Joe Biden’s Revenge: A Kamala Harris Loss

On Friday, two minutes after Kamala Harris walked on stage at a campaign event in Detroit, Joe Biden decided to do something he has never done as president: he walked into the White House press briefing room. Cable news shifted immediately to the moment, with Biden chuckling as he introduced himself to the media, touted the jobs report and took questions.

The moment was astonishing not just because Biden has operated at such a remove from the public eye since he was replaced as the Democratic nominee, but because it seemed intentionally designed to distract from his vice president and remind everyone that he’s still around, and yes, for all his struggles, still technically president.

This is an awfully inconvenient truth for the Kamala Harris campaign, which has been noticeably struggling in recent weeks. The ebullient joy among Democratic partisans hasn’t transferred to the wider populace. The challenges of events both world- and weather-related has distracted from the culture war and generational shift narrative Team Harris wanted to be advancing at this point. And Tim Walz’s horrific performance in his vice-presidential debate represents at best a missed opportunity, at worst an embarrassment that helped JD Vance find his footing and couldn’t even dodge the mockery of the partisans at Saturday Night Live.

Edward Isaac-Dovere writes at CNN on the core problem: Harris wants to claim credit for all the good and none of the bad, and she’d really like to pretend Joe Biden isn’t the president and she isn’t his vice president right now — because both things hurt her in the polls:

Internal Harris campaign research on the September presidential debate found that one of the most popular moments for the vice president was when she said, “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden.”

On Friday, after weeks of some junior White House aides complaining to colleagues about having to run statements and other ideas by the campaign, Biden took a different approach.

“She was a major player in everything we’ve done, including the passage of legislation which we were told we could never pass,” Biden said. “She’s been, and her staff is interlocked with mine in terms of all the things we’re doing.” ...

In mid-September, the Democratic research and polling initiative Blueprint conducted a national poll testing a long series of potential statements Harris could make about herself and Biden. Those that performed best, the polling found, “were those that displayed a clear break between her and Biden,” while those that performed worst were “those that portrayed a future Harris administration as building on the accomplishments of the Biden era.”

Any mention of Biden, the polling found, led to less support even if the position it had Harris taking was the same.

The political coup that elevated Harris and replaced Biden, engineered by Nancy Pelosi and the most powerful elements of the Democratic Party, was widely seen as rescuing the promise of Democrats in 2024. But now, just a few months later, there’s a palpable concern that this move might prove to be a mistake. Should Harris-Walz lose a state like Pennsylvania and go down to defeat, the question on the minds of many will be: was Joe Biden really so unpopular that he couldn’t win again? Were we really right to trust the party to someone who’d already proved her severe limitations as a candidate? If Harris fails, the revisionism about this summer could reach incredible heights. 

Maybe none of these concerns will matter. Maybe Harris, despite her defects, will prevail and be remembered as a game change candidate who worked. But at the moment, her campaign sure isn’t behaving as if they are sure of this destiny. This week brings a dramatic change in strategy with a slew of Harris sit-downs with friendly interviewers in part to draw distinctions from the current president — including Call Her Daddy, Stephen Colbert, Howard Stern and The View. Is this what you do with less than a month to go in a campaign if you’re confident you are winning? The answer is: no.

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Uri Kurlianchick.

During those days, you spoke to every person on the street as if he was an old friend. Sadly, this magical unity didn’t last: “Two Jews, three opinions.” Another classic trait.

Israel soon found itself fighting on many fronts; there were drone and missile attacks from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen and a wave of ramming, shooting and stabbing attacks from the West Bank. Dozens of Islamic militias but a single master of puppets: the Islamic Republic of Iran. So far, it has avoided any consequences for this multipronged aggression.

The attacks from Lebanon proved to be the most devastating. The government decided on a limited response to avoid fighting two ground wars at once, forcing almost a hundred thousand displaced northerners to watch helplessly as their homes and livelihoods were destroyed by constant Hezbollah barrages that started right after the surprise attack from Gaza and continue to this day.

The old rivalry between the “only Bibi” and the “anyone but Bibi” camps that had reached a peak during the controversial judicial reform of 2023 returned in the form of the hostage debate, something Israelis are extremely sensitive about. In November, Israel and Gaza had a truce during which they exchanged 105 hostages for 240 prisoners. This was controversial because many remembered what happened after Israel released over a thousand prisoners with blood on their hands in return for a single soldier in 2011 — they knew all too well that that set of prisoners included Yahya Sinwar, the chief architect of Black Saturday, and many of his henchmen.

The debate over policy became more heated as Hamas refused another truce and insisted on a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. This would allow it to rebuild its vast tunnel network and start smuggling weapons from Egypt again. The bombing of Israeli cities would soon recommence, followed by another war, perhaps this time with Hezbollah or Islamists from Jordan or Syria joining in the surprise attack.

Everyone wants to see the hostages returned, but at what cost? Hundreds of Israeli lives? Thousands? This nightmare all over again, only worse? Even the “lightweight” Hamas prisoners released in November have since taken part in attacks against Israelis. What would happen if we released hundreds of “heavyweights?” What message would we be sending to other terrorist organizations across the world?

