It’s a good time to point out, again, that Jeff Bezos appointed a sleazy British tabloid guy to the CEO position at the Washington Post. The guy is Will Lewis, and he’s already done the most to turn the venerable institution into Fleet Street on the Potomac. He tried to bring in more of his old Murdoch-media buddies, and he’s playing by British-media games when it comes to trying to shut down stories about his own history of criminal and unethical behavior. Well, now this British-tabloidization of an American newspaper has seeped into the American presidential race and coverage of that race. WaPo published a long-read called: “Kamala Harris ran her office like a prosecutor. Not everyone liked that.” Would you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris won’t just be ordered around by staff? Who does she think she is? Yes, the Post is absolutely trying to “Meghan Markle” VP Harris. Where have we heard that before??
VPOTUS has a demanding management style!! On the day after President Joe Biden decided to end his reelection bid in July, more than 300 former staffers for Vice President Kamala Harris publicly endorsed her candidacy — a flurry of alumni support with little precedent in this already unusual campaign….But in interviews, former staff who signed the letter acknowledged it also addressed one of Harris’s perceived weaknesses as a candidate and elected official: her demanding management style. People who have worked for Harris say her interactions with staff can resemble a prosecutor prying details from a witness, asking pointed questions about everything from her schedule to policy briefings.
Biden threatened to fire people if he caught them leaking sh-t about Harris: The situation for Harris grew so worrisome in the summer of 2021 that Biden summoned his senior staff and issued a warning: If they were leaking negative stories about Harris, he would fire them, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. Biden, who as president was surrounded by a cadre of close advisers who had stayed with him for decades, also privately called Harris to reassure her that she retained his support, they said.
VP Harris wants her staff to know what they’re talking about?! Some of Harris’s early staff was also discomfited by her prosecutorial leadership style, former staffers said, which included pointed questions from Harris about footnotes in their reports or the reasons behind why certain items had been added to her schedule. “It’s stressful to brief her, because she’s read all the materials, has annotated it and is prepared to talk through it,” said one former aide. “You can’t come to the vice president and just ask her to do something,” said another staffer. “You need to have a why.”
You can’t compliment her!! That behavior manifests in other encounters, the staffer continued, such as when someone pays her compliments. “She’ll turn to them and say ‘why?,’ and that throws them off,” the staffer said.
There’s a lot more in the article, and what’s weird is that this is like the fifth attempt in the past three months to portray VP Harris as an “angry Black woman” whose “forceful” managerial style makes white people cry salty white tears. Sound familiar? The exact same people are running the exact same play that they ran on the Duchess of Sussex. The 5 am emails, the white tears, the inability to cope when answering to a Black woman boss. “It’s stressful to brief her, because she’s read all the materials, has annotated it and is prepared to talk through it.” OH NO, she’s prepared? She read the materials and wanted to discuss it?? No wonder these people are former staffers – they sound like f–king morons.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
So she’s high context and wants to be prepared for whatever might come at her and that’s a bad thing how, exactly?
Yeah, it sounds like she behaves like a leader in a highly visible and consequential position…. This is not the flex that WaPo thinks it is. They are definitely trying to Megan Markle her, but the difference is they are trying to influence democratic voters who are not going to give this nonsense any oxygen because we have a lot more to lose to than Prince Harry. (That’s not a knock on Harry. I’m just saying that democracy would be a much bigger loss.)
We’re also Americans who value and appreciate hard work. No offense but British work culture in the palaces seems like they come in whenever they want, do absolutely nothing and get paid. It’s like they were actually shocked that they were asked to do something.
I think it reflects that reality that there are a lot of idiots who have power and are on cruise control. Maybe they’ve worked hard to get where they are but they don’t try anymore because they’ve made it and they are in asset protection mode. She’s not, she’s working and expects others to work.
I must admit that the last time I heard of preparedness being talked about in a negative way was about Meghan too. Let’s not forget that when and if something goes awry, the news media doesn’t write the names of junior staffers in their headlines, it’s the name of the VP or other principles which are tainted by association in the news even if they were not at fault. Last week, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul (sp.?) had her name all over the headlines because a former aid did something wrong.
Hillary was also accused of preparing — for her debates with Trump. She won all 3 and the popular vote but thanks to our weird Electoral College, she lost the election.
LOL THE HORROR!!
“It’s stressful to brief her, because she’s read all the materials, has annotated it and is prepared to talk through it,” said one former aide. “You can’t come to the vice president and just ask her to do something,” said another staffer. “You need to have a why.” How on earth is this a problem for someone who is leading a country? Should she just mindlessly do things just because one person thinks it is a good idea without sufficient reasoning behind it? How is this different from other employers or supervisors who are paying attention to their jobs?
