Kamala Harris's mistake led aides to plead for re-do
In a second new account, the book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America by Josh Dawsey (pictured), Isaac Arnsdorf, and Tyler Pager, reveals Harris's team went into damage control mode the moment the words left her mouth. According to the book, Cutter immediately approached co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Ana Navarro during a commercial break, pleading with them to re-ask the question in hopes Harris could deliver the answer they had actually prepared. 'She didn't want to differentiate herself from Biden,' Dawsey explained on MSNBC's Morning Joe. 'She thinks it won't be authentic, she believes that it wouldn't work. 'What the hell was that?' longtime Democratic strategist Cutter is said to have asked Harris. 'That's not what we practiced.'
Cutter (pictured) urged the hosts to re-ask the question so Harris could give the answer she'd rehearsed, but the segment moved on. Backstage, another campaign official, Rob Flaherty, reportedly put his head in his hands and swore. One adviser later described the viral soundbite as 'the defining error of the campaign.' It reinforced voter doubts, gave Republicans a soundbite for attack ads, and erased Harris's chance to distinguish herself from the deeply unpopular president she had served under for four years.
Then-Vice President Harris had ascended to the top of the ticket following Biden's post-debate collapse and was seated comfortably alongside the friendly hosts with Whoopi Goldberg introducing her as 'the next president of the United States.' With Biden polling historically low and Republicans hammering Democrats on inflation, immigration, and global instability, the campaign had carefully prepped Harris to offer a contrast, to carve out daylight between her vision and Biden's legacy. Even Sunny Hostin, who asked the now-infamous question, has since expressed deep regret - not for asking it, but for how it spiraled.
The View appearance was Harris' first major televised sit-down as the nominee and was supposed to showcase her command, vision, and independence. Instead, it revealed the opposite: a candidate tethered too tightly to a deeply unpopular administration, unwilling, or unable to define herself on her own terms. At the time, Republicans were quick to seize on Harris' misstep. 'Kamala Harris is more of the same. She admits it herself,' then-Senator JD Vance posted on X.
Donald Trump, Jr. (pictured) was even more forceful, as DailyMail.com reported at the time. 'And just like that, Kamala's entire bull[expletive] campaign about being a 'change agent' collapses. You can't call yourself a change agent when you not only agree with every single disaster Joe Biden is responsible for, but you brag about being involved in all those decisions!,' he wrote on X. As Democrats look to recollect themselves, Harris's misstep continues to loom large with books, podcasts, and pundits all returning to that fateful exchange.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Transgender actress Laverne Cox under fire from her woke fans after revealing 'MAGA cop' boyfriend
Transgender actress Laverne Cox is under fire from her own fans after admitting that she secretly dated a Trump-supporting police officer for four years. The star, 53, who is known for her extremely progressive politics, enraged her woke fanbase after dropping the bombshell about her love life in a video to promote her upcoming one-woman show. She also admitted that her cop lover was 22 years younger than her. 'He was 26, I was 48,' she explained. 'He is a blonde hair, blue-eyed MAGA Republican voter who is a New York City police officer.' While they're no longer dating, Cox admitted that they were 'madly in love' during their time together. She also gushed about how 'hot' he was, but insisted that she never adopted any of his conservative political views. The post was met with extreme backlash from fans of the Orange Is the New Black star, with many expressing complete shock and disbelief that she could date a Republican while publicly preaching her progressive politics. 'You should've taken this to the grave babe,' wrote, while another commented, 'So you recorded this, edited, and STILL pressed upload? A third commented, 'It's the smiling with pride, that's bothering me. As if it were a badge of honor.' Another said, 'Sooooo the morals are dismissed when he's hot. Got it.' After feeling the fury from her fanbase, Cox attempted to fix the situation by releasing a 53-minute video diving into her own politics as well as the reality of the relationship. She also said that some of her fans were 'dehumanizing people with different political beliefs', which she said was 'not consistent with my values'. On top of that, the star insisted that she wasn't MAGA and had 'never' voted for Trump. 