‘Rock Bottom’: Longtime Dem Strategist Rips Kamala Harris for Bringing ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ on Party

Democrat and podcast host Dan Turrentine blasted former Vice President and failed 2024 candidate Kamala Harris, saying her Late Show interview was a “word salad of nothingburgers” and that she’s bringing “mutually assured destruction” to the Democratic party.

Turrentine appeared alongside analyst and pollster Matt Towery for the latest The Ingraham Angle from Fox News, which was hosted by Brian Kilmeade on Friday.

Kilmeade asked his guests about the conversation Harris had with cancelled late night host Stephen Colbert, in which she said the Democratic party does not currently have a leader, and about her book “107 Days” that hits stores in September, which was met with brutal reactions this week after the publication date was announced.

Turrentine, a longtime Democrat staffer and strategist who previously worked for the DNC and is co-host of the podcast “The Morning Meeting” with Mark Halperin and Sean Spicer, ripped Harris’s Late Show interview and said that whether her book starts an ugly war with the Biden side or takes his side and says she would continue his policies and ideas, either one will spell big trouble for the party going forward.

“She’s on a collision course with Joe Biden, because Biden’s out there now trying to say, hey, I was mentally fit. My presidency was great,” Turrentine said, talking about what Harris may say about 2024 in her book. “Is she going to agree with him as she gets out there and writes this book and agree with Hunter Biden? Or is she gonna try to separate herself?”

“Either way, it’s mutually assured destruction for the party,” he said.

“If what she’s gonna do is now give a book tour and say, I’m with Joe Biden. Joe Biden is unpopular, he was unpopular,” he said later in the segment. “If she’s going to attempt to lead us into the future by arguing that Joe Biden’s presidency was good and we should continue it? Man, I thought we hit rock bottom. Apparently we would not have.”

Ahead of the next presidential election, CNN’s Harry Enten pointed out this week, Democrats are “historically divided, an identity crisis that, along with unpopular policies and ideas, have ravaged the party’s polling numbers.

TURRENTINE: We definitely didn’t see the leader on the Colbert Report. I mean, we don’t have a leader of our party right now. That’s probably the only thing I agree with that Kamala said last night. Look, Democrats are buzzing about three things, Brian, with her re-emerging.

The first is, as someone close to her told me last weekend, she wants to run for president. And as the name of this new book suggests, she’s gonna try to lay the predicate that the reason she lost was she didn’t have enough time. When most Democrats think it was probably the best thing she had going for her due to her propensity to make mistakes.

The second thing is, as you teased in the opening… When a candidate does something like this, an interview with Colbert, you want to have a sound bite that people take away. It was a word salad of nothingburgers. I guess, as you said, I love my country, I’m a public servant and I’m tired of this. It’s such a weak message.

The third is she’s on a collision course with Joe Biden, because Biden’s out there now trying to say, hey, I was mentally fit. My presidency was great. Is she going to agree with him as she gets out there and writes this book and agree with Hunter Biden or is she gonna try to separate herself? Either way, it’s mutually assured destruction for the party.

KILMEADE: So, Dan, this soundbite I’m about to play is from your podcast, so interesting for me. Great job. Because it’s Joe Biden. Did the Biden team have a plan? If Kamala defected, watch.

HALPERIN (ON TAPE): If the Biden people decide that Kamala Harris is coming after Joe Biden, wait till you hear the Palin-esque stories about how much they tried to help her be prepared to be vice president and be in a position to run and how much, they decided, not happening. She’s not up to this. If the Biden people feel threatened, you will hear stories about Kamala’s Harris as vice president that will not make her look good. She will have a hard time defending against the stories if that damn bursts.

KILMEADE: Dan, is Mark right? Did you hear that too? And do you think that’s how it plays out at one point? Kamala tries to separate and then she gets eviscerated?

TURRENTINE: Yeah, I mean, first off, I would never say that my colleague is not right. I think Mark is one of the most wired-in people and he’s absolutely right. I think, look, you saw with Hunter Biden there, they are going scorched earth already on any Democrat who attempts to separate, or people like Nancy Pelosi who did what they think that they had to do.

So again, if you’re Kamala Harris, if you thought that you didn’t wanna pile on, then you should not have run, right? She cleared the field when Biden resigned that day because she so badly wanted to do this. And so, if what she’s gonna do is now give a book tour and say, I’m with Joe Biden. Joe Biden is unpopular, he was unpopular, and you know, candidates that run three consecutive times or three times like Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump — They are ideologically consistent. The country comes to them.

If she’s going to attempt to lead us into the future by arguing that Joe Biden’s presidency was good and we should continue it? Man, I thought we hit rock bottom. Apparently we would not have.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.