Fortune has never favored an American politician like Kamala Harris. And no politician has let fortune slip from her grasp so dramatically.
Fortune held her for almost 100 days, but she didn't hold it at all. Instead, she, Democratic elites, and Democratic voters embraced arrogance. They believed their sweeping claims that Harris was presidential lumber could cause them to do so.
Harris won the 2024 Democratic nomination with great acclaim. No one since Eisenhower has had the privilege of being nominated by a major party without effort. Others have previously won the award, including Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Jackson, and George Washington, but like Ike, they earned nominations awarded based on extraordinary non-political accomplishments. I was doing it.
Harris did no such thing. Her 2024 nomination is truly independent and fairytale-like.
But while such awards are rare in American politics, they are certainly not unusual in Kamala Harris' career. To be precise, it was the usual course. She was lifted into politics and then repeatedly lifted into politics throughout her life.
it started in san franciscowhere is she exiled Her former boss, the city's district attorney who promoted her. She then rose to become California's attorney general. When the Senate seat opened, she received it.
Fate has certainly smiled on Harris, and it will soon smile even brighter.
Even though she has only been a senator for a few years, she has decided to run for the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination. Ms. Harris stood out — or rather, to the left — in the crowded far-left crowd that Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.) torched four years ago.
She was from California, the largest and wealthiest state for Democrats. She was a woman and a minority in a party that received disproportionate political support from both parties. She had money, influence, voting potential, and prestige that people in other fields could not match.
Yet Harris could turn out to be Rumpelstiltskin. spin gold and make straw. She never even made it to the start line, so she never crossed it first – and was disgracefully expelled from school in December. 2019.
But Harris' fairy tale didn't end there. Although there is no doubt that he is running, Worse than other 2020 Democratic candidatesshe was selected as Joe Biden's running mate.
Miraculously, his weakness became hers. As a campaigner and communicator, she did not think highly of him. Her identity group attributes would work well within a party that is keenly aware of them, and would compensate for Biden's lack of one.
Despite President Trump's divisiveness, the coronavirus, government economic shutdowns, and social unrest, fortune continues to smile, giving Biden an incredible tailwind and boosting Harris.
Within the administration, Ms. Harris could have dominated the field. On the contrary, she went berserk. her first year will be considered a failure And her next few years were no. better. Entering my 4th year, I started getting calls. in his place on the ticket. Biden didn't go that far, but she still did. relegated to obscurity.
Still, Harris' fairy tale continued. After all primaries had been held, Democratic Party elites declared Biden unfit to run after his performance in the debates undeniably made him unfit to continue. I decided that. after kicking him out In an unprecedented way, they name. Harris won the war he had won all those years ago by default without firing a shot.
Luck was even more in her favor. Establishment media, which had long covered Biden without realizing the obvious, tried to do the same with her. give her a pass About her avoidance of press conferences appear in public and help her avoid questions When it was inevitable.
she had money is plentiful It includes not only Biden and Harris' campaign funds, but also tens of millions in money that flowed in from donors relieved after Biden left office. And after Biden left office, she felt a sense of elation from the unity of Democrats.
At first, the Democratic Party's vision appeared to be true. Biden is inferior to Trump disappearedHarris opened the lead. With a condensed schedule, her sparse performance, and a total lack of scrutiny from the establishment media, it seemed like Harris might be able to run out the clock and somehow get over the line.
Sadly, even if Harris had elite wind under her wings, she couldn't fly. her poll lead disappeared. She was forced to attend public events, which only made her look worse. Her rhetoric became inflammatory and offensive.
The moral of Harris's fairy tale is one of hubris. Democratic elites thought they could make someone president. Ms. Harris believed she could bluff her way to the White House. Democratic voters were convinced that political power alone could render Biden and Harris' records irrelevant.
In the end, Harris' reach finally exceeded her comprehension. When it came true, Harris' fairy tale became something else: Humpty Dumpty. And all the king's horses and all the king's vassals could not bring her back.
JT Young is the author of a new book.An unprecedented attack: How big government unleashed America's socialist left” and has more than 30 years of experience working in Congress, the Treasury Department, the White House Office of Management and Budget, and representing Fortune 20 companies.
