leaving the 2024 campaign.
Biden was said to have not wanted his historic declaration last July to be drowned out in the “media frenzy” around a Harris support.
“He deserved his due, he thought, and he informed Harris he wouldn’t put an endorsement in the statement declaring his departure,” the writers said.
Harris said Biden begged him to support her immediately. Your legacy depends on this; the book claims you should demonstrate total confidence in your VP.
Half an hour later, Biden issued a statement supporting Harris’ campaign.
From Obama Undermining Harris to Biden’s ‘Out of It’ Moments: The Campaign Books Everyone’s Talking About
