A startling new book that has come to emerge again and paints Vice President Kamala Harris in a negative light comes at a critical juncture in the Democratic Party’s history. Hunter Walker and Luppe B. Luppen, two journalists, delve deeply into the internal divisions that have plagued the Democrats for years in their book “The Truce: Progressives, Centrists, and the Future of the Democratic Party,” which now turns its critical gaze toward Harris.
The book didn’t initially gain much traction after its discreet January release outside of Washington insiders. However, “The Truce” has taken on new life as the 2024 presidential contest heats up and Harris finds himself up against former President Donald Trump. For Harris, who is described in the book as being overwhelmingly reliant on her charisma and lacking a distinct political agenda, the timing couldn’t be worse.
According to Walker and Luppen’s assessment, a number of interviews with Harris’s close friends and former assistants are described, painting a concerning image of her management style. The book claims that Harris has had difficulty articulating a coherent goal and has frequently relied on her personality to negotiate political obstacles. Sources allege that this approach has left her staff without focus and her policy proposals unclear.
One of her 2020 campaign team’s former senior staff members had serious concerns about her readiness for the president. “It was bad from the beginning,” the assistant said. “A lot of us, at least folks that I was friends with on the campaign, all realized that: ‘Yeah, this person should not be president of the United States,’” they disclosed to the authors.
In addition, “The Truce” brought attention to a wider conflict inside the Democratic Party that existed before Harris’s ascent but has intensified in light of her prospective president. The battle to determine the party’s future course between the progressive wing and the establishment’s centrist members only grew more intense. The authors contend that this internal conflict may make it more difficult for the Democrats to stand united against Trump.
The intense animosity between Maya Harris, the campaign chair and Harris’s sister, and Juan Rodriguez of Bearstars Strategies, the campaign manager, was a major source of turmoil within the campaign staff.
When Harris withdrew from the primary in December 2019, she mostly cited financial constraints as the reason for her decision. The authors did point out that there was a general “toxic climate” in the campaign, not only problems with money management.
“It was the most awkward day of my life,” a senior staffer recounted to the authors. “People were literally having a thirty-minute audit meeting with Juan about how the campaign was going and then they were walking across the hall into the same meeting with Maya … I remember Juan popping into my office to find out how the meeting with Maya went.”
The campaign’s state operations manager, Kelly Mehlenbacher, resigned in November 2019 and sent a scathing departure letter to The New York Times, voicing her displeasure. Mehlenbacher wrote in the letter, “This is my third presidential campaign, and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly.” She went on to attack the internal culture of the campaign, saying, “We find ourselves making the same unforced errors over and over because we have refused to confront our mistakes, foster an environment of critical thinking and honest feedback, or trust the expertise of talented staff.”
The book also makes predictions about the party’s leadership after Biden and Sanders leave office, pointing out that the party will be at a crossroads when the next generation of leaders takes over. With no obvious answer in sight, economic and social justice problems are vying for attention, making it difficult for the party to develop a cogent platform that will appeal to a wide range of American voters.
The book’s harsh picture of Harris might jeopardize her leadership and credibility at a time when the Democratic base is seeking cohesion and strength. Her ability to disprove the accusations made in the book and unite her party behind her may be crucial in countering Trump’s relentless campaigning and his hold on the Republican base.
