Is Biden deliberately sabotaging Harris’ campaign?

OPINION:

We all know President Biden, and one thing is clear: He doesn’t know what he’s doing half the time.

I don’t mean that in the political sense — what the heck is Mr. Biden doing with trade tariffs? I mean that in the physical and mental sense. Often, he doesn’t know where he is, where he’s supposed to go or even what he’s saying. He’s a deer in the headlights.

But don’t let that fool you. Mr. Biden is as vindictive as they come. He is (or was) a savvy politician and, as such, he’s thin-skinned (as are most people with such an inflated ego) and he’s all about payback. He has been for 50 years as a senator and a self-proclaimed power broker.

And let’s say this: He really does not like Kamala Harris.

Back in 2019, when Ms. Harris was trying to win the Democratic presidential nomination (she dropped out months before the first primary while polling in the low single digits), she declared that Mr. Biden was a racist.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day, and that little girl was me,” Ms. Harris said in a debate.

“Do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in America?” she spat at Mr. Biden.

“I did not oppose busing in America,” Mr. Biden responded. “What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education.”

The Associated Press fact-checked whether Ms. Harris had called Mr. Biden a racist and concluded she had not, which obviously means she did. The AP noted that she prefaced her blast by saying to Mr. Biden, “I do not believe you are a racist” — and then clearly alleged that he was a racist. That’s how politicians roll.

When it came time for Mr. Biden, who has played identity politics as long as anyone, to pick a running mate, he knew what he had to do: Pick the Black woman. After all, Mr. Biden said he’d appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court (never mind if she was the most qualified) — and he did.

But he has never liked Ms. Harris. The first thing he did was name her border czar — well aware that he was about to open the border like no one before had and that, in the end, he’d just let her twist in the wind when she had to defend his dismal record.

Mr. Biden was unceremoniously dumped by Democrats, led by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but fully backed by Ms. Harris. Rumors inside the Beltway abound that she supported a move to oust Mr. Biden using the 25th Amendment, declaring the president unfit for office. This is embarrassing and vicious.

So maybe it makes sense that Mr. Biden isn’t all that happy to support someone who booted him off the ticket. And it sure seems like he’s working hard to contradict her at every turn.

First, he’s barely campaigning. Were he running, he would have been on the road nearly every day for the last two months. Instead, he’s chilling at his beach mansion and lounging at Camp David. People see that.

“It would be absolutely ridiculous to assume that he has no resentment over how he was treated or how, frankly, he was forced out in what some would describe as a coup,” a veteran campaign consultant told the New York Post.

“Why hasn’t he appeared in places where he could do some good, like parts of Pennsylvania and states that the president has buoyed during his term? Nobody wants to give up being president of the United States — it’s the one job you don’t want to leave,” the consultant said.

But that’s the passive-aggressive stuff (no doubt led by first lady Jill Biden, a passive-aggressive queen). Mr. Biden has also been aggressive-aggressive. At a 9/11 campaign stop, Mr. Biden popped on a “Trump 2024” hat and praised Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his handling of hurricane preparation.

Meanwhile, Ms. Harris moaned about how Mr. DeSantis wouldn’t take her call. Mr. Biden, on the other hand, described Mr. DeSantis as “gracious” and “cooperative,” adding that the governor was on the ball and handling everything well.

“Biden is intentionally enacting revenge on Kamala for knifing him in the back,” said Jason Meister, a Republican political strategist who sits on the advisory board for the Trump campaign. “He never liked her. The happiest he’s looked in four years was when he put a red hat on after speaking with Shanksville firefighters on 9/11.”

Mr. Biden wants to secure his pathetic legacy, but Ms. Harris won’t help him do it. From his actions, it seems he knows that.

• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on X @josephcurl.