107 Days in Hell: Harris’ Impossible Battle Against Trump

When Joe Biden finally stepped down as the Democratic presidential candidate in the summer of 2024, it was notably overdue.

Behind the scenes, advisors and party strategists had been whispering for months about his declining energy and mental acuity. But it was only after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump in June that the pressure became unavoidable. The problem was that time had run out for the party.

Kamala Harris took up the baton with a campaign that never really got off the ground.

According to David Plouffe, former campaign manager for Barack Obama and later involved in Harris’ campaign, they were thrown directly into a chaotic countdown to election day, writes The Guardian. “It was a fucking nightmare,” he says in the book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, as cited by The Guardian.

Plouffe and other former Obama advisors had long been skeptical of Biden’s decision to run again.

Donors expressed concern over the president’s visible decline, and internally within the White House, there were people trying to protect Biden from his own staff to conceal the extent of his mental downturn.

But publicly, an image was painted of a candidate who still had the stamina for a campaign. It turned out to be an illusion.

The campaign with Harris as the front figure was squeezed between desperation and inadequacy.

Deadline in Just 107 Days

She had just 107 days to turn around a public that still viewed Biden as the face of the party – and to counter a Trump machine that had already positioned itself in several battleground states.

According to the book, prominent Democrats like Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer attempted to persuade Biden to step back earlier, but to no avail.

Biden ended up stepping aside on July 21, declaring his support for Harris.

But by then it was too late. The damage was done. The Democrats were left without time to mobilize, and Harris had to bear the legacy of chaos she did not create.

The aftermath of the campaign was not a victory for renewal, but a reminder of how quickly a political machine can decay when no one is willing to make the tough decision in time.

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