Major Democratic donors who joined a conference call starring Vice President Kamala Harris say the event’s sloppy organization and scolding tone left them feeling unimpressed and insulted, NBC News has reported.
“It was a total failure. It was damaging. It was poor planning,” said one.
Another called it “ludicrous.”
It was also described as “mismanaged and rushed.”
The Friday call with about 300 heavy-hitter donors kicked off with reports from field organizers, who used their time to vent anger over the intra-party battle over whether Biden should be replaced atop the ticket, owing to plunging confidence in his mental health.
One participant described how organizers stalled to buy time while everyone waited for Harris to join the call 20 minutes after it started. During that stretch, the donors were “admonished” against agitating to replace Biden, and were instructed to “lock in and get behind” the faltering and frail 81-year-old.
According to a transcript obtained by NBC, Melissa Morales, the founder of Somos Votantes, a voter outreach group targeting Latinos, was one of those instructing donors to fall in line:
“It’s time to stop the leaks and the rampant rumors. Your message has been heard and received. But every day that we continue this publicly chaotic conversation, we come closer to a loss — no matter who the nominee is.”
As you can imagine, that kind of tone didn’t set well with many in the audience who’ve committed big money to the campaign and the party. “These are donors who are not used to getting admonished and told what to do,” said one of NBC’s sources who’d heard the call.
Many of those donors went into the call expecting to receive insider insights on how the party was going to recover from the devastating impact of Biden’s June 27 debate performance and the ongoing, damaging battle over the looming nomination. They instead received the “bad-cop/good-cop” treatment — first scolded for their lack of faith in Biden and then given a pep talk from Harris:
“We know which candidate in this election puts the American people first: Our President, Joe Biden. With every decision he makes in the Oval Office, he thinks about how it will impact working Americans. And I witness it every day.”
“Something I believe in my heart of hearts. It is something I feel strongly you should all hear and should take with you when you leave. And tell your friends too. We are going to win this election. We are going to win.”
Her rah-rah remarks came on the same day that saw a record number of federal lawmakers — 11 — step forward to join others who’d already urged Biden to abandon his re-election bid. One of them was Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee, he’s the highest-ranking member of Congress to publicly tell Biden to give up. Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have privately encouraged Biden to quit, as has former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.