Here's the question: If you don't win this election, what will you do next?
For Kamala Harris, I mean after you finish your term as Vice President... unless you want to tell me that if you lose the election you'll exercise your power under the 25th Amendment and at least attain the distinction of becoming the first woman President and enjoy the solace of a short stint as the President, perhaps inspiring the nation to long for the full-term presidency we missed or to celebrate you for saving us from the last few months of depending on the declining husk of a President, Joe Biden.
What's the answer? You tell me. Not just what would she say to my question what will you do next. I can imagine an evasive or insincere answer. But what, really, do you think she will do? Will she — like Trump, after losing in 2020 — go on to challenge the winner every step of the way, right up to vying for the nomination and running again in the next election? Will she seek to represent California again, in the Senate or as Governor? Will she withdraw into memoir-writing and speech-giving or some fancy academic post? Could she do any of that successfully if she loses?
***
What did Jimmy Carter say that rubbed me the wrong way? He said he'd just go back to his peanut farm. It made him seem so small to me. And Gerald Ford was already President, so one did not need to try to picture him as President.
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110 comments:
It's a funny question, because Trump has a life. He had a plethora of options, yet he chose to run again.
I see no indication that Harris has a life outside of politics. She could start a successful coconut-pilled YouTube channel, but that seems too creative for her.
Will she — like Gore, after losing in 2000 — go on to challenge the winner every step of the way, right up to vying for the nomination and running again in the next election?
Will she — like Kerry, after losing in 2004 — go on to challenge the winner every step of the way, right up to vying for the nomination and running again in the next election?
Will she — like Hillary, after losing in 2016 — go on to challenge the winner every step of the way, right up to vying for the nomination and running again in the next election?
fify!
Easy.
Go out on the speaking circuit and make a few million. The get on a few corporate boards and make more millions.
She could do a one week booking at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch that would draw kinky dem megadonors like monarchs to the Oyamel Fir Forests. Pay the campaign debts with enough left over to front bets with the bookies in Vegas for Superbowl LIX.
He should have stayed on his peanut farm. I think his heart may have been in the right place, but he was out of his depth, and he was played for a fool by the sociopaths who really run the country since the assassination of JFK.
In Harris' case, I think she will do whatever the DNC allows her to do. Which is probably a return to a seat in senate or the house. Maybe retire to a book deal and occasional speaking fees, if she feels a return to congress is now beneath her. There's no way that the DNC will anoint her as the 2028 candidate if she loses this election. And she knows enough to avoid a humiliating primary run without them.
Trump was different, as the RNC has no power over him.
OMG, she is still considering Harris.
Ha ha ha ah ha! Hardin was right!
I don't share your enthusiasm for the question. Harris is young. I assume she'll stay in politics (what else could she do? what else is she qualified for?), but I don't see why she should be locked into something based on how she imagines she'd react to a loss.
Short term, of course she'll challenge the results. These days, everybody does, even if only Republicans are criticized for it.
She'll go back to being an escort.
"That is an excellent question, Ann, and let me preface my answer by pointing out the significance of the time I grew up as a lower middle-class person of color in Berkeley/Oakland/Canada- I learned to not be burdened by what had happened and this was a significant development of significant significance. So, in answer to your question I would point out that me and Tim are going to significantly alter the progression of time."
Paging Stacy "bears hide their food when she's goes camping" Abrams. You have a call from K. Harris on line 1. Pickup, line 1.
I think a deal has already been agreed to that if Harris loses, Biden will resign and in exchange Harris will pardon all the Bidens for all their alleged corruption. That's why Hunter changed his plea to guilty in the middle of his recent trial. Joe Biden can also then claim to have created the first woman President.
Now for the serious answer- politically Harris would be finished after losing to Trump if that is what happens in November. So she will move on to the corporate/speech world to garner up double digit millions to retire on- perhaps a beach home on a Massachusetts island or Hawaii.