That argument was stupid when it was Meghan Markle, being upset that your boss wants you to know what you’re talking about in briefings when she’s the vice president of the world’s largest economy is just asinine. You should be able to defend the points you’re bringing up, you should have anticipated them going after certain weak spots. This is common sense in any job that actually expects you to work. But just like a lot of those cushy jobs that the staffers in Kensington Palace had, there are a lot of people that are legacy alums of Ivy’s because of their parents or grandparents and got their jobs based off the connections and have never had to actually work. Which explains why they’re former staffers.
My partner works government adjacent in a directorial position, so he works a lot with federal governmental employees. He deals with horse poop complaints like this all day long every day when he asks people…to do their jobs. We used to live in D.C. I didn’t work in government but sometimes had to work with them and can attest this is how it is. I couldn’t believe these were adults I was dealing with and not toddlers. Whether it was them wanting me to do THEIR jobs for them and LITERALLY whining when they had to, or mid-level folks acting like they were more important than anyone else. D.C. is such a “Me First”, “But what about MEEEEE?” culture. I loathed living there.
I work for a municipal org and the predecessor in my position kept bad mouthing our new director, telling me to “watch out,” that she was going to have me do X and X and X…and I was like “she’s going to have me do the job? Oh no!”
Truly, I have no patience for people who work hard to do as little as humanly possible in their jobs.
When everyone around you falls short somehow, maybe the common denominator isn’t anything about them or their actual competencies and performance.
It’s insidious the way that propaganda-like opinion-pieces and posts branding government as ineffectual and government-workers as lazy “toddlers” have come to permeate everything from opinion pieces in once-venerated publications and news sources to comments in more casual ones — often intensifying before elections.
So many have framed the coming election in broadly sweeping dramatic terms. Perhaps, as voters and as citizens, we need to move beyond broadly sweeping, often unsubstantiated generalities to more focused concerns. In contrast to Trump, who presents as doddering, impulsive, and unserious, Kamala Harris actually reads her briefs, critically assesses information, and does the work it takes to competently govern and to implement policy-driven plans. I hope that as voters and as a country, we can move beyond the drama of often-racist tropes to recognize that each of us as voters is responsible for choosing both competence and vision as we decide how we want our collective powers to be spent. It’s heartening to see so many energized voters — including many who are intentionally supporting Country over Party — coming out in support of Kamala Harris.
Sandra – So, so sorry you were totally surrounded by whiny toddler types whenever you had to work with federal employees. I’ve worked with a lot of super incredible, smart, hard working federal employees, so I have no clue what you’re talking about. Is this your justification of Project 2025 – get rid of all existing federal employees and install tRump friends and family in their place?
Maybe it’s being in DC? I’ve been a federal employee my entire career & I, like pretty much everybody I’ve ever worked with, put in a good faith effort every single day. Just pretty much every one of my colleagues has been a caring, competent professional doing the best they can.
More and more people are noticing that this is exactly the shit they tried to pull on Meghan.
These former staffers make themselves look worse with these comments. How did they ever survive in a professional environment?
Btw kudos to Biden for stopping leaking and standing behind Harris.
Yes! Biden is a true leader. That was all the Queen, Charles or Harry needed to do when it was happening to Meghan, but I guess it’s hard to chastise and warn people when you are the one behind the leaks…
Why are you blaming Harry for being behind leaks? He had three people above him in the chain of command (never mind camp Middleton and Camilla also whiteanting M and H.
@originalleigh have you already forgotten that Harry asked the press publicly to back off in their treatment of Meghan?
The “leaker” was Pete Buttigieg who was clearly gunning for Kamala’s job in the first year of the administration.
Ugh, apologies, I meant to write WILLIAM (not Harry). That’s what I get for multitasking. Harry was obviously not at fault.
What I don’t understand is why the press writes articles like this and doesn’t publish a ton of stories about TFG running his organization like the mafia and write about how he constantly stiffs people, has employees fired, and his presidency was mired in dysfunction and so many former members of his administration are supporting Kamala Harris.
They treat the 🍊🤡 like the norm and the vice president like some pretender to the throne. My only hope is that this helps people see her as the change candidate.
And that, ML, is the million dollar question.
Why, indeed?
Could it be that , just like in 2016 and 2020 ,the overlords of the so-called free press want them putting a thumb on the scale for the orange buffoon?
Follow the money; somebody is getting or being promised a payday.
Russia, Russia, Russia. The big story out there is about the Russian money being funneled to various people including journalists. Let’s see if that gets covered and by whom.
