In a forthcoming book, former Vice President Kamala Harris criticizes the decision-making process that led to former President Joe Biden running for reelection in 2024, describing it as “recklessness” and stating that “ego” played a role in the decision.
Harris’ book, “107 Days,” chronicles her three-and-a-half-month run for president in the 2024 election against President Donald Trump. She took over for Biden following a disastrous debate against Trump in June. Commenting on that debacle, Harris wrote that “the stakes were simply too high” to have left the reelection decision to Joe and Jill Biden personally.
“‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris wrote, per an excerpt.
“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 wrote.
Harris further stated that Biden’s team did not help her during key moments, and when polls shifted in her favor from Biden, they did not “like the contrast.”
“None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well. That given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital,” Harris wrote. “It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands. My success was important for him.”
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Harris said she is “loyal” to Biden, praising his abilities while in office, but is “more loyal to [her] country.”
“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. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.”
