On Harris’s Bus…And Under It

On Kamala Harris’ political journey, a lot of people have been thrown under the bus. This is the overlooked counterpoint to her long-recognized risk avoidance on potentially controversial issues. Together, they leave an image of a politician preternaturally eager to seize every opportunity and avoid any responsibility.

Harris has a reputation for aggressively leveraging opportunities to advance herself. This has even included positions seemingly off her career path, such as appointments to California’s Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission. Regarding the latter, she said, “If you were asked to be on a board that regulated medical care, would you say no?” Many people might have; Kamala reworked PT Barnum’s dictum on publicity into “there’s no such thing as a bad opportunity.” Her first attempt at elected office showed how much she meant it. (READ MORE: The Gollum Possibility at the DNC)

Running for district attorney of San Francisco in 2002, Harris faced incumbent Terence Hallinan, the man who had once hired her to be assistant district attorney and subsequently promoted her. Any indebtedness to Hallinan was forgotten as she ran aggressively against him and won convincingly. She would go on to win reelection and then to become California’s attorney general.

Jumping forward to 2017, her first year in the Senate, Sen. Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) sexual harassment scandal erupted amidst the #MeToo Movement. Harris posted: “Sexual harassment and misconduct should not be allowed by anyone and should not occur anywhere. I believe the best thing for Senator Franken to do is step down.” While not the leader, no one benefitted more than Harris from Franken’s resignation: She received his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — a plum assignment and a natural fit for her.

The Lethal Harris Bus in the White House

Just two years later, Harris launched her most focal and reported attack yet, this time on Joe Biden. True to form (and akin to Marc Antony’s funeral oration in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar), in a June 2019 Democrat primary debate Harris, with her “that little girl was me” riposte, called Biden a racist while simultaneously exonerating herself from doing so. Author Edward-Issac Dovere quoted Joe muttering to fellow participant Pete Buttigieg “Well, that was some f—— bullshit.” Jill Biden was blunter still in a call with supporters later.

Nevertheless, Harris was later tapped as Biden’s running mate and became vice president. Next under the Harris bus would be her administration staff. As Harris floundered in her new role, her staff churned — at an exceptionally high rate. (RELATED: Kamala Harris Has a Disturbing Pattern of Creating Toxic Work Cultures)

The next episode was more an act of omission than commission. Not only was it effective, but it is still unacknowledged, despite being her greatest win. She was, at least partially, responsible for removing Joe Biden from the presidency. Less than a year ago, the talk had been of removing Harris from the Democratic ticket; instead, Biden departed and Harris remained.

Despite Democrat “happy talk” about party unity now and Harris’ loyalty then, the truth is clear. Harris didn’t have to lift a finger to oust Biden, because Democrat elites did the necessary lifting.

Neglected is the equally obvious: The one person who could have saved Biden was Harris. She didn’t. To do so, she would merely have had to definitively and publicly remove herself from the list of possible replacements. She was the consensus replacement, a representative of groups Democrats needed overwhelmingly, and the only person capable of using the Biden campaign war chest. Without Harris, replacing Biden meant chaos. Harris could have stopped Biden’s ouster in its tracks; instead, Harris let it happen.

Shapiro Is Harris’s Most Recent Victim

Harris’s most recent rollover victim has been Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro who is the governor of a key battleground state — arguably November’s most important state. Shapiro was on the short list of potential Harris running mates.

Shapiro was elected governor with an almost 15-point margin in 2022. Biden won Pennsylvania with a 1.2 percent margin four years ago. Exuding a moderate image in a key swing state, Shapiro would seem to be Harris’ perfect pairing. However, Shapiro is Jewish, and he practices his religion. Needing all her base, including her leftist anti-Israel loons, Harris rejected Shapiro for Tim Walz, who neither balances her ideologically nor helps in a crucial state (Biden won Minnesota by 7.1 percent in 2020). (READ MORE: Walz and Vance Are Squabbling Over Valor)

Harris has a proclivity to seize opportunity and avoid responsibility. She was AWOL on Proposition 47 (the infamous ballot initiative that ushered in California’s descent into criminal chaos), on America’s open southern border in this administration, and has flip-flopped on issues on today’s campaign trail (she now claims to support fracking and promises to be tough on illegal immigration).

What has been neglected is the lengths Harris will go to in her efforts. At crucial junctures in elected politics, Harris has been willing to throw people under her bus to keep it going. America should be watching. It may be next.

J.T. Young was a professional staffer in the House and Senate from 1987-2000, served in the Department of Treasury and Office of Management and Budget from 2001-2004, and was director of government relations for a Fortune 20 company from 2004-2023.

The post On Harris’s Bus…And Under It appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.