Rich donors in California care about Israel, monopoly, and top-bracket tax rates. Kitchen table economics and basic social democratic social policy are a minor concern. So Harris has a blank canvas. The issues is -- can she paint?
I’m not a Jimmy Carter fan (at least as a politician), but I really like that answer. Reminds me of Cincinnatus. I wish every American politician had a real job to go home to.
"... but I don't see why she should be locked into something based on how she imagines she'd react to a loss."
I'm interested in getting a whole view of her as a person. What's behind the ambition to be President? If you don't get the big prize you wanted, who are you? Do you have a broader view of public service? How profound is your vision and your love of country and devotion to humanity?
She'll head to Hollywood and greenlight my, "Frankenstein, Part II."
Trump will return to family and economic development benefiting millions. Harris will return to incarcerating thousands (of black men) past their sentencing period. How many men and women would voluntarily follow her career trajectory?
KH wouldn't become the president under the 25th Amendment, just the "acting president." I can't imagine that, after losing the election, all of the cabinet people and other party leaders whose cooperation she would need under the 25A would agree to go along with it just to make her the "acting president." One consideration is that it would look incredibly dishonest for all of those people to suddenly decide, in November, that Biden needed to be removed as president, having allowed him to remain in office since it was acknowledged in July that he was too feeble to run for reelection.
Being a politician has long ceased, if it ever was, being about public service. It's about power, influence, and wealth accumulation.
I think, regardless, of the outcome, Joe Biden will step down after the election. Harris will become President. If Harris loses, she still gets the historic distinction that she craves. If Harris wins, it lets here transition immediately into the office and helps mitigate against another January 6th riot, perhaps?
McGovern in 72? More cruel neutrality!
Ann said…
“ What did Jimmy Carter say that rubbed me the wrong way? He said he'd just go back to his peanut farm. It made him seem so small to me.”
I imagine George Washington Carver could be offended by that today.
Did Washington seem small when he returned to Mt Vernon, or Jefferson to Monticello?
I predict she won't DO anything, just grift off of the same kinds of activities that HIllary and others have used to line their pockets: speaking appearances, book advances, corporate boards. I don't think she'll run for president again because the fundraising support won't be there.
After demonstrating again how vacuous and unserious she is, except on the topic of abortion, I think she’ll end up with Planned Parenthood in some meaningless role. That’s it.
I'm with Real Andrew and Rocco-- there are many things to dislike Jimmy Carter for, but being ready to go back to his former life is hardly one of them.
McGovern in 72? More cruel neutrality!
I voted for McGovern in 1972. I was 19 and it was my first time voting.
Some people learn more quickly than others.
"He said he'd just go back to his peanut farm."
I actually have the opposite reaction. As a man who like all men thinks about the Roman Empire all the time, it reminds me of Cincinnatus. It strikes me as a good answer that speaks well of the man.
Harrishas continued the 'very fine people on both sides' lie, which i recall was disqualifying of Biden for our distinguished host.
Why is this not true for Harris?
You want an answer? You'll need to get it out of her handlers - and the teleprompter.
I like Carter’s answer.
If she loses she's done, not even MSNBC would take her.
Dammit, Althouse, America needs peanuts...humanity needs peanuts...peanuts as far as the eye can see!
No one goes away now. Too many dollars to be made in endlessly grifting and selling influence.
Comment from Biden August 2nd:
BIDEN: “You’re stuck with me as president for awhile, kid. There’s no way out. You got me for at least 90 days or so.”
He plans to resign before Inauguration Day making Harris POTUS when she loses to Trump.
Expand article logo Continue reading
Uhhh…? 😳
I think Esteban is right, sadly. I don't think very many D.C. or even state politicians are doing it to pursue a "vision" for the country or humanity. Mainly it's a game of king of the hill, and the rewards for people near the top are wealth, celebrity, opportunities for sex (never underestimate this as a factor in motivating a person's success), and the ego gratification that comes with having people grovel to please you.
