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Kamala Harris’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year

Posted on Thursday, December 30, 2021
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AMAC Exclusive by Daniel Roman

Biden and Harris

The day after Christmas, Kamala Harris set the internet chattering, and not in a good way, when she claimed to have celebrated Kwanzaa in her childhood. “Our Kwanzaa celebrations are some of my favorite childhood memories,” the Vice President tweeted, before going on to elaborate about her favorite of the “seven principles” of the holiday. It is, of course, possible that Harris, who was born in 1964 and grew up in the Bay Area as the daughter of Indian-American and Jamaican-American academics, celebrated the holiday (which did not become mainstream until the 1990s). But whatever the truth of the matter, many of Harris’s internet critics certainly seemed to feel that the tweet perfectly encapsulated the insincerity, unbelievability, and even phoniness with which the American public has become increasingly well-acquainted during Harris’s first year in office.

Perhaps no one in politics had a worse 2021 than our Madame Vice President – and in a year that encompassed January 6th, Donald Trump’s second impeachment, Biden’s surrender in Afghanistan, and his complete failure on COVID, that is certainly saying something. Yet sure enough, Kamala has emerged as one of the loneliest and most isolated figures in American politics. And in microcosm, everything revealed in that little tweet has had much to do with it.

Beyond the alleged inauthenticity of Harris’s tweets (especially stark when matched with her previous stories of attending Hindu services with her mother), the Kwanzaa imbroglio exhibited Harris’s trademark inability to understand anything as not being about her. Normally, when a “top-tier” politician—as Harris infamously labeled herself while languishing behind in the primary—tweets about a holiday, they talk about the importance of the holiday to millions of faithful around the world: Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. Passover, the Jewish people’s deliverance from bondage. You get the idea.

To Harris, Kwanzaa was important because she supposedly celebrated it. It was about her favorite principle. By taking the same attitude toward politics – whereby issues that Harris is involved in (like the border) are merely part of efforts by others to “sabotage” her, and issues where she is not involved represent efforts to “exclude” her – Harris has demonstrated a total inability to see the world as existing for any other reason than to serve her own personal political ambitions and needs.

Many of Harris’s problems, whether they come down to staff, her poor relations with the media, or other Democrats, boil down to just this. And the effect on her political standing has been striking.

For all the attention given to Joe Biden’s falling poll numbers, the sources of Democratic despair go deeper. It is not only the present that concerns the party. It is the future. A disappointing present can be tolerated, even rationalized if a rising star is on the horizon, but for Democrats, the worst thing about the increasingly apparent cognitive decline of Joe Biden is that his likely successor, Kamala Harris, seems to promise both political and governmental disaster.

Harris was always going to struggle as a national figure. Ideologically, Harris was a product of a California, which is far to the left of the country at large, and within California Democratic politics, Harris was aligned with the vastly more woke San Francisco Bay wing as opposed to the (slightly) more centrist Los Angeles wing, whose representative, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Harris beat in the 2018 U.S. Senate race.

As one of the most left-wing members of the Senate, Harris had a record which would hurt her in middle America, and as someone whose entire electoral career had been spent outflanking opponents from the left, she would find it difficult to reverse the strategy in a general election. In the 2020 primaries, Harris was disoriented the first time the same tactic was used against her. In the primary, Bernie supporters began attacking her for being “a cop” – in other words, allowing the prosecution of any crimes at all when she was California’s Attorney General, and for placing non-medically transitioned men who claimed to be transgender in men’s prisons rather than female ones.

These attacks should have been a godsend to Harris. Her entire problem was that voters, including those in the Democratic primary, viewed her as being too left-wing. Suddenly, Bernie supporters were attacking her for allegedly being rightwing on issues where 85% of the electorate agreed with the more conservative position. All Harris had to do was embrace the charges, denounce the left for being pro-crime and anti-woman, and she might have achieved the sort of moment that primary victories are made of. That Harris and her campaign instead fell into a tailspin that ended with her dropping out polling at less than 1% should have set off alarm bells. Handed one of the few “freebees” in politics, Harris fumbled the ball, tripped, and broke both her legs.

Harris’s failures are not ideological. “Success” on the issues Biden has assigned her – namely the border and “voting rights” – would have made her a divisive figure. But it would have solidified her position within the Democratic Party and grassroots supporters. Harris’s graver weaknesses are operational: she cannot seem to run a competent operation. During the primary, stories abounded of financial mismanagement and feuds between her sister, who dominated the campaign, and staffers. As Vice President, those same kind of embarrassing leaks, all blaming the boss, are ever-present. Stories appear in outlets like Politico about the Vice President’s poor treatment of staff, terming the office “an unhealthy environment,” while a staffer this November  bemoaned “With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully and it’s not really clear why.” The Washington Post, on December 4th, also ran a story entitled “A Kamala Harris staff exodus reignites questions about her leadership style — and her future ambitions.”