'What was beautiful about the relationship I had with my ex is that for three and a half of the four years we dated it was amazing and we would agree to disagree, and managed to still have fun, managed to still see each other's humanity and love each other across these differences,' she said. Despite her clarification, Cox still received backlash from her progressive followers. 'Respectfully, why are you navigating a relationship with a blonde, blue-eyed, MAGA, Republican?' asked one. A second commented, 'He voted against YOU! He voted against who you are and what you stand for, your basic rights! He voted against who you advocate for, your trans community. You may have 'loved' him, but he most certainly did NOT love you.' 'Respectfully.....I think you need to love yourself more. Because you SIGNIFICANTLY lowered yourself to be with a man who did not deserve you,' wrote a third. Last November, Cox publicly stated that she and her transgender friends were considering moving out of the country due to Donald Trump's presidency. 'We're doing research on different cities in Europe and in the Caribbean,' she told Variety. Cox went as far as comparing the Trump administration's anti-LGBTQ rhetoric to the German Reich of the early 1900s. 'There was this a thriving community of queer people in Berlin pre the rise of Nazism. They attacked Jewish folks. They attacked immigrants, they attacked queer and trans people,' she said. 'I don't want to be in too much fear, but I'm scared. As a public figure, with all my privilege, I'm scared, and I'm particularly scared because I'm a public figure,' she continued. 'I feel like I could be targeted. I think they spent close to $100 million on anti-trans ads. It's deeply concerning.'
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Award-winning AP photographer Bob Daugherty captured history with speed and persistence
Robert A. Daugherty, whose four-decade career with The Associated Press captured history including President Lyndon B. Johnson writing the speech in which he declined reelection, Richard Nixon flashing 'V for Victory' signs before leaving the White House in disgrace and Jimmy Carter clasping hands with Middle East leaders after cementing a peace treaty, has died after a lengthy illness. He was 86. Daugherty, the son of sharecroppers who shined shoes for spare change in his youth, died Monday in Noblesville, Indiana, his wife Stephanie said. He was born Jan. 16, 1939 in a three-room wooden house in rural Kentucky. In a 43-year career, he covered nine presidents, 22 political conventions, the Watergate hearings, the Paris Peace Talks over the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and presidential trips overseas. He also covered dozens of high-stakes sporting events including the Olympic Games, Masters Tournaments, and Kentucky Derby races. J. David Ake, who retired as AP's director of photography, said Daugherty — who went by Bob — also became a 'tack-sharp leader' focused on helping AP photojournalists do their best work. 'His goal was to make everyone who worked with him or for him better,' Ake said. 'Because he understood what it took to make a good frame and get it on the wire, no matter what, he was always there to lend a hand, make a suggestion, or just run interference. And it didn't hurt; he was the kindest man you will ever meet.' Daugherty learned the power of photography early as he distributed a community newspaper to local farmers. He later recalled one of the recipients telling him, 'You know I can't read, but I sure like the pictures.' After the family moved to Marion, Indiana, Daugherty shot pictures for his high school yearbook, which led to a job with the local Marion Chronicle-Tribune. He next worked at the Indianapolis Star, where he met Stephanie Hoppes, a staff writer. They were married on Dec. 7, 1963. With no money to pay for college, Daugherty later said, "I earned my junior college degree at the Marion Chronicle, bachelor's degree at the Star and master's with The Associated Press.' Although the couple traveled extensively in retirement, Stephanie Daugherty said she never accompanied her husband on his overseas work trips, such as Nixon's groundbreaking visit to China in 1972. 'He was very dedicated to doing his best and he didn't want me as a distraction,' she said. Persistence, timing and speed were keys to Daugherty's success in Washington with the AP. Hearing that Johnson was writing a speech on a Saturday in the spring of 1968, Daugherty badgered a press aide until he was let in to shoot a haggard, open-collared LBJ writing the speech declining his party's nomination. Daugherty positioned himself for a straight-on view of Nixon flashing 'V for victory' hand signs at the door to a helicopter on the White House lawn, minutes after becoming the first president to resign in 1974. When Carter grasped the handshake of Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat after the signing of a 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, Daugherty captured the moment in nearly identical color and black-and-white images. At the time, this required him to use two separate cameras. When Carter visited Kentucky in July 1979, other photographers ditched what was expected to be a routine motorcade to an event at a school. But Daugherty stayed, catching the normally staid Carter seated on top of the presidential limousine to greet well-wishers. He later said that photo was a favorite among all the images he made of U.S. presidents. 