I do think there are politicians who are at least partly motivated to gain power because they see how badly the bums in charge or doing. But for many others, it's mainly personal ambition that drives them. KH is definitely more the latter type.
She will become another DC conduit for pay to play corruption, only at the riskier, seedier levels where the big hitters don’t need to tread…
I'm not clear why some people here think that Biden and Dr. Jill would resign just so KH gets to play president for a few weeks . . . unless the theory is that there's some quid pro quo?? This speculation seems to assume a degree of affection on the Bidens' part toward KH that is nowhere in evidence. If it were just the expected thing to do, then why wouldn't there already be a tradition of presidents' resigning in the waning days of their terms to give their veeps the distinction of being a president?
Now, almost 50 years later, Carter's answer sounds like BS. For many people back then, it didn't. We've gotten that much more cynical. You may have been ahead of your time.
Carter's winning the nomination may have come as a surprise to him. It wasn't the result of a lifelong ambition. Boys from Southwest Georgia knew they weren't likely to make it to the White House. Carter wasn't a creature of Washington or of the national political world, so why not go back to Georgia? Maybe some college or foundation in the state would give him something to do, but he wasn't going to hang around in DC. He might not be peanut farming full time, but he'd hold on to the property.
Jimmy Carter was a flim-flam man. So was Bill Clinton. But Carter was sincere in his flim-flammery. He could actually believe the peanut farmer, nuclear engineer, I'll never lie to you stuff -- at least when he said it. Clinton seemed to be into flim-flamming for its own sake.
Harris already has the place in LA and it's not hard for her to find one in DC. She'll land on her feet.
I could have written exactly the same words. I've since used that vote as evidence that allowing 18-year-olds to vote was, and is, a bad idea. That was the first year they could vote, I believe.
True - I haven't noticed Joe or Jill speaking much (if at all) in support of her campaign, they seem oddly disinterested.
What she would do upon losing likely depends heavily on just how she loses. A landslide loss would end her political career, and she doesn't seem anywhere near comfortable enough with public speaking to take a Rachel Maddow-type gig.
who will it be to then manipulates J6 2025 action in Senate
neither lost election - right! duh!
"And Gerald Ford was already President, so one did not need to try to picture him as President."
Trump was already President too. All the crap about "the end of democracy" if he wins should be ridiculed by anyone with a brain.
will Joe pension affected if resigns or serves full term?
She could always go the Hunter Biden route. Create bad art and sell it for $450,000 a pop to Democrat donors who want to stay plugged in. Get a huge contract from Netflix to produce a series of unwatchable preachy docu-political shows. Then run for Governor of California because I'm pretty sure they haven't yet learned their lesson from Gavin Newsom.
"What did Jimmy Carter say that rubbed me the wrong way? He said he'd just go back to his peanut farm. It made him seem so small to me."
You were being snobbish. As it happens, Carter--for whom I did not vote, as he fell into both presidential elections (my first and second) in which I voted Republican, (a family practice, which I have not repeated since)--went on to live the most selfless, humanitarian and actually beneficial to other human beings post-POTUS lives of any other of our modern day former Presidents. And yet, it was "small."
"It's a funny question, because Trump has a life. He had a plethora of options, yet he chose to run again."
Such a life one should never be cursed with! He's constantly hustling to make up for the fortunes and businesses he keeps losing, and now he seeks the White House solely in hopes it will erase any chance he might end up in prison. He's a desperate, narcissistic, and miserable human being.
"OMG, she is still considering Harris."
It is more astonishing that she may still be considering TRUMP!
I would estimate zero on anything but ambition.
"things not believed" she said without evidence.
"Jimmy Carter was a flim-flam man. So was Bill Clinton. But Carter was sincere in his flim-flammery. He could actually believe the peanut farmer, nuclear engineer, I'll never lie to you stuff -- at least when he said it. Clinton seemed to be into flim-flamming for its own sake."
So, Clinton and Trump are brothers from other mothers! (How was Carter a flim-flam man? I don't assert he wasn't, but I don't see the flim-flammery. Can you elaborate?)
