Harris was set up to take the fall?

[Plumpribbon]

Many people at the start declared Harris not be to a great presidential candidate, never mind that she never had it in her to take on Trump.
Many voters saw someone not capable of leading the world’s largest economy’s or being able to sit around the table with Putin etc.

So why then was she appointed as nominee?

Yes, they were in a bind with Biden withdrawing or were they?

Everyone knew he was declining before our eyes, regardless of the lies espoused that he was fine. Yet still he was voted for …then knowing this was untenable, Harris then replaces him.

They did have enough time to hold a primary but they chose not to. They chose a sub par candidate to go against an extremely ugly Trump campaign.

AIBU to believe Harris was set up to take the fall against Trump because they knew they would lose against him regardless of which dem nominee they put forward and they didn’t want to taint their rising democrat stars in an ugly election with Trump?

Trump will be gone in four years (no to the alarmist narrative that he will serve a third) and their dem candidates won’t have to face such a nasty/ugly campaign.

There’s no way she will be elected the presidential nominee again that’s for sure…..yet the others remain untainted to go into battle at the next elections (Tom Cotton, Gretchen Whitner etc) . They were happy to sacrifice her career because they didn't think she was great to begin with. Now she will effectively disappear

They didn’t have time to go through candidate selection because Biden wouldn’t quit. His team should have dropped him in it two years ago.

When Biden got in I assumed the plan was for him to serve a year or two then stand down due to age and let Harris step in, on the basis that America would never elect her but if she did a good job they might re-elect her. It was so obvious, except that clearly, and disappointingly, wasn't the plan after all.

Exactly this. He is to blame for this disaster.

I thought it was the funding that was the issue. They had to go with Harris after covering for Biden was too hard

There were millions already donated by then. So it had to be the VP to keep that

The Republicans need Michelle Obama.

They didn’t have much time granted but it could be done

The money was the key issue. Election campaigns are eye wateringly expensive. The money had been donated to Biden-Harris. You needed Biden or Harris on the ticket to keep the money. Even standing as Harris-Walz to retain the money initially looked like it could be problematic. There was no time and no possible way to raise the money for a fresh candidate to mount a convincing campaign. And tbh there wasn’t a clear alternative that would have united the Democratic vote any more than Harris did.

There wasn’t enough time to do a proper election to choose a candidate, was left so late to choose someone because of Biden and his team stubbornly holding on when it was clear that was insane. He stepped down near the end of July (21st), with the best will in the world that’s not enough time to go through the proper process to choose the new candidate and then campaign on whatever their issues would have been before the election.

There was enough time.

In addition, regarding the money. More than a billion was raised. Harris raised most of the funds after she was nominated. So that’s a non starter.

She wasn’t a good enough candidate. Everyone knew it and pretended she was. Just like they did pretending Biden was fine. That’s why they chose her.

Now you have a number of dem stars that are clear for the next election. completely untainted by this election, yet Harris’s career is now a write off.

I could believe one of the other potentials who in the end didn't put their hat in the ring thinking "hmm not this time, in four years will be better". But at an individual level, not a party-wide conspiracy to drop Harris in it.

I don't think you're unreasonable at all, completely agree

I don’t think there was a written plan and strategy and I do think many other potential candidates knew it would be stupid to run against Trump but I also think they were probably advised that it probably wasn’t best to run right now by the party.

I still think they knew they were unlikely to win so quietly advised others not to bother standing and happily let Harris stand without a proper election. They knew it was over

True. But mid term results were quite good for the Dems? My son lived in the US for a few years. He thinks without Covid Trump would have been reelected and the nightmare would be over now.

Agree that whoever replaced Biden at the last minute was on a hiding to nothing. The man was clearly struggling as his Presidency wore on, and to think that he'd be OK to serve a second term was just madness.

Allowing him to continue has really bitten them on the arse.

Sort of an understanding among the political circles - makes sense

I think this is the end of her presidential hopes tbh

The Democrats had to pick Harris because of the message it would send out if they didn't, they'd be telling people that they believed their current Vice President was unfit for the office they were already in. It would be an admission of failure in the current administration, which is a bad look if you're trying to get people to vote your party in again.

I agree with PPs who say funding and timings were the issue.

Having just searched, Reuters says that when Biden dropped out he left the Biden-Harris campaign with about $95M. That was too big an advantage for anyone else to compete with.

OP, I also disagree that there was time to organise primaries. Power to do this resides at state level. 50 primaries would be needed; that is 50 mini-campaigns for the same small set of people. A nightmare, actually. It is a completely different dynamic to the UK.

KH would have been a much stronger candidate she had emerged victorious through a selection process and there is the chance someone else would have done so.

In that sense I agree she was set up to fail, OP. I blame Biden, his family and his cronies for a good deal of this disaster.

It was the money. Starting from scratch at that point would have been too difficult.

Possibly also the image - ditching the female VP of colour for a (presumably) younger white man wouldn't have been a great look.

Also, she was undeniably qualified to run - VP, former AG of California etc.

She didn't lose because she was a lower quality candidate than Trump. She was a perfectly valid choice.

@BarbaraHoward I agree KH was intrinsically a strong, qualified candidate. But her campaigning skills had not been honed to connect with undecided voters. The primary season serves an important purpose

Basically correct. Biden was so selfish, conceited and arrogant, he blew it.

I think there are multiple factors but the "glass cliff" is also imo involved here. Almost impossible task so they just send a "disposable" women (who is also black) off the cliff:

The term "glass cliff" refers to a situation in which women are promoted to higher positions during times of crisis or duress, or during a recession when the chance of failure is more likely. Put simply, women in these situations are set up for failure.

I have strong socialist principles but am horrified at what either the hard left or the far right have inflicted on the world. I miss the days when you could have a reasonable conversation with someone whose politics differed and still walk away with some kind of mutual respect.

I'd love to think humanity had evolved enough to look at the issues facing us as a species and make those the focus of some kind of cross party humanist ruling body.

But the fact that Trump is in again despite being one of the vilest vainest human creatures to ever hold power makes me think there's no hope for humanity.

I am intrigued that Starmer saw, or was told, that he needed to suck up to Trump, not Harris. He didn't waste time making friends with Harris....

Buckle up, we're in for a bloody awful four years and this is the end of so many world structures, let alone democracy.

You sound like a conspiracy theorist.

Not conspiracy theory….just plain old back stabbing politics. It’s how the game works. It’s a blood sport

Exactly this - we were so positive that he's step aside. Nope....
safe to say when our new neighbors in Europe have moved form the USA as they dont believe its a safe place to bring up their kids, you know there is a fundamental issue