Am I misremembering but little back wasn’t there several years of steady stories about Harris being a dysfunctional leader and bad team/staff/etc? Because it sure feels like she is firing on all cylinders this campaign
You thinking of Klobuchar? There was some of that with her overall, being a bad leader and tough to work for.
I think there was some dysfunction on Kamala’s 2020 campaign but I don’t remember hearing about it with her staff as a senator or VP.
Hmm maybe trying to do some googling. Not what I was thinking of but this stuff from Feb 2023 NYT not aging well lol
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But the painful reality for Ms. Harris is that in private conversations over the last few months, dozens of Democrats in the White House, on Capitol Hill and around the nation — including some who helped put her on the party’s 2020 ticket — said she had not risen to the challenge of proving herself as a future leader of the party, much less the country. Even some Democrats whom her own advisers referred reporters to for supportive quotes confided privately that they had lost hope in her.
Through much of the fall, a quiet panic set in among key Democrats about what would happen if President Biden opted not to run for a second term. Most Democrats interviewed, who insisted on anonymity to avoid alienating the White House, said flatly that they did not think Ms. Harris could win the presidency in 2024. Some said the party’s biggest challenge would be finding a way to sideline her without inflaming key Democratic constituencies that would take offense.
Now with Mr. Biden appearing all but certain to run again, the concern over Ms. Harris has shifted to whether she will be a political liability for the ticket. Given that Mr. Biden at 80 is already the oldest president in American history, Republicans would most likely make Ms. Harris, who is 58, a prime attack line, arguing that a vote for Mr. Biden may in fact be a vote to put her in the Oval Office.
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I wouldn’t be shocked if those leaks were from Team Biden trying to prop him up as the candidate and scare people away from questioning his ability to continue as president with his cognitive decline.
Funny, somebody recently mentioned to me Harris’s reputation as a dysfunctional leader and that was my exact response: “Are you thinking of Klobuchar?”
But I did some research and there was a slew of articles in mid 2021 about this and it was not pretty. Unclear if this was some kind of coordinated hit or how much truth is behind it all, but the coverage was there. Maybe starting with this:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/30/kamala-harris-office-dissent-497290
Preview broken, the headline is “‘Not a healthy environment’: Kamala Harris’ office rife with dissent”
In interviews, 22 current and former vice presidential aides, administration officials and associates of Harris and Biden described a tense and at times dour office atmosphere.
…
“People are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses and it’s an abusive environment,” said another person with direct knowledge of how Harris’ office is run. “It’s not a healthy environment and people often feel mistreated. It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like s—.”
And this is some deeper reporting from WaPo in late 2021:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/04/kamala-harris-staff-departures/
Headline:
A Kamala Harris staff exodus reignites questions about her leadership style — and her future ambitions
We’re out to dinner by where Trump had his event tonight, and the people at the next table over are talking about their conversation with RFK. 
Vance in a barbershop would be even more awkward since he’s clearly never stepped foot in one.
Going to be fun when Trump makes RFK surgeon general and we have to go to Canada to get our kids vaccinated.
I get the sense that Republicans have painted every single female D candidate that way. Male bosses are firm and in charge. Female bosses …
Great headline
America journos take a look
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I’d like to think the upswing in mood, confidence, momentum, joy etc. on our side is accompanied by an equal and opposite downswing on the other side.
I keep hearing that Trump has a “floor” and that the vast majority of Trump supporters are locked in no matter what. But I’m not so sure.
If the D momentum continues for a couple more weeks, if there’s a significant post-convention bounce, if Trump continues his rambling and flailing, if Vance continues to be an unlikeable weirdo (well that one’s a mortal lock), then maybe, just maybe some portion of his base begins to crumble.
Some people have always thought that another sound defeat would cause a lot of trump supporters to abandon him, and even pretend they were never really on board.
But what if this happens before the election? Maybe at some point a decline in his poll numbers becomes a feedback loop, a chain reaction that leads to a collapse. Maybe it becomes clear he can’t win. Trump supporters feed off each other, they give each other permission to overlook his obvious flaws. But nobody wants to be the only Trump supporter on their block. Nobody wants to be on the side of the loser.
Maybe I’m just wishful thinking, but I think a trump collapse and a Harris landslide is at least in the realm of possibility. Yours truly. SSC.
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I agree, and I think specifically that mocking Trump and Vance works to further this process. Given how much his cult runs on strength and fuck the libs, seeing losing poll after losing poll and seeing him mocked as a weirdo and hearing more and more people mock them openly could make people go back to being embarrassed to support the losing weirdos.
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