Jamal Simmons, who used to be Kamala Harris’s communications director, offered a shocking idea about her chances of becoming president in 2024.
On his X account Simmons shared how he believes Joe Biden should step down so Kamala Harris could become president. “Joe Biden has been amazing but he should fulfill one last promise – to be transitional. Biden should resign and make Kamala Harris the first woman president. It’d turn tables on Trump, keep Kamala from presiding over Jan 6 make it easier for next woman to run,” Simmons said.
He followed up with another tweet saying, “Dems have better policies but we must realize the old rules no longer apply. We are not playing table tennis. We are in a mixed martial arts fight and Americans respond to drama and excitement. We should use that to make our arguments for a better path forward.”
Dana Bash, the host of State of the Union, responded by mentioning that the idea had already been talked about on social media. Many users were frustrated with how voters had chosen to bring Trump back to the White House. “This has now jumped from an internet meme to a Sunday morning show,” Bash remarked.
Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket in July after Biden decided not to run for re-election following a poor debate against Trump in June. Biden then backed Harris to compete against the Republican leader in the election on November 5.
However, the relationship between Harris and Biden became strained as she tried to separate herself from his record, making Simmons’ idea of Biden stepping down near the end of his presidency seem unlikely. Tensions peaked in the final days of the campaign when Harris’s team attempted to take advantage of a comedian’s insult at a pro-Trump rally in New York City, where he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” They felt their efforts were undermined when Biden later seemed to label Trump’s supporters as “garbage,” which allowed Republicans to react strongly and express their outrage in the media.
Harris ended up losing all the important battleground states to Trump, which resulted in her losing both the electoral college and the popular vote. This made her the first Democratic presidential candidate since 2004 to lose the popular vote.