Some Biden allies wage a shadow campaign to stop Kamala Harris from becoming vice president
Some of Joe Biden’s allies are waging a campaign behind the scenes to stop Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., from becoming his vice president.
This disgruntled group of at least a dozen Biden backers, including a few of his top donors, initiated the move against Harris close to a month ago, just weeks before a decision is expected, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
They say it's because she attacked Biden on his record on race during one of the primary debates and wouldn't apologize for it.
And also because she's too ambitious to serve as a loyal VP.
Are his funders such sexist assholes that they can't stand the idea of a woman — and a black woman at that — being ambitious?
Well, yes. I'm sure that's part of it. But only part.
It's the smokescreen for the rubes, the distracting story to put us off the real story.
All you have to do is look at who those big funders are who don’t want Harris and a more troubling possibility emerges.
These are Biden's big funders:
James Murdoch, son of conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former CEO of 21st Century Fox, gave $615,000 to Biden Victory in late June, which is close to the most a donor can give to the joint committee. Jeff Lawson, CEO of cloud platform Twilio, gave just more than $620,000. Meg Whitman, CEO of media company Quibi, contributed $500,000. Bob Iger, executive chairman of Disney, gave $250,000, as did legendary movie director Steven Spielberg. Dustin Moskovitz, who co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg, gave one of his biggest checks of the cycle to Biden Victory in late June, worth more than $620,000.
Ken Frazier, the Merck CEO who was once on Trump’s business advisory council, gave $50,000 to Biden Victory in May....While he’s given to some other Democratic causes this cycle, records show Frazier has also backed allies of Trump’s, including committees linked to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Another donor that seemingly came out of nowhere to give big to the Biden-DNC committee is Eli Reinhard. He contributed over $620,000 to Biden Victory in June, his biggest contribution ever, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Reinhard, a California-based real estate developer and philanthropist, has a mixed donation history. His previous biggest donation came in 2008 with a $10,000 contribution to the Republican Party of California. He’s also given to former New York Mayor and current Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign, and made donations to former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown’s 2010 Senate campaign.
They're Republicans, for the most part, with histories of donating to Republicans, exclusively or in part.
But they're Republicans who've had it with the head case in the White House, and they want him out of office before he destroys the country completely with his malice and incompetence.
They want Biden to win to get Trump out of office.
But if I were them, the last thing I'd want is to elevate a Democratic woman with the political skills of Kamala Harris to the position of VP, where she'd be well positioned to win in 2024 if Biden chooses not to run again.
Those big funders would be much happier with a more low profile VP for him, or someone with limited experience as a politician, like Rice.
With Trump out of the way, there are mainstream Republican candidates I'm sure they'd prefer to back once 2024 rolls around.
All Kamala Harris would be to them at that point is a large and powerful obstacle in the way.
The best way to keep her from being that obstacle in 2024 is to do everything they can to keep her off the ticket with Biden in 2020.