By Obinna Uballa
The immediate past United States vice president Kamala Harris has described Joe Biden’s decision in 2024 to seek a second term as president as an act of “recklessness,” in explosive excerpts from her forthcoming memoir released Wednesday.
Harris, who replaced Biden as the 2024 Democratic nominee but ultimately lost to Donald Trump, admitted the then-81-year-old leader grew “tired” and prone to “physical and verbal stumbles” that betrayed his age, AFP reported.
The memoir, 107 Days, published in part by The Atlantic, paints a picture of a White House gripped by denial and loyalty to Biden, even as doubts mounted.
“‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotised,” Harris wrote. “Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition.”
Recall that Biden shocked the world in July 2024 when he dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate performance against Trump that heightened scrutiny of his age and fitness. Harris insisted there was no conspiracy to conceal Biden’s condition but acknowledged his vulnerabilities.
“On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best,” she wrote. “But at 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed.”
Harris also accused Biden’s inner circle of undermining her during her vice presidency, alleging they were content to let negative stories about her stick rather than risk her outshining him.
“When the stories were unfair or inaccurate, the president’s inner circle seemed fine with it. Indeed, it seemed as if they decided I should be knocked down a little bit more,” she said.
She added that she “shouldered the blame” for Biden’s troubled border policy, which Trump weaponised on the campaign trail.
Her campaign against Trump, the shortest in modern US history, lasted just over three months, inspiring the memoir’s title, 107 Days.