Because that’s exactly what they want. He can howl at the moon and be controlled by others for the benefit of billionaires and Russia. We’ve known this for years. Because the people who control the message benefit, they’re never gonna tell the truth.
Remember the first thing in war, take control of the message.
Wagiman, I agree. Look what the bm has done to the UK–the bm were huge proponents of Brexit. They don’t care what they do to the country as long as it enriches them in some way.
I’m looking forward to the DOJ letting out more and more info on the people or organizations who have taken Russian money.
I immediately thought of the Meghan Markle sends emails at 2am and expects her staff to WORK! The entirety of media, both print and tv are trying to Hilary Madam Harris and we are not going to take it. They are trying to discourage us with supposed neck and neck polling and hit pieces like this. All while ignoring that DT has been threatening anyone who opposes him. From other politicians to donors. We are not going back! We are not going back!
Trump informed us this weekend that his “mass deportations” would be “bloody”. Where is the coverage, let alone the outrage?
They have turned a blind eye to that dangerous man. But we haven’t and thankfully there are some media outlets who have been talking about this disgusting man and all that he is saying and doing. The fact that mainstream media is silent is shameful and a betrayal to the electorate.
Meghan was used to being in the studio at 5 or 6 am for hair and makeup before going out to work like most actresses work ten to twelve hour days. And just because someone sends you a email early in the morning does not mean you have to act on it right that minute. The business rule for early morning emails are tasks and a response that are to be completed by the end of your work day.
Soooooo Kamala is an intelligent, well-prepared professional that expects the same of her staff? Where might the American people want that behavior? These all sound like compliments to me
I’ve been recently watching VP Harris questioning Barr during Congressional hearings. Oh, my God she’s good. She had Barr stuttering and looking back at other people behind him for answers like a fool. Actually, this happened when Harris was Senator, but she never disappoints.
And this is exactly the energy I hope she brings to tomorrow’s debate.
I hope her debate team has been as well-prepared as these salty staffers are complaining about being asked to be.
Wow, she sounds like a soon-to-be President. Unlike any recent republican president. And good for Biden keeping the team in line.
Lord save us from a prepared, intelligent woman. How much better was it to have DT who not only wouldn’t read his daily briefings, but Generals etc. were forced to have salient points rendered in comic book style to try to keep his interest. Yep, that Kamala surely is a problem, asking questions. Who are the fools writing such drivel for the WaPo?
Honestly, I know I’m supposed to be outraged, but this legit made me laugh out loud. The staff thought they could just order the vice president of the United States around. They really expected her to do as she was told? By them–the staff? What a scandal! Bezos is a creep and he’s turning a once great newspaper into a joke.
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Well i would much rather have a president with a staff that calls her “demanding” than a president with a staff that says he’s a “moron” and “unhinged”. This woman knows her sh*t unlike TFG who didn’t know sh*t. The press is mad because if Kamala wins they won’t have anymore stories to write about the crazy behavior of the president. They’d better get ready.
We all want a return to normal or, at least, sanity. The media has very different goals.
This is a tactic commonly used against women seeking more powerful positions, portray them as unlikeable, demanding, difficult to work for. There’s always some unnamed staffer complaining about high office turnover. And she “cackles.” We have seen this used over and over.
They complained about Hillary Clinton’s preparedness in the same way, right down to the so-called “cackle” to describe human laughter.
They are so transparent in their attempts to Meghan Markle VP Harris. But that won’t work here. We are too prepared (just like the VP). We’ve seen them run this tired old play before and we’re not going for it because we WANT a president that is prepared and intelligent. If the staff can’t keep up, then they need to find jobs elsewhere. As black women, we know we have to be twice as good to get half as far, so if you’re going to work with and for us, prepare to be the same.
Ain’t no half-steppin’.
A person who is highly competent, intelligent and eager to learn the responsibilities of her new position instead of saying “yes massa”. Yeah I want a president exactly like that. Wait, she a Black woman too? Oh no!/s. This article was pure unintentional hilarity, esp when compared to Teflon Don, who really thinks he’s a mafia don. And the average American wants a leader with the above qualities, not another clown show. And the Repubs, as clearly exhibited in this current Republican Congress, aren’t capable or interested in governing the American people. They’re only interested in bullying the American people.
So are these people upset that Kamala reads her briefs? No wonder they’re former staff members.
Articles like these makes me think there really is a secret malevolent SPECTRE-type organization somewhere that convenes regularly to discuss how they can take down what’s left of decency in this world. I’ve never been more terrified about the outcome of an election. How strange that Sussexit prepared us all for the shenanigans of this election cycle. You know we live in perilous times when Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney sides with the Rebel Alliance (to mix movie metaphors up completely!)