'You must stay alert when you're with the president,' Daugherty said. 'You must be prepared.' 'Bob was a legend,' said Pablo Martínez Monsiváis, assistant photo chief for AP's Washington bureau. Asked about an iconic photograph, Daugherty would describe all the planning that went into the shot or simply say, 'I got lucky.' 'If anyone was lucky, it was me who got to work with him,' Martínez Monsiváis recalled. Among other awards, Daugherty won the Oliver S. Gramling Award, AP's highest journalism honor, in 1999. In 2009, the White House News Photographers Association presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2015 he was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame by the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was also a soccer coach and swim-meet official for his son John, said his wife, and in retirement never missed a chance to watch the sun set over the Morse Reservoir, where the couple lived.
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Army's head of aviation, who faced questions over deadly midair collision, has new role
The U.S. Army's head of aviation has changed jobs to become chief of the branch's enterprise marketing office, a move that comes before the National Transportation Safety Board holds hearings next week on January's midair collision between an Army helicopter and a commercial jet that killed 67 people. Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman became chief of the Army Enterprise Marketing Office this month to focus on advertising and boosting recruitment, according to his new bio on an Army website. An Army spokesperson said the plan to move Braman was in place last fall and had nothing to do with the tragedy. The NTSB will hold three days of hearings, starting next Wednesday, on the crash near Reagan Washington National Airport. Braman was among those who faced criticism from some in Congress following the collision over the Potomac River, which was the nation's deadliest plane crash since November 2001. Braman acknowledged during a hearing in March that military helicopters were still flying over the nation's capital with a key system broadcasting their locations turned off during most missions because it deemed them sensitive. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called it 'shocking and deeply unacceptable' after earlier complaining that the general wasn't answering his questions. Braman repeatedly evaded Cruz's questions during the hearing about whether he would provide a copy of a memo laying out the policy for when Army helicopters fly with their locators turned off. Braman said he wasn't sure he could provide the memo because it was part of the investigation, but the head of the NTSB assured him that would be okay. Former NTSB and FAA crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti, who has followed the crash investigation and watched the hearing, welcomed the news that Braman is no longer leading the Army's aviation unit. 'Personally I think that's a good thing. That guy was just not playing ball in my view,' Guzzetti said. 'He was too protective and defensive and evasive and secretive. And that's not what you need in this type of situation.' Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in April that troubling missteps since the crash 'underscore the precarious situation in the nation's airspace.' Expressing frustration with the Army's refusal to turn over a memo detailing its flight rules, Cruz said during the hearing that any deaths resulting from another collision near Reagan Airport 'will be on the Army's hands.' He threatened the Army with a subpoena if it did not give the committee a copy of its memo. The fact that system wasn't activated in the Black Hawk that collided with the passenger jet is a key concern investigators have highlighted. With the location system turned off, the tower had to rely on radar for updates on the helicopter's position that only came once every four seconds instead of every second before the crash. 'It begs the question, what doesn't the Army want Congress or the American people to know about why it was flying partially blind to the other aircraft and to the air traffic controllers near DCA?' Cruz said, using the airport code for Reagan. 'This is not acceptable.'
