The bickering over who was to blame for Kamala Harris’ defeat in the presidential election began in earnest before the results were announced.
Democrats blamed Tim Walz for being too left-wing, too popular and too tainted by the Kenosha riots, while others blamed every demographic group.
Not enough white women showed up, too many black men switched to Donald Trump since 2020, and Hispanic voters left the party.
Media analysts also speculated that Joe Biden should have pulled the plug on his candidacy well before his disastrous debate performance.
This would have either given Harris more time to establish himself or allowed for an open primary to select a stronger candidate, they argued.
The bickering over who was to blame for Kamala Harris’ defeat in the presidential election began in earnest before the results were announced
Then many on the left argued that Harris’s refusal to break with Biden’s support for sending weapons to Israel cost her voters who either stayed home or supported Greens candidate Jill Stein.
The Israel argument started on social media almost as soon as Harris became the nominee, primarily as a reason not to choose Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, as her running mate.
Former Democratic National Committee official Lindy Li, on the other hand, argued that choosing Shapiro could have swayed Harris.
“People are wondering tonight what would have happened if Shapiro had been on the ticket. And not just in terms of Pennsylvania,” she told Fox News.
Li, who worked for Shapiro last year, argued that choosing a moderate like Shapiro would have shown that Harris was not the “San Francisco liberal” Trump claimed he was.
“But she went with someone to her left. In the eyes of the American people, Walz was the governor who oversaw the protests,” she said.
Some Democrats and commentators — and many more on social media — blamed white women for costing Harris the election
Some Democrats blamed VP candidate Tim Walz for being too left-wing, too popular and too tainted by the 2020 Kenosha riots
Walz, the governor of Minnesota, was in office during Black Lives Matter riots after the police shooting death of Jacob Blake in August 2020.
MSNBC commentator Joy Reid blamed white women for not turning out to the polls in the large numbers expected of them.
‘In the end they didn’t get their grades. We need to be blunt about why black voters turned out for Harris, and white female voters did not,” she asserted.
However, according to exit polls in each election, Black voters — especially men — also turned to Trump compared to 2020 numbers.
Trump had about 13 percent of Black voters, compared to just 8 percent in 2020, and his Hispanic support rose from 32 to 45 percent.
MSNBC commentator Joy Reid blamed white women for not showing up to the polls in large numbers.
Others speculated that if Joe Biden had pulled the plug on his candidacy well before his disastrous debate performance (pictured), Democrats would have had a much better chance.
NBC Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker suggested it was Biden’s fault as he should have dropped out much earlier than July.
She said during election night coverage that Biden’s timing would be “something that if she were to indeed lose that would be under a microscope.”
“Because obviously there was so much discussion, even over the summer, about possibly having an open primary and allowing that fight to happen within the Democratic Party,” she said.
“So I think that’s one of the big questions for the future.”