The consistency of these stories, the ease with which sources have been found, and the actual rapid turnover of staff in the Vice President’s office indicate two things. First and foremost, that Harris is in fact a bad boss. But while being a bad boss is a necessary condition to produce these sorts of stories, it is not sufficient. Many ambitious political hacks are willing to put up with extensive “soul-crushing” abuse for a taste of power. D.C. is not where staffers go for an easy life or easy hours. Not at that level. At most, such an environment would cause staff to leave, but if they believed Harris might end up in a position of power, say the presidency, they would likely avoid burning bridges either with her or their former co-workers by speaking to the press. That they are willing to do so indicates they do not just feel working for Harris is “soul-crushing.” It suggests they feel it is ultimately pointless, that Harris will not succeed in going higher, and therefore they lose nothing by moving on. If their ambition is to work for the President, then working for Kamala Harris in 2022 is detrimental to that goal. It is a vote of no confidence by those who work for Harris in her political future. That so many “mainstream” media sources are eager to run these stories is also an interesting statement of its own.

Harris’s team is apt to blame the bad press on a lack of support from the Biden team or, as Jen Psaki did, “systemic” racism and sexism. Biden perhaps has allowed leaks about a lack of confidence to occur, but given the dysfunction within the President’s own operation, it is unclear how much of this is deliberate and how much is incidental.

On the other hand, there is far more extensive evidence pointing to Pete Buttigieg. Numerous stories have leaked about a rivalry between the Secretary of Transportation and the Vice President for the succession, along with suggestions that the White House favors the Secretary. Clearly Buttigieg is doing nothing to discourage this sort of leaking.

Once more, the real significance here is not about whether Pete Buttigieg has ambitions for the presidency or is an ambitious intriguer. The evidence for both is public and overwhelming. Rather, the real story is that the Vice President of the United States appears to be losing a power struggle against a second-tier cabinet secretary, a cabinet secretary who happens to be Pete Buttigieg. Harris has, or should have, every advantage. She has both race and gender on her side. She would be potentially the first female, the first Asian-American, and the second African-American President. She won statewide election three times in the nation’s largest state, twice for Attorney General, and once for Senate. Pete Buttigieg is a white male in a party which is not a fan of either adjective, who was mayor of a town of 50,000. His gay credentials increasingly count for little versus the white and male aspects. Yet somehow, he is holding his own, if not winning the power struggle.

That is entirely on Harris. Not only on her prior failures, but on how she has conducted her rivalry with Buttigieg. Rather than ignoring him, mocking his pretentions, or utilizing her office to remind him who is the Vice President, she has reacted with the same sort of panic she displayed during the primary when attacked from the left. She has whined that Buttigieg is leaking stories against her, that he would dare to contemplate challenging her, and most pathetically, she has whined that Joe Biden won’t tell Buttigieg to knock it off. The former has elevated Buttigieg into an equal, while the latter has made her look weak. If she asks for Biden to protect her from Buttigieg rather than going after him herself, it implies she is too weak to do so, and thereby strengthens rather than weakens him.

Furthermore, by accusing the White House of favoring Buttigieg, Harris allies are actually the ones planting the stories that Biden and the Democratic establishment “may” favor him. That is exactly the sort of leak Buttigieg would be trying to plant, and it is no wonder he can deny it. He may even be telling the truth, as he has no need to try and “brag” to the media that the White House “secretly backs him” if Harris is doing it for him.

The irony is that Buttigieg cannot “defeat” Harris. Identity politics runs too deeply in the Democratic Party, and as much as many Democrats might privately wish Harris would decide to resign and retire from politics tomorrow, if Buttigieg were to deny her the nomination, Donald Trump or whoever the Republican candidate is would likely beat him handily. As much as Harris as a person may annoy African American voters or women, her whining about persecution strikes a chord, at least with a primary electorate. The only problem is that it does not extend to the general electorate.

The result is that Democrats are stuck with Harris. Which is what makes her incompetence at political infighting so damaging to the party. Buttigieg cannot seriously threaten her, but by treating him as if he can, Harris is creating an additional destructive and divisive war within the Democratic Party for no purpose. It damages her own image, her relations with other Democrats, and the party unnecessarily.

Damaging herself, the office of Vice President, and the Democratic Party for no real reason could be used to describe the Kwanzaa tweet, or pretty much the entirety of Harris’s tenure. It has been one disaster after another, as Harris picks fights where none need be fought, proceeds to lose them despite overwhelming odds in her favor, and then collapses in the face of the first serious opposition on real issues. The charge that someone “can never do anything right” has long been levied, almost never with justification, at politicians. Kamala Harris is one of the first times where it may well be justified on the evidence.

Daniel Roman is the pen name of a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics. 