It’s been a while since I read WaPo, but it used to be my newspaper of choice. That’s so incredibly sad to hear what it’s been turned into.
I agree. It’s sad to see how far NYT and WaPo have fallen. They’re basically tabloids with bigger words now.
I read both those papers for years, and stopped about three years ago. Disappointing loss of once great newspapers.
An ‘average’ white man/woman feels threatened by Afro-descendant women who happen to be competent, hardworking, thorough, articulate, super-smart, successful besides being gorgeous.
If the average man is rather mediocre, he will simply HATE & wish to destroy the gifted afro-descendant woman.
F*ck Jeff Bezos for buying the WaPo and installing this “team”. It would be in better hands if he just turned it over to Lauren Sanchez.
We really need to stop seeing Lauren Sanchez as some sort of angel woman tied to Bezos, she’s choosing to be engaged to him. His ex-wife seems to be doing far better since they’ve been divorced.
I disagree that they’re trying to “Meghan Markle” Kamala. More like they tried the “politician” Meghan. This stupid trope about uppity women (especially black women) who don’t know their place and don’t care how unattractively “aggressive” they are existed WAY before either of them.
Women being assertive, powerful, and successful is terrifying to feeble men, and the women who are happily subservient to them. A story for the ages.
Are you affiliated with Tenet Media, perhaps? Astead can’t deal with strong women-every criticism is a confession in his pieces on Kamala. Not sure how the Brahmin caste system would affect a prosecutor in the Bay Area – other than to serve as a counter example to an opportunity society. Maybe that’s why her mother left India for the States.
Are you affiliated with Tenet Media, perhaps? Astead can’t deal with strong women-every criticism is a confession in his pieces on Kamala, note all the writers cited are men. Not sure how the Brahmin caste system would affect a prosecutor in the Bay Area – other than to serve as a counter example to an opportunity society. Maybe that’s why her mother left India for the States.
“every criticism is a confession” Spot on.
Sign me up to work for her! None of that crazy drama, emotional bs, favoritism, or social games to move up the ladder with a boss like that. Just show up on time, clear expectations, and work hard.
And 10x sign me up to have someone like this running the country.
Trying to portray Harris as the angry black woman when the guy running opposite her is literally on trial for having raped a woman as well as having used repeatedly the n-word to address people on his reality tv show is beyond wild.
What I find beyond wild is that this convicted felon, Trump, was recently endorsed for president by the police association. These people have no sense of irony or absurdity at all.
Did the staff complained about MVP Harris & Madame Duchess Meghan really went & graduated from University/College? /s
MVP Harris sounds like any reputable University Professor and instructor, who expects the students to prepare for their studies & understand the topics that will be discussing in classes. Princess Meghan was just like a famous American NFL coach who always said to his players: Do Your Job!
Black women really threatened these mediocre people. *sign*
You would *NEVER* see this written about a man. Ever. The other guy throws shit at his staff. **Crickets**
I worked for lawyers for years and I have to say, this is probably true and it’s not a criticism of her. It’s just how good lawyers are wired in my experience. If I answered a question with I don’t know or I don’t remember, it felt like I was getting the third degree. To me, it actually is a good quality to get all the information and the truth.
Let’s not ever forget that the British press pile on against Meghan was exactly the same playbook that they used for Yoko Ono nearly 40 years before. A woman of color, a foreigner, who “took away” one of their idols.
You don’t have to like or admire her (personally I respect her a great deal) to see the parallels and see how damaging and hurtful it was, and how little has changed.
Absolutely.
Did anyone read this and come away thinking Kamala Harris looked bad for this? It made her look good imo.
I saw this article posted elsewhere a couple days ago, and it never even occurred to me the details about how Type A VP Harris is when it comes to her work were meant to be shade and not complimentary. You want the person running for the most important job in the country to be extremely competent and surrounded by extremely competent staff? It didn’t even come off as the staff members complaining like they were in England about Meghan’s work ethic- Americans admire competence and work ethic and succeeding in demanding work where you need to be prepared and intelligent.
Agreed. I loved Jen Psaki pointing out she worked for 2 presidents, had to brief both (Obama and Biden), and OF COURSE everyone had to be on top of their game. Expect no less, unless you’re the reality show president who is a one man crime wave.
Nothing infuriates mediocre white people, but most especially men, more than a black woman whose a million times smarter and prepared. It’s almost like she’s a threat to them actively failing upward.
This.
