Harris Campaign: Why Kamala Lost The Election

Now that we’re a week beyond the 2024 presidential election and voters have (somewhat) recovered from the shocking results, people are understandably asking: what happened with the Kamala Harris campaign — and why isn’t she the president-elect?

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During her 100-day presidential run, Kamala Harris raised a whopping $1 billion for her campaign. She organized tens of thousands of volunteers, including Republicans For Harris, White Dudes For Kamala, and more. She even ran what many called the “perfect” campaign. So, how did she end up not only losing the electoral count, but the popular vote, the US Senate, and possibly the US House of Representatives as well — making it a grand slam for the Republican Party?

Some say her campaign wasn’t as “perfect” as it appeared on the outside. Others claim there was simply no way a Black woman was going to beat rich, White, Donald Trump in America no matter what she did. So, let’s take an in-depth look at what went wrong, where we can point fingers of blame, and all the factors that ultimately cost the Kamala Harris campaign the entire election:

JOE BIDEN

On July 21, 2024, President Biden announced (seemingly reluctantly) that he was stepping out of the presidential race — and that he was offering his full endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee.

Mr. Biden’s surprise decision came after a horrific debate performance against Donald Trump that showed the president in deep cognitive and physical decline. Unfortunately, whispers around Washington suggested that his mental state had been kaput for some time.

According to POLITICO, some Democrats are now blaming the president for Kamala’s loss and are angry that his ego prevented him from dropping out sooner. Had he done so — perhaps a year earlier when he knew he couldn’t sustain another 4 years as the leader of the free world — other Democrats could have thrown their hat into the election ring as his replacement. Other Democrats (including Kamala) would have benefited from a primary, which would have likely better prepared the ultimate nominee for a race against Trump.  Perhaps Gavin Newsom or Josh Shapiro could have mounted a more successful effort to block Trump from ever setting foot in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. again.

“He shouldn’t have run,” Jim Manley, a top aide to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said of Joe Biden. “This was no time to pull punches or be concerned about anyone’s feelings. He and his staff have done an enormous amount of damage to this country.”

Interestingly, whispers in Washington are that Mr. Biden knew Kamala Harris couldn’t beat Donald Trump. So, he immediately endorsed her as a great big “F*CK YOU” to the Democratic establishment that forcibly pushed him aside. Hmmm…

MERRICK GARLAND

As Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland had 4 years to prosecute Donald Trump for his myriad crimes. However, thanks to Garland and his slow methodology, only a lone New York State case against Trump has resulted in a conviction. And thanks to last week’s election results, all of Trump’s crimes will soon vanish and get wiped away the moment he’s back in power.

Had Merrick Garland acted swiftly, Donald Trump would likely be in jail today instead of preparing for Round 2 inside the Oval Office. Or, as The New York Times says, Trump was “a man whom Garland tried his best to ignore until it was too late.”

THE GOP

Sen. Mitch McConnell and his Republican cohorts had several opportunities to stop Donald Trump in 2016 BEFORE he was handed the keys to The White House the first time. Instead, Mitch and his gang didn’t take Trump seriously and thought of him as a “joke” that would soon disappear.

Later, in their quest to put their party above country, Republicans continuously handed Trump one lifeline after the other, including voting against 2 impeachments as well as refusing to hold his feet to the fire for staging the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection.  

Even after a mob of MAGA sycophants stormed the Capitol as scared lawmakers from both parties hid in closets and under desks while fearing for their lives, Republicans, yet again, let Trump slide.

Now, stalwart Republicans are just as angry as Democrats. They want their party back from the Trump misfits and conspiracy theorists. They couldn’t risk the wrath of MAGA by going up against Trump themselves, so they backed Kamala Harris in the hopes that she could take Trump down on their behalf.

If only they had acted responsibly and issued even an ounce of discipline against the man sooner, he would have never had the chance to run again in 2024.

BLACK VOTERS, IMMIGRANTS, AND THE MIDDLE CLASS

Strangely, Black voters, middle-class voters, and immigrants ignorantly raced to offer support for Donald Trump. This, even after Trump made it crystal clear that he was coming after those groups by changing US policies that would make life miserable (if not impossible) for all of them.

For example, Trump vowed to annihilate the Affordable Care Act (mostly because it was the signature accomplishment of President Barack Obama). He also promised to make significant cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. These are life and death issues for Blacks, Latinos, seniors, and middle-class Americans since those programs are necessary for the very survival of these groups.

Trump also pledged to stage workplace raids to hunt down undocumented immigrants and ship them back to their countries. Interestingly, many immigrants who voted for him somehow convinced themselves that the raids would affect “other” immigrants besides them. However, they will soon get the surprise of their lives when their families are torn apart and their parents and other relatives are shipped out of the US by Trump like plastic waste.

RACISM, MISOGYNY, & WHITE PRIVILEGE

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of what made the Kamala Harris campaign fall flat and fail.

To put it bluntly, a large segment of America is racist and misogynistic and simply did not want a female president, let alone a Black/Asian female president.  This mentality was the death knell for the Harris campaign.

The MAGA movement was born out of the theory that white privilege is slipping away and that Black and Brown people have obtained far too much power in America. Additionally, White males have felt diminished and as if their perch at the top of the food chain is at risk — so, there’s no way they were ever going to allow a Black woman to become their commander in chief. That explains why White men overwhelmingly supported Trump and ordered their wives to ignore the allure of a “female president” and vote for Trump, too.

“There were appeals to racism in this campaign, and there is racial bias in this country and there is sexism in this country — and anybody who thinks that that did not in any way impact on the outcome of this race is wrong,” former Obama advisor David Axelrod said on CNN.

“I am not saying that was the main reason that Kamala Harris lost and Donald Trump won,” but “it was ultimately a rational, well-conceived and well-executed campaign for an often irrational candidate. [So] let‘s not confuse what this was and wasn‘t. Let‘s be very clear-eyed about it” Axelrod concluded.

He couldn’t be more correct.

With Donald Trump set to be inaugurated in less than 70 days, the writing is on the wall. Black voters, Latino voters, middle-class voters, LGBTQ voters, and immigrants who supported Donald Trump will soon learn an extremely hard lesson. They all voted against their own interests and are about to “f*ck around and find out” just how damaging their decision will affect their lives (and the lives of those they love) for a generation.

Perhaps the silver lining here is that sometimes, it’s best to show someone better than you can tell them. Or, to use an analogy, you can tell a baby all day long that a hot stove will burn them — but they sometimes need to burn the hell out of their little hand to truly get the point.

America got what it wanted. America got what it deserved. America is about to learn the lesson of a lifetime.

You made your bed, America. Now, it’s time for you to lay in it.

OK WASSUP! discusses the Top News Today:
What went wrong with the Kamala Harris campaign?