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Venus
Venus
8 days ago

I was sent a picture & couldn’t tell due to my eyes. But caption said Harris was a call girl when she was younger. Is this true?

Mike S
Mike S
2 years ago

Given how Kamala Harris’s year as VP has been a complete disaster, and given how Joe Biden is likely to resign soon since he continues to fumble the job as President, perhaps the only solution for Harris is to resign before Biden does. If we’re fortunate, someone in the center of the great divide between conservatives and liberals can actually be chosen as VP to subsequently take over the reins as President. Perhaps if Kamala were to actually resign with this hope in mind, our country may yet survive and she may ultimately be looked upon as a hero!!

David Millikan
David Millikan
2 years ago

Besides COMMUNIST harris Stupid laugh and VERY LOW I.Q., has anyone asked if she has visited the White House yet to see what STUPID response she would give?

Sharon Ormsby
Sharon Ormsby
2 years ago

Shoot, I much prefer her to Buttigieg, but would and still do prefer Gabbard over both of them. Rather, would have had her of All the Democrat nominees if we had to have had a democrat in office. She at least has some common sense.

anna hubert
anna hubert
2 years ago

She is giving all she has unfortunately that’s all she has

Walter
Walter
2 years ago

Can’t the American People get corrupt, incompetent politicians out of office before they complete a full term. Harris, et.al are definitely in this category. Just ask yourself what major 3 things Harris did during this past year for the American people. Her & Uncle Joe: 2 x 0 is still 0. Let’s roll up our sleeves and do whatever it takes to get these Communist, Compromised Incompetent Hypocrites out of our Great Country. Prison sounds good to me for them selling out the American people and I mean Legal American Citizens.

Gerald Ling
Gerald Ling
2 years ago

Harris is a worse idiot than Biden and let’s hope Nancy and her corrupt Democrat leftists and progressives don’t bump Biden out of office to put Harris in. What a disaster that would be for this country.

Honey
Honey
2 years ago

To add to her woes, gossip magazines are hinting about trouble between Kamala and her husband. Ouch.

To get a good look at Harris’s very bad history before becoming VP, read Schweitzer’s Profiles in Corruption. She and Biden come off among the worst in Washington.

Philip Hammersley
Philip Hammersley
2 years ago

Kamala, like Senile Joe, has ZERO real accomplishments so has to embellish and outright lie in order to show some relevance. She has ZERO talent other than that which got her started in politics.

D.P.
D.P.
2 years ago

And who cares?

Rik
Rik
2 years ago

VP to the Worst President in American History. . . Says It All!

BwaHa
BwaHa
2 years ago

Kamala Who? Is that thing still in an office somewhere?! Please go home Harris!

MAGA2024! TRUMP2024!
FJB! LET’S GO BRANDON!

Rick
Rick
2 years ago

She’s lied so much it all starts to run together. I’m sure in her own mind she remembers Kwanzaa celebrations because she’s told the story so many times. Sort of like how she remembers how she got to where she is – she thinks she got there with hard work, and forgets blowing Willie Brown’s horn all the time to get her where she is! Actually, that was probably a lot of hard work for her, though – ask Monica!

John
John
2 years ago

That Harris is a known quantity was and is no surprise. We knew what we were in store for before she was even chosen as a running mate. What frightens me is, she made it into the White House once, she can easily do it again.

irene
irene
2 years ago

she is a terrible person who sucked her way to were she is.

BAE
BAE
2 years ago

Biden/Harris could it get worse? Harris/Clinton?

Sean Richman
Sean Richman
2 years ago

You really can’t fully blame harris.This entity is a product of the liberal,sicialist marxist,democRAT cult.This is the normal thing for these people,nothing out of the ordinary.

Ralph S
Ralph S
2 years ago

Which is worse? The dumb cluck… or the dumber clucker?

Phillip Ridenour
Phillip Ridenour
2 years ago

C’mon AMAC, we expect higher quality reporting from you. Kamala’s Harris’s? Pete Buttigieg mayor of a town of 50,000? Puh-leeze. Hire a proof reader and a (real) fact checker.

Judy
Judy
2 years ago

I wonder how all the traitors in our White House are getting along under Military supervised living? They have created a prison atmosphere for themselves which suits me just fine, they’re deserving of it. I don’t really even care what any of them does because whatEVER they do is reckless and evil! They know what they’ve done and the planning was in affect for far longer than we can probably imagine. How else could they have pulled it off? The only thing that threw a wrench in the works for them is when Donald Trump beat Hillary in 2016. They knew what they would have to do just in case he won. I wonder just how many of these people like Adam Schiff, are Pedos? No telling with what they’ve shown they’re capable of. I digress; Nancy Pelosi’s traitorous words in a statement before the entire world, gave away exactly what they intended to do. Dominion, already contracted to ensure their steal of the election. I’m only imagining how this all went down, but I really believe it did go down this way.
This was planned out so well, that when proof of what they did was brought before the Supreme Court of the United States, they knew all they had to do was make violent threats against them and their families and across the country to get them to turn down even looking at any of it. There’s also the Chief Justice, John Roberts in it. No, if we aren’t able to have secure and legal elections, it’s over. I thank God that Biden’s Bust Bill didn’t pass! Republicans have to do more, talking points weigh nothing if they’re not followed by positive action. I pray God will help our nation.

