Over the last few weeks, Harris has fallen into a virtual tie with Donald Trump across all key battleground states while still holding a 2.4% advantage in the national average of all polls.
With many political experts now saying that her campaign is collapsing, the finger-pointing has started, and they are pointing directly at Joe Biden and his administration.
Talking Points…
- Harris distancing herself from Joe Biden
- Harris campaign starts pointing fingers
- Analysis
When Harris was first gifted the nomination from Joe Biden, she was clearly trying to draw a contrast between how she would do things and how Joe Biden has done things. Even though Biden openly stated that Harris was involved in every decision, Kamala gave the media the impression she had a bunch of new ideas and would do things completely differently.
Back in early September, Harris had moved about as far away from Biden as she could be. He was not stumping for her and to our knowledge, that was because Harris’ team had told her to get away from Biden if she wanted to win. Then Harris really put a divider up, telling the media:
“Clearly I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump, and what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.”
For Trump to win this election, he needs to split Arizona and Nevada, split Michigan and Pennsylvania while winning Georgia and North Carolina. In the last rounds of surveys, Trump is up five points in Arizona, and he and Harris are even in Nevada, so the first objective appears to be achieved. Trump is up two points in Michigan, but Harris is now up four points in Pennsylvania. This is very much up in the air, but it still seems possible. Plus, Trump and Harris are now even in Wisconsin, which could completely change the race. Trump is now up three points in Georgia, but he only holds a one-point lead in North Carolina.
At one point, Harris was winning all these states, so you can understand why her campaign is starting to look to place blame. Now, her campaign, which clearly alienated Joe Biden early on, is whining about the administration not prioritizing Harris’ campaign enough behind closed doors. This has even gotten to the point where they are worried about policy and the things Joe is saying, as well as how voters perceive that. For instance, one staffer told Axios:
“The White House is lacking someone in the room thinking first and foremost about how things would affect the campaign.”
This has been further exacerbated by things Biden has said and done. For instance, on the day Harris was holding a rally in Michigan, Joe Biden chose to pop into the White House briefing room for the first time in his entire presidency. Then there was Harris’ tiff with Governor DeSantis, where Biden very coyly stood up for DeSantis over Harris.
I have never bought the idea that Biden and Harris were the least bit friendly with each other. When Biden chose Harris, it was a no-brainer decision to help him with the black and female votes, nothing more. There has been friction between Jill Biden and Harris since the debate season, where Harris all but called Joe Biden a racist on the debate stage.
Harris has been undermining Joe Biden from the outset of this campaign, so I am not surprised at all to see Joe Biden very skillfully take shots at her campaign. And make no mistake about it; that is exactly what he is doing right now.
Even with his mental issues and old age, Joe Biden is still Joe Biden. And Joe Biden, if you know anything about him, is vengeful and angry when he feels crossed. I guarantee you he feels crossed not only for being booted out of the race but also for being tossed aside from the get-go so Harris could swim on her own. This whole thing reminds me of when Jerry Jones fired Tom Landry in Dallas. Everyone knew it needed to happen, but there were far better ways to go about it.