Lazarus @ 9:56 a.m.,
You misspelled "knees"
To be fair, Robert Cook, Althouse said she found Carter's saying he would go back to his farm "small." She said nothing about what Carter actually did in his post-presidency.
"He said he'd just go back to his peanut farm. It made him seem so small to me. "
I suspect that Carter was attempting to call to mind the example of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. Apparently it did not work on your mind. How often do you think about the Roman Empire?
I was 22 when I was old enough to vote, and voted for Nixon in 1960. My Roosevelt Democrat family was outraged. I had taken an Economics class.
"If you don't win this election, what will you do next?"
Sorry to rain on your parade, but that is an inspid question. Who cares what any doofus presidential candidate will do if he/she loses an election?
More to the point, if his/her lips are moving then he/she is lying.
I think that applies more to you than Trump. Why do you keep inflicting your Opinion on people who ignore you ?
He lied about the "Nuclear Engineer" stuff.
She might reliably answer that O'Melveny has offered her a corner partner's office with a spectacular view of the bay that she is seriously considering.
- Krumhorn
Harris will look for amenable situations to ply her grift.
I voted Nixon in ‘72, which was my first opportunity to vote.
Only hippies voted for McGovern behind the Orange Curtain.
Ann, reread the 25th amendment. Unless Brandon resigns, is impeached and found guilty or dies, the vp does NOT become president.
They become, in the words of 25A,"acting president"
Also, 25A won't work as long as Brandon remains conscious. The moment kamala takes over as "acting president" Brandon can say "I'm all better now" and resume as actual president. Or perhaps continue would be a better word as I don't think he would ever have been not prisident.
25A seems pretty straightforward but perhaps I am not understanding it correctly. If not, could you please explain where I am wrong?
I
I think the distinction between acting and actual president is important both electorally and historical.
We've had vp's (including Kamala?) be acting president before. When the president goes under anesthesia for example. It ain't no thing!
And especially if it looked like a coup.
John Henry
Wouldn't a better question for Kamala be who would she do next?
He was one of our better ex-Presidents.
Althouse writes, "What did Jimmy Carter say that rubbed me the wrong way? He said he'd just go back to his peanut farm. It made him seem so small to me."
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus.
She'll continue to live off the grift. That's what Dems do.
Michael
I went through the same program Carter did in Rick overs canoe club. Calling himself a nuclear engineer may be puffery and may be illegal in most states (he's not a PE)
But it is not really wrong or a lie. I believe he has a bs in engineering which makes him arguably an engineer. Training and working in nukes makes him arguably a nuclear engineer.
He probably has a lot more nuclear engineering training than someone with a bs in nuclear engineering.
The school was pretty intense. 5 1/2 days a week, 8 hours class, 3-6 hours homework most nights. 6 months classroom then 6 months of 70 hour weeks of hands-on practice in a prototype plant. It makes med school, internship and residency look like a church picnic.
Then go to the fleet and spend 6 months to a year qualifying on your specic ship/power plant
If he wants to call himself a nuclear engineer, I would not but I won't call him wrong for doing, even if he technically may not be.
John Henry
I'd forgotten this
He did graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics
Why in the world would Joe/Jill Biden resign the presidency early to do a favor for the person who helped the (real) big boss hustle him/her out the door? Besides, what would benefit the Bidens? Pardons for the whole family?
No. He spent his ex-presidency dripping poison on Israel and the middle east. Building houses with Habitat for Humanity was fine. But they didn't need an ex-president for that.
Does George Washington seem small to you, professor?
You are all missing the obvious answer.
She will become a home-defense pistol instructor.
“Class, what happens if someone breaks into your house?”
“HE’S GETTIN’ SHOT!”
“Hee, hee, hee, hee!…..”
JSM
why? maybe a desire to live out 2024?
I swear by Jove that if even a quarter of our elected officials had Cincinnatian ethics (maybe a dash of Sulla for good measure) at their core we could solve most of our pressing national problems within a decade.
