Harris Aides, WH Staff Vilified Her In Book: ‘She Ain’t Made For This’

A previously published book by progressives, which focused on prominent figures within their movement, sharply criticized Vice President Kamala Harris during a time when speculation was rampant about whether she might be replaced as President Joe Biden’s running mate.

The book raised concerns among White House staffers about Harris's challenges in defining a clear political agenda and her tendency to rely on personal appeal. Now, as Harris faces a close presidential race against former President Donald Trump, the book is being reconsidered, eight months after its release.

In the summer of 2023, a number of Democratic leaders, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, began promoting their leadership abilities as calls for President Biden to step down intensified. While those demands eventually subsided, attention shifted to Harris, with left-leaning critics highlighting her historically low approval ratings, as noted by the Daily Caller.

Enter The Truce: Progressives, Centrists, and the Future of the Democratic Party, which was released in January. By the time of its publication, the idea of replacing Harris had already been discussed, and the book arguably provided plenty of arguments for doing so.

“It was rotten from the start,” recalled a top aide from her 2020 campaign. “A lot of us, especially people I knew on the campaign, quickly realized: ‘Yeah, this person should not be president of the United States.’”

Written by Hunter Walker and Luppe B. Luppen, the book was published long before Harris became the expected successor to the Democratic presidential ticket, following President Biden's tenure.

“Kamala is not ready for prime time,” said a senior White House official quoted in the book. “She ain’t made for this.”

The book also contains harsh criticism from insiders of Harris’s 2020 campaign, portraying her as an uninspiring and ineffective leader who lacked a clear political direction or strategy for governance. Several staffers described internal conflicts, particularly the tension between Harris’s family and the high-profile consulting firm she hired for advice.

According to staffers, much of the dysfunction revolved around the strained relationship between Harris’s sister, Maya Harris, who chaired the campaign, and Juan Rodriguez of Bearstars Strategies, who served as the campaign manager.

The friction between Rodriguez and Maya Harris became so severe that they were eventually placed in separate areas of the campaign headquarters and held separate staff meetings.

“It was one of the most uncomfortable days of my life,” one senior staffer told the authors. “People were literally having a 30-minute debrief with Juan about how the campaign was doing, then they’d walk across the hall to attend the same meeting with Maya … I remember Juan coming into my office to ask how things went with Maya.”

The internal disarray extended beyond family-related tensions. Staffers reported recurring issues with financial mismanagement, as noted by the Daily Caller.

“She was less concerned with how much money I was raising for her and more focused on what I was doing to create an inclusive workplace,” one consultant shared with the authors.

When Harris withdrew from the Democratic primary in December 2019, she cited insufficient funds as the primary reason for her exit.

The book's authors described the financial mismanagement as part of a broader “toxic environment” within her campaign. In November 2019, state operations manager Kelly Mehlenbacher resigned, and her resignation letter, which was later leaked to The New York Times, reflected similar sentiments.

“This is my third presidential campaign, and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,” Mehlenbacher wrote.

“Because we have refused to acknowledge our mistakes, create an environment for critical thinking and honest feedback, or trust the expertise of talented staff, we continue to make the same avoidable mistakes repeatedly,” she added.