‘F*cking Nightmare’: Top Harris Aide Goes Scorched Earth On Joe Biden

A top aide to Kamala Harris is voicing his frustration about former President Joe Biden, blaming the 82-year-old for the then-vice president’s loss in the 2024 election, according to an excerpt of Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper’s new book.

David Plouffe, a former top adviser to Obama, told Tapper and Thompson that running the Harris campaign was “a fucking nightmare,” arguing that “it’s all Biden” who cost the election for the former vice president, an excerpt of “Original Sin” shared with The Guardian reads. He “totally fucked us,” Plouffe reportedly added.

Biden faced an onslaught of calls to drop out of the 2024 race for president after his disastrous debate performance in June 2024. The former president held onto his bid for the White House for several more weeks as the pressure mounted. (RELATED: Kamala Campaign’s Latest Reported Scapegoat For Failure: Her Chair Height)

“It was an abomination. He stole an election from the Democratic Party; he stole it from the American people,” one prominent Democratic strategist told Thompson and Tapper of Biden’s decision to run again.

Thompson and Tapper’s book is based on 200 interviews, including members of Congress and White House and campaign insiders, The Guardian reported.

Leading up to Biden’s drop out, Plouffe received calls from donors who were worried about “Biden’s diminishing energy, cognitive skills and ability to deliver a speech,” The Guardian writes, relaying what Thompson and Tapper’s book alleges. Plouffe took their concerns and pressed the White House and Democratic Party about “if they felt sure that the then-president could win another election and was repeatedly told he could,” according to the excerpt provided to The Guardian.

“We attempted to shield him from his own staff so many people didn’t realize the extent of the decline beginning in 2023,” one Biden aide who quit the White House because they didn’t believe the 82 year-old should run for reelection told Thompson and Tapper.

“I love Joe Biden. When it comes to decency, there are few in politics like him. Still, it was a disservice to the country and to the party for his family and advisers to allow him to run again,” the aide reportedly continued.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice-President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden listen to US President Joe Biden (off frame) as he delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mandel Ngan – Pool/Getty Images)

Harris started off her bid for the White House hot and in a “honeymoon” phase that gave her a bump in the polls. But as the then-vice president faced growing pressure to release a platform and do more interviews, her failure to separate herself from Biden and his presidency moved the election to a 50-50 race.

In another excerpt released Tuesday, Thompson and Tapper’s book alleges that aides to Biden considered putting the aging leader in a wheelchair following the presidential election. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, also discussed the possibility of a wheelchair in the event that Biden had “another bad fall,” the book adds.

“[Biden’s] medical exam made clear that he had a stiffened gait caused, in part, by wear and tear to his spine — but that no special treatment was necessary and that it had not worsened,” a spokesperson for the former president said in response to the book.

“He was transparent about this, and it was far from ‘severe.’ Yes, there were physical changes as he got older, but evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity,” the statement continued. “And so far, we are still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president.”