Larry W.
Larry W.
2 years ago

This Biden and Harris team is like an arranged marriage at a mental institution.

Judy
Judy
2 years ago

Way too long an article about nothing…..nothing that is, we don’t already know about.

Art
Art
2 years ago

OTHER THAN BUCK FIDEN SAYING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL THAT HIS VP WOULD BE A WOMAN OF COLOR, WHO ACTUALLY MAY HAVE BACKED THIS PERSON TO BE VICE PRESIDENT????? SHE COULDN’T WIN HERE HOME STATE ,CALIFORNIA, IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY. WHAT WAS IT? ANYONE BUT BERNIE?

Patty
Patty
2 years ago

Too many politicians lie… they do. And I’m doing so, they do NOT do their job in representing the WILL of We, the People. They get in office and proceed to represent their own best interests, which in one way or another, can always be traced back to the (not so) almighty dollar. Kamala fully encompasses the very definition of the word “LIAR”. She’s the perfect “match” to Biden.
If we can’t do better than this, our ship will only SINK.

Mike
Mike
2 years ago

Keep up the good work JB & KH ! It will be much more easier to win in 22, & 24 . In my lifetime, I’ve never seen so much failure in our President, and V.P. Just think . . . 3 more years of this !

Bob
Bob
2 years ago

The Presidential election is about two years away, counting the campaign time. We have seen the lack of leadership exhibited by Mayor Pete in the supply chain issue and the lack of leadership in the border issue by VP Harris. If Mayor Pete and VP Harris are the best the Democratic Party has to offer, then the Party is in serious trouble. However, the DNC has two years to find a candidate without any “baggage.” This is what we as conservatives must watch and be able to defeat.

Jimmyd
Jimmyd
2 years ago

Heels High drop a redwood in there and it will never be seen again.

Dan
Dan
2 years ago

Harris believes her own lies. She has a lot in common with her friend Jussie Smollet. He should be her VP in 2024.

Drue
Drue
2 years ago

Biden and Harris are twin train wrecks. Joe is a lying, career politician and Kamala has risen to the top by lying on her back. You can talk to liberals and virtually none of them will admit voting for the village idiots.

DonB
DonB
2 years ago

Come on ! I despise this female more than the Clinton twit, but Kawanza was first introduced in the US in 1966 !!

Jeanne
Jeanne
2 years ago

If she is high tier anything we know how she got there. Her character is anything but high tier.

PesKoi
PesKoi
2 years ago

This woman has no shame.

Elena Tellez
Elena Tellez
2 years ago

The Democrat party IS no more. Failure after failure with these demented, socialist / communist ‘officials;’ neither of whom I recognize as OUR president or VP. Joe belongs in memory care; and the slut belongs in a high priced call-girl penthouse. ‘Nuf said. Buttigieg? Eh! Not strong enough to lead the country. We need a president, male or female, with REAL gonads. Just sayin’

Roni
Roni
2 years ago

Harris never won a primary in her own state biden couldn’t finish a sentence it’s clear that Obama can’t let go see he got Hillary to put out the frod and it worked they play dirty while we the honest hardworking people that make up republican s don’t kamala the terrorist

Rich C
Rich C
2 years ago

Kamala is on the right team. Pray that she doesn’t jump ship.

Hal
Hal
2 years ago

Camel Hairs, IMO, was and is a governmental disaster if you measure it by her views, competence, and experience. By far, she was the worst VPOTUS ever to serve (except broom rider Hillary Clinton).

Amanda
Amanda
2 years ago

We have a VP ? Would never have known other than her nervous turkey laugh. She hides from responsibility as well as hidden Obiden. A disaster team indeed .

PattyRN MA
PattyRN MA
2 years ago

Unbelievably well written with precise, unquestionable insight. Biden is terrifying but Harris and Buttigieg are beyond the pale. Where will our salvation come from? I pray for DeSantis, Kristi Noem and perhaps Nikki Halley with Trump somewhere in the mix.

DJF
DJF
2 years ago

This Harris buffoon is the most worthless of all traitors that were obviously planted by a herd of weathy communists.Kamala is proof of the absolute ignorance behind this entire administration, which has already has proven to be our most destructive

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris takes the Oath of Office, being sworn in
Donald Trump vector portrait president of the united states
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pray at the altar in the Redemptor Hominis Church Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

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