Joe Biden ‘could have withdrawn earlier’ to limit damage to ‘risky’ candidate Kamala Harris, ex-Obama aide claims

On November 7, 2024By Littum

Joe Biden “could have pulled out earlier” to give Kamala Harris a stronger election campaign against Donald Trump, a former Barack Obama campaign aide has claimed.

The Democrat candidate who took over from President Biden in the election campaign suffered a devastating defeat to the Republican – and has since remained silent about the result.

Speaking to GB News, campaign aide Spencer Critchley, who worked on Obama’s election campaign, claimed Harris was already a “risky candidate” against Trump, but her “gender and race” gave her an “extra handicap” in securing victory.

Delivering his verdict on the Democrats’ loss, Critchley explained: “I don’t think she was the wrong candidate, but I would say she was a risky candidate.

Joe Biden ‘could have realized reality sooner’ to help Kamala Harris’ campaign, former Obama aide has claimed

Reuters

“I don’t just want to blame this result on the fact that she’s a woman and that she’s mixed race, but that’s certainly a factor — and then electing the first female president of the United States and having it be a non- white candidate was an additional handicap for her.”

Predicting the sentiment in the Democratic camp after the result, Critchley urged the administration to “pay close attention” and “understand why this was even close, given how most other Democrats and many Republicans feel about Donald Trump as a person”.

Critchley noted President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the campaign to allow Harris to compete for the White House, arguing that the 81-year-old “could have realized his reality sooner” to enable a longer campaign for his candidate before the election.

Critchley told host Martin Daubney: “Obviously there were signs of his advancing age. And so I think there’s a case to be made that he could have recognized that reality earlier and possibly not run for re-election in the first instance.

Kamala Harris lost the US election to Donald Trump after standing in for President Joe Biden

Reuters

“Obviously he was under a lot of pressure, but it was up to him to make what I think was a principled decision. Without direct knowledge of his actual medical condition, I believe he is a of the most effective presidents we have had and will go down in history as such.”

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When pressed by Martin about whether the Harris campaign was “too negative” in leading attacks on Trump, Critchley disagreed, stating, “If we’re going to compare negativity, we only have to look at the Trump campaign, which literally literally calling his opponents trash. and again and again, calling them scum and he just won the election.”

Martin interjected, arguing: “He won the election by promising to control borders and fix the economy. But I didn’t hear any policies from Kamala Harris other than abortion and Donald Trump, he’s a bad guy.”

Hitting back at Martin, Critchley replied: “I would disagree with that as well. Now I’m not defending the position that the Democrats are in because we have to recognize that obviously we didn’t reach more than half the country , with Trump not only winning the electoral college, but actually winning the popular vote.

“But the Democrats, given their view of Donald Trump, is a man who literally tried to overthrow democracy once and has campaigned to do it again. He’s an authoritarian. You only have to read his words and they resonate and in some cases directly quoting Hitler, so we just call it like we see it.”

Critchley told GB News that Harris’ gender and race were “additional handicaps” in losing the election to Trump

GB News

Critchley offered a lesson to Democrats ahead of the next election, arguing they “have to figure out how to get their message across without alienating Trump supporters”.

He told GB News: “I have been warning the Democrats for a long time that they have to answer this question – if Trump is as bad as he is, how did we lose it?

“I’m convinced he’s taking advantage of his supporters — he doesn’t care about them and he’s a predatory con man. But whether I’m right or wrong about Donald Trump’s character, how could we possibly lose to this guy?

“Democrats who were excited that we could squeeze out a victory, sort of a 51 to 49 victory, I’ve been worried all along that we would consider that remotely acceptable.”