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.
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