Former Vice President Kamala Harris called allowing President Joe Biden to decide on a 2024 re-election bid an act of ‘recklessness,’ according to excerpts from her new memoir released Wednesday. Harris said she felt she was the last person who could warn her 81-year-old boss against running for a second term.
Harris in “107 Days,” recounted the tension within the White House as Biden pursued re-election despite doubts from aides and party officials.
Biden ended his campaign on July 21, 2024, following a dull debate performance against Republican nominee Donald Trump, which intensified questions about his ability to endure a full campaign or serve a second term.
“Of all the 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,” Harris wrote, according to an excerpt published in The Atlantic.
GRACE OR RECKLESSNESS?
Harris pointed towards the decision-making process that led Biden to continue his campaign. “‘It’s Joe and (his wife) Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” she wrote.
She argued that the stakes were too high for the decision to be left solely to one individual’s ambition. “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 added.
Harris, 60, became the Democratic nominee after Biden’s withdrawal and faced the daunting task of running a national campaign with only 107 days to convince voters. She ultimately lost to Trump, now 79, in the November election. Since then, Harris has kept a relatively low profile and in July announced she would not run for governor of California.
HARRIS DEFENDS BIDEN’S CAPABILITIES
In her memoir, Harris denied allegations of any White House conspiracy to cover up age-related declines in Biden’s abilities, noting that his challenges became more evident as the campaign progressed.
“On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best,” Harris wrote. “But at 81, Joe got tired.”
Biden, the oldest person to ever serve as US president, is now 82 and has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
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With inputs form agencies