Kamala Harris (Official White House photo by Oliver Contreras)

All of America knows how badly Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ nominee, lost the 2024 presidential election to President Donald Trump.

Landslide numbers in the popular vote. Also in the Electoral College. Losses in every single swing state.

But she knew of that probable outcome before the vote, according to a report that cites evidence released in a new book.

The Washington Examiner explains it was in a series of memos from Maria Comelia, a political strategist who has advised Democrats, to Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon that Harris simply wasn’t giving voters a reason to cast a ballot for her.

The four memos come from the book, “2024: How Trump retook the White House and the Democrats lost America,” by several authors.

There Comelia told Harris she needed to distance herself from the failed presidency of Joe Biden, who may have torpedoed Harris by confirming that she was with him on every major political decision.

Comelia suggested Harris appeal to independents and what she described as “soft” Republican voters with the move, the report said.

“The current focus of rolling out and utilizing Republicans like Liz Cheney gives comfort that a soft Republican who dislikes Trump is not alone, but it doesn’t give reason to vote for Harris,” she wrote. “They may not want to vote for [President Donald] Trump, but they aren’t ready yet to cast a vote for Harris. Flip the concept. Instead of Republicans for Harris, how do we make it Harris for Republicans? This general framework is applicable to independents and moderate undecideds as well because it creates a structure that either makes it possible to vote for her or comfortable enough not to turn out to vote for Trump,” the memo said.

A separate memo suggested, “You have to meet people where they are and that comes from local faces that they are more likely to trust or at least like. The reality is that Josh Shapiro in [Pennsylvania] has earned more GOP votes in PA than either Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger. More importantly, this audience does not want to be lectured to and told who to vote for. Celebrities and never-Trump supporters have the opposite effect with these audiences.”

The counsel also included advice for Harris to admit Democrats missed the mark during the Biden-Harris regime on the economy, inflation, border security, COVID-19, crime and much more.

“Create clear daylight/differentiation between a Harris and Biden administration,” Comelia instructed. “Acknowledge where the Democratic Party hasn’t gotten it right — a willingness to not just work with the other side, but call out your own party when necessary. Meet the moment by contrasting the stakes on the issues.”

A commentary by Hugo Gurdon in the Examiner at the same time confirmed where the Biden tenure and Harris campaign have left the Democrats: “Screwed.”

“Betting on appearances over reality is a weak long-term strategy, especially when those appearances are false. Fictions quickly wear thin, allowing people to see through to reality, to facts that stay stubbornly in place,” he said. “President Abraham Lincoln put it more pithily: ‘You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.'”

He explained, “Today’s Democrats still don’t get that you can’t fool voters indefinitely. They criticize the Medicaid and food stamp reforms President Donald Trump signed into law on Friday as literally deadly. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, told CNN, ‘The way I can summarize this big, ugly bill best is: Republicans caved, Trump lied, and people will die.’

“If that’s the best the party can do, Democrats are in trouble. They are, however, all saying much the same thing. A Democratic campaign official informed me tersely recently on NewsNation that the reforms are ‘cruel’ because ‘if you’re a single mom and you’re only working 40 hours a month because you’re raising three kids, you don’t get your Medicaid anymore under this bill.'”

That claim, he explained, is “not true.”

He pointed out the changes about which Democrats are complaining mostly don’t take effect for some time, until even after the 2026 midterms.

“These dates mean the howling horrors Democrats are crying ‘wolf’ about will not have gone into effect when voters next cast their ballots, and others will hardly have had time to resonate by the time the nation is choosing the next occupant of the White House. Voters don’t get worked up about things that have not happened, and the horrors Democrats foretell will not have happened in two different ways: They won’t have been applied, and once they are, voters will realize they aren’t horrors anyway,” he said.

“‘I think we’re screwed,’ a Democratic operative told me as he contemplated the electoral politics of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. His party has to pump up the issue — it’s part of the Democrats’ trick of pretending they’re on the side of the little guy — but it will turn to ashes and run away through their fingers.”

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is currently a news editor for the WND News Center, and also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.