Knives out in the White House: conflicts between Biden and Harris' teams surface

The White House is far from being a place of calm and reflection for Kamala Harris and her team right now. On the contrary, the discontent between the Vice President's staff and Joe Biden's, which existed even before Harris' move to unseat the President from the electoral ticket, is manifesting in not-so-subtle clashes between both groups, while Biden himself is doing little to help the Democrats’ hopes of holding onto power with his statements.

In reality, the problems have been simmering for a long time, even when Harris herself publicly backed Biden and vehemently denied that he suffered from any mental health problems. From the president's team, the threat of replacement by the vice president was always felt in case it was confirmed that the president's psychological state rendered him unfit for office, and from Biden's advisors reports were leaked in which it was assured that Harris would obtain worse numbers than the leader of the Executive in the elections.

Distrust, distance and discord

Although Harris was merely being liked, without openly proclaiming her ambitions - although assuring that she was prepared to replace Biden should the need arise-, Biden's deputy reelection campaign manager Rob Flaherty was quick to send supporters a letter assuring them that the president was the only one with a chance of defeating Donald Trump after the fateful debate with the Republican on CNN.

At present, and despite the fact that several members of Biden's team became part of Kamala Harris' team to strengthen her in the electoral race, the distance and lack of coordination and trust between both groups is leading to public communication disasters, even with disavowals before the media by Biden to his vice-president.

Communicative disasters and public disavowals

You don't have to go very far back in time to find one of the most resounding. Last week, with Florida ravaged by hurricanes Helene and Milton, Harris tried to make political hay out of the natural disasters by attacking the Sunshine State's Republican governor. However, Biden himself applauded the work of Ron DeSantis in managing the difficult situation. The vice president criticized the conservative manager for not answering her calls while Biden praised him for being "gracious" and "cooperative" and claimed he had gone so far as to give him his personal number.

It was one of the most resounding, though not the only, or even the latest display of discord. Last Friday, Biden held an impromptu press conference at the White House, at the same time that a Harris campaign rally was scheduled in Michigan. A gesture that notably hurt the vice president's media coverage, especially with the live and TV plugs.

Biden's 'solo' successes now upset a Harris who tried to distance herself from his legacy

Nor are the president's recent successes in economic matters sitting very well with the candidate's staff, much less the fact that both he and the media are attributing them to her. For example, the improving economic data, such as the latest employment data -the last two months- and the slight reduction in inflation. But above all, his key intervention to unblock the longshoremen's strike at the country's major ports.

The unrest is also making its way into the speeches of both leaders. Joe Biden lamented to his inner circle that Kamala was not giving him the treatment he deserved, and that he was trying to disassociate himself from the Administration of which he was a part. In recent weeks, the president made certain statements that raised reproach in the Democratic candidate's entourage for singling her out as artisan-and certainly knowledgeable-about the major policies of the Biden-Harris executive.