Over the period from December to February, Bring Them Home Now, the movement that represents some of the hostage families, became increasingly aggressive in its demands to accept any deal, even if it meant losing the war or the return of only some of the hostages. The organizations that have opposed Bibi for years slid into the movement like a hand into a glove, weaponizing the pain of the families to destabilize the country with roadblocks and rowdy protests.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris made the situation worse by pressuring Israel to accept a ceasefire deal while conditioning aid to Israel on Israel’s paradoxically delivering aid to the enemy, turning the war into a slog. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists, but you should.”

American pressure and internal Israeli division boosted Hamas’s confidence and made it more obstinate. At the same time, the tit-for-tat with Hezbollah near the Lebanese border grew bloodier, making Israelis wonder if we’ve given up on the north for good. Everyone is asking, “What is Bibi waiting for?” Perhaps he’s waiting for the results of the upcoming elections in the US before committing to any fateful decisions. He is a master of inaction, which is what allowed Israel’s enemies to build sufficient power to launch this horrific attack. However, the same trait allows him to resist tremendous pressure from all directions. He’s nothing if not steadfast.

The present situation in Israel has become a waiting game and Israelis are adjusting. In the past, we were a culture that wanted everything here and now while the enemy had the patience to play the long game. Now, for the first time in my life, I see Jews display grim steadfastness while Arabs cry, “We’ve run out of patience. We’re tired.”

In the end, our ability to hold fast may prove to be the most important weapon of all.

More from Eitan Fischberger and Ilya Shapiro:

Be skeptical.

Mexico’s new President Claudia Sheinbaum is using her first 100 days in office to try to lower homicides and loosen the grip of organized crime groups that control swaths of the country, extort businesses, smuggle drugs and kill with impunity.

Among Sheinbaum’s top efforts to “pacify the country” will be a push to slash killings in the country’s 10 deadliest cities, including Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border, according to a presentation of the strategy seen by The Wall Street Journal. She is also planning new efforts to combat the smuggling of the deadly drug fentanyl, which kills tens of thousands of Americans a year, the presentation says. 

In a graphic display of the violence that Sheinbaum must deal with, the mayor of Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, one of Mexico’s most violent states, was assassinated Sunday, officials said. The newly elected mayor, Alejandro Arcos, was the second Chilpancingo official to be killed in the last three days, the probable victim of one of two violent gangs that control the city. “It is a state totally dominated by organized crime,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexico City security expert. “It’s a jungle. What the criminals are saying to authorities is: We rule here.” 

Sheinbaum is expected to unveil the security strategy as early as this week, a pivotal time for Mexico’s security as fighting rages between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel—a group responsible for much of the fentanyl and other drugs that make their way to the U.S. across the Mexican border. She has already said she would increase coordination between Mexico’s state and federal prosecutors and security forces to target the country’s most violent hot spots.

“We are developing a program for the municipalities that at this moment have the largest number of homicides,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference shortly after she took office on Oct. 1.

For decades, every Mexican president has made targeting the country’s transnational criminal organizations a priority, but these gangs have proved resilient to efforts to dislodge them from lucrative drug smuggling amid endemic corruption. 

Conservative President Felipe Calderón declared war on the cartels, ushering in a period of violent conflict between gangs and government forces, while Sheinbaum’s mentor, former nationalist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tried a softer approach dubbed “hugs not bullets.” Neither worked. Gangs have diversified into extortion, human smuggling and fuel theft. 

Sheinbaum wants to replicate the success she had in Mexico City, where the number of homicides halved on her watch. Her security chief, Omar García Harfuch, now Mexico’s security minister, worked closely with U.S. law-enforcement agencies and boosted intelligence gathering, police training and salaries. U.S. officials say they expect security cooperation to increase in a Sheinbaum presidency. 

Testimonies at Tablet.

Foreign

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Russian arms dealer freed by Biden now selling weapons to Houthis.

Young Canadians have turned against Trudeau.

Domestic

Tracking the destruction in North Carolina.

FEMA Director claims misinformation is a major problem around hurricane.

FEMA is actually sitting on billions in unspent disaster funds.

Senate GOP ad spending map is uneven.

Fearful of losing Muslim votes, Democrats tiptoe around Hamas.

Johnson spars with Stephanopoulos over political rhetoric.

New York Democrats worry about Cuomo’s return.

Credit card debt is now costing consumers a lot more.

SCOTUS to weigh cases on trans, election issues, ghost guns, porn.

Benjamin Watson: The pro-life movement needs men.

2024

Trump returns to site of first assassination attempt.

Walz tries to downplay extreme laws he signed in Minnesota.

Harris sidesteps question on if Israel, Netanyahu are allies.

Lowry: Vance is right about the CBP One app.

Media

Star TV anchors are not getting a raise.

Joe Scarborough warns Trump is “preparing for civil war”.

Andrew Mitchell claims opposition to Harris is driven by “misogynation”.

Michael Cohen warns Trump will use SEAL Team Six to round up critics.

Ephemera

The decline of book reading is more serious than we think.

Review: Houellebecq’s “Annihilation”.

Joker Folie a Deux gets a D from Cinemascore.

The return of CRT TVs.

In praise of Halloween candy.

Podcast

Quotes

“A mistake which is commonly made about neurotics is to suppose that they are interesting. It is not interesting to be always unhappy, engrossed with oneself, malignant or ungrateful, and never quite in touch with reality. Neurotics are heartless.”

— Cyril Connolly