A clip of Vice President Kamala Harris commenting on her 2024 presidential election defeat has gone viral on social media.
Earlier this month, Harris lost the election to her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump—who won the Electoral College, the popular vote and the seven battleground states that were widely expected to decide the race.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Party’s account on X, formerly Twitter, posted a 28-second clip taken from a call Harris made to thank donors. The vice president said on the call: “I just have to remind you: Don’t you ever let anybody take your power from you. You have the same power that you did before November 5, and you have the same purpose that you did. And you have the same ability to engage and inspire, so don’t ever let anybody or any circumstance take your power from you.”
Several commentators have discussed Harris’ appearance in the video and questioned why it was released. The video has since gone viral, receiving more than 8.4 million views, 6,400 reposts and 11,000 likes.
Ben Williamson, a communications specialist who previously worked in the Trump White House, reposted the clip and wrote in the caption, “I’d read a 5,000 word article on how this got approved for release.”
“Same,” replied Steve Guest, a former special communications adviser to Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
“I’m not sure you guys want to be amplifying this. There’s something, ummmm, off with the vice president,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha wrote on X.
Benny Johnson, a conservative political commentator with more than 5 million followers across X and YouTube, posted a 10-minute version of Harris’ remarks, in which she paid tribute to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, her running mate, and other key supporters.
Johnson captioned the video: “FULL VIDEO: Kamala Harris addresses supporters three weeks after humiliating loss to Trump in painfully CRINGE 10 minute rant where she brags about wasting over $1.4 BILLION in donor money. This is hard to watch—YIKES.”
On X, Ian Bremmer, a political scientist and the president of the geopolitical risk advocacy firm Eurasia Group, simply wrote “um” in response to the Democrats’ 28-second clip of Harris.
Newsweek contacted Harris’ 2024 presidential election campaign for comment on Wednesday via email outside regular office hours.
Democratic Party
What Did Harris Say to Her Supporters?
In the 10-minute video, Harris said: “The outcome of this election, obviously, is not what we wanted. It is not what we worked so hard for. But I am proud of the race we ran, and your role in this was critical. What we did in 107 days was unprecedented.”
The vice president added that the work her supporters did would have a “lasting effect” and that she received donations from almost 4 million first-time donors. Harris did not suggest reasons for her defeat or address the criticisms of her campaign.
During Tuesday’s episode of the Pod Save America podcast, Stephanie Cutter, Harris’ campaign adviser, said the vice president wasn’t willing to depart from the precedent of deference to the president during her campaign.
Cutter said: “Vice presidents stick by their presidents. And she wasn’t willing to, you know, change that precedent for whoever the future president, vice presidential partnership would be because it would mean a whole, you know, different set of problems, as if we don’t have enough problems in our democracy right now.”
She added: “She felt like she was part of the administration. So why should she look back and pick out, cherry-pick, some things that she would have done differently when she was part of it? And she also—she had tremendous loyalty to President Biden.”
Andrew Harnik/GETTY
