There are reportedly massive disagreements between Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Harris has been telling colleagues in the administration that she wants the White House to show more concern publicly for the humanitarian damage in Gaza, where Israel is locked in a bloody and prolonged battle with Hamas, according to three people familiar with Harris’ comments,” Politico reported.
According to an individual with knowledge of the vice president’s office, it has been suggested that Harris desires a stronger stance towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It has been reported that the vice president has requested the U.S. government to adopt a more assertive approach in pursuing a lasting peace and a two-state solution, as per a source cited by Politico.
Harris’ press secretary announced “there is no daylight between the president and the vice president, nor has there been.”
She went on to try and spin the situation, saying that Biden and Harris do not have different views and that they “have been clear: Israel has a right and responsibility to defend itself; humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow into Gaza; innocent civilians must be protected; and the United States remains committed to a two-state solution.”
“I would caution the media about citing anonymous sources in the ‘orbit’ about sensitive national security conversations between the president and vice president that take place in the Oval Office,” Allen said.
“No one needed to be convinced of that; there were no outliers. This has been the consensus view and remains the consensus view from the President on down, ” the person said. The official also said that “the President and Vice President have been consistent in public and private about these policy priorities.”
Additional reports have emerged regarding potential tensions between Biden and Harris as the upcoming 2024 election approaches.
According to a recent article in the Daily Mail, Harris has brought on board a new senior staff member who has previously criticized Biden multiple times for his age.
The Vice President’s decision to hire a well-known Biden critic as a senior advisor has led many to speculate that Kamala Harris is attempting to dissuade Joe Biden from running for president in 2024, with the intention of stepping in herself.
To enhance her campaign communications for the next election, Vice President Harris has enlisted the help of Brian Fallon. Prior to joining Senator Chuck Schumer’s team in 2013, Fallon served as Hillary Clinton’s national press secretary during her presidential campaign. This experienced aide has been vocal about ageism and has openly criticized Joe Biden, who, at 81 years old, is the oldest president in American history. Fallon was a strong supporter of the successful effort to persuade sitting Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer to retire due to his advanced age.
“Watching Biden struggle to complete a sentence is quite a moment,” Fallon wrote on X, mocking Biden’s cognitive state during the 2019 Democratic primary debate.
Furthermore, Fallon expressed his belief that the then-presidential candidate Joe Biden was “out of touch” in his rambling response to a question about slavery during a 2019 debate.
In his statement, he highlighted that many people seemed to be lenient towards Biden’s response on the topic of slavery. Beyond the 2020 campaign, Fallon continued to publicly criticize President Biden in 2021, accusing him of neglecting the needs of the black community.
He is currently test-driving Ford F-150s. According to his interview with the Washington Post, his visit to Selma is not focused on discussing voting rights. Many view Harris’s recent hiring as an effort to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate for 2024 and compel him to withdraw from the race.
In a recent report, Reuters stated that Democrats have not yet identified a potential candidate to replace Biden in 2024, thereby paving the way for other possibilities.