By Peter Baker
Strategists for Vice President Kamala Harris may have believed they were avoiding issues by keeping President Joe Biden secluded in the White House. However, they might now need to revoke his Zoom access.
As the election reaches its final stretch, where any minor change could be pivotal, Biden has twice disrupted his vice president’s efforts with unfortunate gaffes. His most recent blunder, during a video call with Latino backers on Tuesday night, required Harris to spend part of the following Wednesday navigating her way around the fallout.
Biden was criticizing racist remarks made by a speaker at a recent Donald Trump rally when he seemingly referred to Trump’s supporters as “garbage.” He later clarified that he was referring to “the hateful rhetoric” of the Trump surrogate, not the supporters themselves. Nonetheless, Republicans, seeking to capitalize on the controversy, quickly seized the moment, aiming to energize their base while starting fundraising efforts.
Harris has been actively trying to distinguish herself from Biden and position herself as a reformer. At her Tuesday night rally, she did not include Biden, even though it took place in what could be seen as his territory. Meanwhile, he remained inside the White House, uninvited and unnecessary, as Democrats who formerly supported him cheered for her just a short distance away.
“I doubt these remarks from the president will have any real impact by Election Day, but it’s incredibly annoying to witness the Harris campaign having to waste valuable time and resources clarifying what the president meant,” noted Jim Manley, a veteran advisor to Senate Democratic leaders.
“We’ve long surpassed the time to worry about the president’s feelings,” Manley continued. “After all, he dealt her a tough situation by only agreeing to step aside with limited time left. If the Harris camp wishes to create some distance, they should not hesitate.”
Other Democrats attempted to downplay the importance of Biden’s recent gaffe for Harris’s strategists. “I have a feeling they are concentrating on far more significant issues,” remarked Cornell Belcher, a former pollster for President Barack Obama. “This is pretty much inconsequential.”
Trump’s complaints might fall flat for many, as he has engaged in divisive politics for years, regularly denigrating his adversaries as “vermin” and “the enemy from within,” even threatening to use military action against liberal opponents. Just last month, he claimed Harris was surrounded by terrible people, declaring, “They’re scum and they want to destroy our country. They are absolute garbage.”
“These comments do not even come close to what Trump’s team has been saying all year,” said Margie Omero, another Democratic pollster. “Not just ballpark — not even in the same universe. Polls regularly indicate that individuals from both parties are tired of the nation’s divisions, and only Harris is actively reaching out to voters across the political spectrum.”
However, Harris has not been engaging much with Biden lately. While she has campaigned alongside Obama and other prominent Democrats, she hasn’t participated in a formal campaign event with the president, who appointed her to his ticket in 2020, for almost two months. Democrats have made it clear that he is not particularly desired on the campaign trail. While she draws crowds of thousands, he has held few events, often addressing rooms with only a few hundred attendees.
Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha suggested that it was wise for Harris to establish her own identity apart from Biden. “You want to turn the page,” he stated. “She appreciates him, she respects him but she needs to carve her own path without his shadow. There’s one common goal for her and Donald Trump: to be the change agent. And that’s not possible if he’s present.”
Keeping Biden in the White House did not prevent him from stumbling. During his video conversation with Latino supporters on Tuesday, he was criticizing remarks made at Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who supports Trump, referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” comments that angered many Hispanic leaders and put the former president on the defensive.
“The only garbage I see out there is his supporters — his demonization of Latinos is unacceptable and un-American,” Biden stated in the video call. The White House later released a transcript that included an apostrophe, indicating “his supporter’s” demonization.
With just six days left until the election, Harris sought to move forward after addressing the situation, traveling to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. She reiterated themes of unity in her messages. “Most of us have significantly more in common than what divides us,” she remarked in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Meanwhile, Biden stayed back at the White House, hosting an early Halloween gathering for local youth and children of military personnel, doing his best to avoid creating any more unintended distractions for his vice president.
