Passive-aggressive Biden wants Harris to lose
President Joe Biden may have endorsed Kamala Harris, but it’s increasingly obvious he wants her to lose.
Last week, Vice President Harris ripped into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for reportedly not taking her calls regarding Hurricane Helene. She accused him of “playing political games.” She continued, “This is utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish.”
For his part, DeSantis said, “I didn’t know that she had called.” He was busy preparing for Hurricane Milton. DeSantis said that he’d been working with “both FEMA and the president.” He accused her of trying to interject herself into storm preparation efforts for political reasons. He noted that she “has never contributed anything” to similar efforts before.
Enter Biden. One might expect that he’d come to Harris’ defense or at least minimize the conflict. Nope.
“The governor of Florida has been cooperative,” Biden said. He continued, “I talked with him again yesterday” and told him, “You’re doing a great job.” Further, Biden said he gave DeSantis “my personal phone number to call.”
Biden might as well have said that Harris is a bumbling afterthought. To add insult to injury, he did his press event while Harris was on the TV show “The View.”
This isn’t the first time that he’s upstaged her. Earlier this month, news networks cut away from a Harris campaign event in Michigan after Biden walked into the White House press briefing. That was the first time he’d done that as president.
He then told the world that he and Harris are “singing from the same song sheet.” He added, “She was a major player in everything we’ve done.”
This isn’t a one-off. After Biden dropped out of the election, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made similar remarks. She called Harris “a critical partner” for the president and reaffirmed, “This is certainly the Biden-Harris administration.”
That may sound nice, but it’s a political disaster. Biden is deeply unpopular. Harris is desperately trying to convince voters that she represents a new approach. Biden’s made that task more difficult.
Harris struggles with this, too. Sunny Hostin, a co-host of “The View,” asked Harris what she would have done differently than Biden over the last four years.
“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris replied.
The Trump ads write themselves.
Last week, CNN put out a long piece on this, entitled “Harris weighs more breaks with Biden as he keeps injecting himself into the campaign.” CNN reported her team was excited that Biden was about to travel overseas. But Biden then canceled that trip in anticipation of Hurricane Milton. As president, it was easy for him to upstage his vice president on hurricane response.
Don’t think any of this is happening by accident. Even in his diminished state, Biden knows what he’s doing. It’s like in September when Biden briefly donned a Trump hat, effectively neutering the Biden-Harris claim that Trump is a threat to democracy.
The infighting is becoming more public, too. On Sunday, Axios reported on rising tensions between the two camps. Behind the scenes, Harris advisers are complaining about Biden stepping on their messaging. “Many senior Biden aides” are still upset about Democrats forcing the president to drop out, according to Axios.
In response, a Harris ally told Axios, “They’re too much in their feelings.”
Pass the popcorn and enjoy the show. As Harris’ prospects of winning continue to diminish, expect Biden to take more and increasing less subtle jabs at Harris. It’s about to be the best comedy on television.
If Harris loses, Biden will remain the only person to have beaten Trump. His passive-aggressive moves suggest he’d be quite content with that outcome.