Ever since the Ringside Politics program started 25 years ago, we have enjoyed an annual tradition. During Thanksgiving week, we announce our “Turkey of the Year” winner. Our previous award recipients have included both celebrities and politicians, as well as Republicans and Democrats.
Our 2023 winner was Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the worst cabinet member of a failed administration. He inherited a secure border but created chaos by removing President Donald Trump’s successful policies.
The result was millions of undocumented migrants, including thousands of murderers and rapists, entered illegally. Instead of acknowledging the crisis, and apologizing for his negligence, Mayorkas regularly appeared before Congress to claim the southern border was “secure.”
Like Mayorkas, our 2024 award winner is a “turkey” in every respect. As usual, this year, we allowed our wonderful audience members to offer their nominations. While many uniquely qualified “turkeys” were nominated, there was one unmistakable selection for the 2024 Ringside Politics “Turkey of the Year,” Vice President Kamala Harris.
While Harris was able to get elected to numerous political offices in California, mainly thanks to her relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, she failed spectacularly on the national stage.
As a Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 race, Harris was the first to exit the campaign without winning one primary or delegate. Thereafter, the party’s nominee, Joe Biden, selected
Harris to be his running mate, obviously, looking for a vice-presidential candidate who would not outshine him.
After being elected Vice President, Harris was a disaster in every respect. Biden tapped her to be his “Border Czar,” but she never bothered to address the crisis. She did not meet with elected officials under siege and only managed one brief, photo opportunity at the border. Not surprisingly, Harris did not solve the problem, and the border crisis became one of the worst debacles of the Biden presidency.
Harris was never popular as Vice President, due to her pathetic record and her inability to inspire the American people. Harris became a joke by speaking in platitudes and combining meaningless phrases into her signature “word salads.”
Nevertheless, her opportunity arose when Biden was forced to depart the presidential race because of his worsening mental condition, low poll numbers and terrible debate performance against Trump. Due to his anger with Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who pressured him to withdraw, Biden endorsed Harris. Pelosi and other leading Democrats wanted an open nomination process with multiple candidates. Instead, Biden gave the nomination to Harris without her earning it on the campaign trail.
Democrats realized that Harris was a weak candidate, but rallied behind her and loaded her campaign account with $1.5 billion, the most in American political history. She was also assisted by Future Forward, an aligned political action committee and non-profit organization, that raised another $950 million.
Instead of using this money to mount an effective campaign, Harris squandered it on celebrities like Beyonce, Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and more. For a televised event with Oprah Winfrey, the Harris campaign paid a staggering $2.5 million. There was also lavish spending on private jets, $12 million, and other luxuries like Uber Eats and ice cream, $24,000.
This outlandish spending irritated many Democratic Party leaders. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) lamented that the Harris campaign “didn’t emphasize the economy” and blasted their focus on celebrities, noting that “we spent a billion dollars having concerts all over America…it was ridiculous.”
Democratic Party strategist James Carville was even more blunt in his condemnation of the “damage” done by the Harris campaign to the “Democratic brand.” He called it “almost unfathomable.” The misspending was so outrageous that Carville wants Democrats to “audit the campaign.”
Instead of focusing on celebrities, Democratic Party consultants should have educated Harris on the issues, but she was so unprepared to answer questions that she refused to conduct any formal news conferences or serious media interviews, other than with Fox News anchor Brett Baier, during the campaign.
In addition, Harris declined an opportunity to interview with the leading podcast host in the county, Joe Rogan. She wanted to dictate the interview terms and rejected the same rules used with President Trump.
While Trump interviewed with Rogan for three hours and with other podcast hosts, Harris limited her exposure to friendly shows. Yet, even on supportive television programs like ABC’s The View, Harris stumbled. She was asked what she would have done “differently than President Biden during the past four years?” Her ludicrous answer was “there is not a thing that comes to mind.”
What? In every poll, voters were clear, they wanted a change from the Biden administration, but Harris could think of nothing new to offer the electorate. No wonder she lost every swing state and a 312-226 electoral vote landslide. Harris even became the first Democratic Party presidential candidate since 2004 to lose the popular vote.
As a presidential candidate, Harris was a complete disaster. She tried to transition away from her radical positions as a 2020 presidential candidate, but no one believed she was a true “moderate.” Usually, she offered either meaningless “word salads” or copied Trump’s policies, such as “no tax on tips.”
Despite raising historic amounts of money, the Harris campaign ended with $20 million in debt. Consequently, the Democratic National Committee fired campaign workers without severance pay and a GoFundMe account had to be established to pay these staffers.
While Democrats faced the aftermath of a crushing defeat, Harris vacationed in a $7 million Hawaiian estate. Upon her return, her video message bombed so badly that psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman, among others, believed she may have been “under the influence” of alcohol.
Despite her shortcomings, a new Emerson College poll shows Harris leading among potential 2028 Democratic Party presidential contenders.
What are Democrats thinking? Harris will never win the presidency, but she was the indisputable winner of the 2024 Ringside Politics “Turkey of the Year” award.
Jeff Crouere
Photo: Flickr
To read more articles by Jeff Crouere click here.