They don't so we won't.
" Do you have a broader view of public service? How profound is your vision and your love of country and devotion to humanity?"
OMG
In the 90s, Carter made Clinton's life more difficult wrt Haiti and North Korea and who know what else behind the scenes.
John henry (as usual) is correct.. That is why; my new prediction* is:
After Nov, Biden pardons his family, and 'regretfully' resigns..
Now, Kammy is 1st Woman Pres
or..
After Nov, Biden REFUSES to resign, the convictions stand, and Biden 'regretfully' dies (Probably from Covid)
Now, Kammy is 1st Woman Pres
new prediction* i want to point out, that my OLD prediction of Biden 'tragically' dying before the convention, ALWAYS specifically stated that it would Only occur *IF* Biden refused to drop out
Progressives love this country and are so devoted, they are willing to attempt to assassinate Trump and offer thousands if they don't do the job to some other crazy Progressive lunatic that is running around free and clear with Kamala's blessings.
"The DOJ thought it was a great idea to release a letter that Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump, wrote, encouraging others to finish the job for $150,000.
Matt Walsh at The Daily Wire made a great observation.
It took authorities forever to release the Nashville school shooter’s manifesto.
A Tennessee publication published all 90 pages of Audrey Hale’s manifesto in September.
However, the authorities still haven’t released Hale’s spiral notebook that contains her plans for the attack.
Weird.
But a letter encouraging people to kill a former president? Here you go!"
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/09/routh-letter-this-was-an-assassination-attempt-on-donald-trump/
When Carter went to USNA, all midshipmen took the same courses and were awarded a generic BS degree. Their only choice was which foreign language to study. I believe his class were there for only 3 years due to the war.
Under the 25th Amendment, a VP only becomes "Acting President," not president. Under the 25th, Biden remains president even if incapacitated.
There is something I - and a lot of others - noticed about the Drudge Report. One day it just started being uncharacteristic of Drudge. Like someone else was running things.
Hmm. Why do I bring that up?
He was unable correctly to pronounce "nuclear". He elided the L.
Whenever anyone loses a presidential election, he/she should just go away and fade away in retirement - whether it is 2024 or 2020. Yes, 60 is still youngish. It's also the age when a lot of normal people take early retirement and go off to, you know, life a live.
It is well known that Drudge got converged by the blob. He may have always been an associate of the blob (blob 'light'), but we'll likely never know. The high likelihood that Matt is gay also lends credence to solidarity with the alphabet mafia against Trump.
As we all know, who you have sex with and how is the sturdy foundation of any well-reasoned political affiliation, as countless fruitloops will tell you.
I would have voted for McGovern and Carter, coming from a family of Democrats, but was too young. By 1980 when I was old enough to vote, I voted for Reagan and never looked back. Thanksgiving dinners ever since have been a bit tricky.
Just re-read the Amendment. It's all right there. The Acting President "assumes the powers and duties of the office" and the removed President does not take those back unless the Cabinet allows it by not re-submitting their declaration. And if they do re-submit then the removed President only re-assumes those powers and duties if Congress fails to support the Cabinet with a two-thirds vote. He continues without power until that happens.
Possibly you're missing the "unless" clause, or maybe the "otherwise."
I fully understand the hostess's point regarding Carter's quote. However, I wish people running for president, man or woman, had lived such an accomplished life prior to running for president, that they could just go resume their prior life. Said differently, the presidency should be the end of the journey, not a part of the journey. Ronald Reagan is my example.
A pardon might explain it, if it happens.
Michael K, what was the economic policy difference between Nixon and JFK in 1960?
Serious question. I remember JFK for cutting tax rates, but have no idea what Nixon’s economic platform was in 1960.
Twelve years later, of course, he turned dirigiste with the wage/price controls….
JSM
She lies. Where were the moderators to call her out for THIS one.??
