Kamala's Ex: She Doesn't Stand a Chance Against Trump
Take it from one who knows.
Last week’s clown-car debates for the Democratic nomination might have given conservatives and supporters of President Donald Trump real hope that the opposition party doesn’t have a candidate who can stand in the way of re-election next year, but Trump fans and liberal-loathers might be a little biased.
So when a true-blue Democrat comes to the same conclusion – and one who’s had a more-than-passing acquaintance with one of the biggest Democrat names of the moment – it’s a message that carries considerable strength.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a one-time paramour of now-California Sen. Kamala Harris, provided just that message in a San Francisco Chronicle column on Saturday breaking down his impressions of the Democratic debates.
Those impressions are not good for Brown’s party, and especially not good for the woman who carried on an affair with Brown while he was a powerful state lawmaker and she was an ambitious young county prosecutor.
In a short January piece for the Chronicle, Brown not only acknowledged the relationship but bragged about helping Harris with her career over the years, getting her appointed to state commissions and helping her win her first race for district attorney.
Let’s assume Willie Brown knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the Democratic field. Fifteen years as the Democratic speaker of the House in California and two terms as the Democratic mayor of one of the country’s most liberal cities give him a solid grounding in the party.
As for Harris, let’s just say he knows her better than the average voter. In a January profile of Harris, the Los Angeles Times reported the couple’s affair began in 1995 when Brown was campaigning for San Francisco mayor. They broke up just before his inauguration in 1996.
What does Brown have to say after last week’s debate?
The headline makes it pretty clear: “Bad news for Democrats — none of these candidates can beat Trump.”
While Brown didn’t think any of the candidates had a strong showing, he began with Harris, dismissing both her clash with former Vice President Joe Biden and her prospects of winning a general election victory in November.
“California Sen. Kamala Harris got all the attention for playing prosecutor in chief, but her case against former Vice President Joe Biden boiled down in some ways to a ringing call for forced school busing,” Brown wrote. “It won’t be too hard for Trump to knock that one out of the park in 2020.”
That’s an understatement. Any Democratic candidate who stakes a claim to the Oval Office in 2020 on an argument from more than 40 years ago could end up making Democrat Walter Mondale’s one-state win in 1984 against Ronald Reagan look like a spirited effort.
To be fair to Harris, Brown was equally dismissive of the rest of the liberal roster, panning, in turn, Biden; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
“Trump must have enjoyed every moment and every answer, because he now knows he’s looking at a bunch of potential rivals who are still not ready for prime time,” Brown wrote.
Democrats should pay attention to that and take it from someone who knows.
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