This makes me love her (and Biden) more. It’s gross that this is even a story.
This headline is exactly what I thought when I saw the absolutely idiotic article. I hope it doesn’t hit the same way in the states as it did on salt island.
I’m waiting for the “Kamala Makes Kate Cry!” story next.
I saw the WaPo writer trying to defend the legitimacy of this story on Twitter. The best response to him was a simple question: Would you have written this story about a man? He didn’t respond.
WaPo, the NYT, and CNN are all dead to me for the bias they are showing. Ever since that turd came down his golden escalator to a crowd he paid to show up and cheer. They did it to Biden, they’re doing it to Harris. Then they sanewash the dementia candidate!
All three are owned or financially controlled by conservatives and/or republican people, not their original owners or people with the same commitment to journalism.
Yup Debbie. We can see it every day and I don’t even have to mention Politico or the Hill.
Sanewash is my new favorite word. It perfectly describes how they cover (for) Trump.
The excerpts from this piece sound so British tabloidy- but then their new publisher is a creature of that world? Wonder what Katherine Graham would think? Where are Woodward and Bernstein? Bezos owning the post, Musk owning twitter- teetering on the brink here. I’ve quit watching CNN and cancelled my subscription to New York Times quite some time ago. I date CNN’s decline shortly after 9-11, journalists like Arron Brown retiring, and the the hiring of Fox News executive.
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“It’s stressful to brief her, because she’s read all the materials, has annotated it and is prepared to talk through it.”
They would absolutely compliment a man using that same sentence. I’m glad so more of us see exactly what they’re doing.
As always, if a male manager behaved this way, he would be called a strong and firm leader who gets shit done.
Her opponent tried to get his VP killed, but do go on about how scary it is that she’s a demanding boss who does her job and expects her people to do the same.
I clicked on the WaPo article and read the comment section. The comments were epic. Most of the commenters “got it” & recognized the sexism, misogyny etc. of the article. And many talked about how this would never be written if the candidate was a male and they were entertaining the idea of canceling their subscription.
I’m not familiar with VP Harris’s staff but I have a close friend whose 26 y/o son just started working on Capitol Hill. I think what Capitol Hill is experiencing (and the greater workforce) is a change of the guard (age-wise.) The majority of the staff now are Gen-Z which are pretty new to the office world, let alone Capitol Hill. And especially after the pandemic, the office atmosphere is more relaxed & nothing like the disciplined environment of even a law firm.
I worked in the city, county, state government and also in doctor’s offices. But when I worked in a law firm in my late 20’s they worked us to death. And I swore I would never work for a law firm again! Lawyers and especially prosecutors are a different breed (my father was a prosecutor.) And here’s one of the caveats of politics. Office staff (and maybe in VP Harris’s office) are sometimes a makeup of a “not what you know, but who you know” motley crew/group? As a result, you could end up with relatives of political donors, influential political parents etc. who may or may not be “qualified” office staff.
I clicked on the WaPo link and was wholly unsurprised to find the kind of garbage that is routine for Brittabloid junk from which the sewer rat Will Lewis slithered. LOTS of unnamed sources. LOTS of adjectives for what is suposedly fact-based reporting. As for hiring people based on “not what you know, but who you know” consider the Republican goal of driving out existing federal employees and replacing them with tRumpers.
This one made me laugh: “It’s stressful to brief her, because she’s read all the materials, has annotated it and is prepared to talk through it,” said one former aide. “You can’t come to the vice president and just ask her to do something,” said another staffer. “You need to have a why.”
Gadzooks, really??? You have a boss who’s done their prep? Are these former KP staffers or something??🤦♀️
This isn’t so ‘weird’ — it’s what happens when a WOC (hell, POC) is determined, intelligent, likable. I really hope she mops up the floor with that orange trash bag and his garbage crew.
They’re trying to see if their playbook can work in the US. And They still refuse to understand the US work ethic culture (even when they’re in America).🙄
As a non-American, I had a subscription to the Washington Post because I appreciated the journalism there. After the arrival of the new CEO, I canceled it. I don’t buy into the right-wing British tabloid that is being carried here in this once informative serious newspaper. The agenda is almost word for word the same and trust in all the reporting in this paper will be lost, as it is with the British papers. Democracy dies in darkness … and the WP is now involved in the funeral.
I recommend the MeidasTouch podcast for a non-corporate news source that isn’t afraid to call Trump on all his shenanigans.
These washington staffers need to be addressed as well. A lot of them are unqualified nepotism hires. They get deeply upset if anyone asks them for a rational because they arent high level thinkers. It’s like politicians aren’t allowed to not hire these people.