The Associated Press
@AP
·
2h
BREAKING: The U.S. will send additional troops to the Middle East amid escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Pentagon says.
Gimme3Steps
@TheSouthGAJohn
Replying to @AP
What do you mean more? Harris said no troops were in any area of conflict currently 🙄
12:06 PM · Sep 23, 2024
If she loses then she will follow the Obama path of becoming filthy rich with memoirs, podcasts and various contracts for "being Kamala."
I'd guess 50 million within two years, at a minimum.
eat teh cat, eat eat teh cat, rich.
Hey, we’re talking Jimmy Carter here! Pretty fucking far away from Washington/Jefferson territory, lol.
One of the most interesting comments here.
A helpful elaboration. The question and its interpretation make sense now.
"Will she withdraw into memoir-writing and speech-giving or some fancy academic post?" Of course she will, that's how the left pays off it's loyal soldiers. Every failed (or successful) democrat gets hefty advances for bools that every editor knows will never sell to any real customer. Same with jobs in academics. Joe Biden was clearly unqualified for any job at a university other than janitor, yet the University of Pennsylvania put him on the payroll. It's scams all the way down.
if she loses, acting president would be the same as real president, but joe might resign to make it official after he issues his pardons. then Harris will use the full force of the power she the holds to keep Trump from being inaugurated by any means necessary. the doj and fbi will help, along with the military.
"What's behind the ambition to be President?"
Money, power.
"If you don't get the big prize you wanted, who are you?"
None of your business.
"Do you have a broader view of public service?"
No.
"How profound is your vision and your love of country and devotion to humanity?"
You're a racist.
"who's next"?
serious question.. Is it TIME? for America to admit that it is a leaderless country, adrift in the seas of time?
As vice president and presidential candidate I am not aware of any passion she has. She is joyful and laughs alot but does not convey any serious passion to improve society, our country or the world. She could have someone write some books under her name, use a teleprompter and go on a speaking tour. She'll be just fine.
When told by the American artist Benjamin West that Washington was going to resign, King George III of England said "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world." However, Washington had an abiding faith in the young nation and a deep desire to return to his beloved Mt. Vernon.
Jimmy was never going to be the greatest man in the world but returning to his farm was not what made him small.
She may even attempt a fait accompli, saying, "I'm the president, and the Electoral College voters want me to stay that way. Hush, now. Go to sleep."
Progressive friends of ours have hardback copies of both Obamas' books in the living room. I'm quite certain that they've read them - they're not just there for show. And they may even have bought them as remainders - hardbacks are expensive! In other words, the books are not just shibboleths.
What I don't understand is why anyone cares about a contemporary president's life story, except insofar as it might inform his or her governance. For example, J.D. Vance really did grow up poor and may therefore have more innate empathy for working class people than most Ivy grads; Kamala Harris may or may not have grown up "middle class" but probably did identify as middle class (in the same way that my husband provided a decidedly upper-middle class life for us but our kids feel middle class - they just know their dad has always worked to bring home a salary and hasn't had the option of living off his wealth), and that identification may give her the sense that she can identify with normal middle class people, but - based on my own experience - my kids don't really understand what a truly middle class life is because they've never lived it, whereas my husband and I have. These things might affect how someone votes.
But once elected, politicians do what they do. So I could see maybe being a little interested in their lives before election, but not whole-book interested - basically enough to make some quick and dirty guesses about how they'll govern. After? Well, that's just hero worship and I don't see the point. (Yes, of course this goes for The Art of the Deal too.) Wait fifty or a hundred years and see if the adulation sticks. THEN a full biography might be worth reading.
Jason, you are right. And it was for a petty reason. "Carter had the choice of trying to salvage the agreement by conceding the issue of the West Bank to Begin, while advocating Sadat's less controversial position on the removal of all settlements from the Sinai Peninsula. Or he could have refused to continue the talks, reported the reasons for their failure, and allowed Begin to bear the brunt of the blame.
Carter chose to continue and for three more days negotiated." And hated Begin forever after that.
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