Kamala Discusses Pre-Debate Moment With Biden
In politics, loyalty is often less about public gestures and more about the private conversations — those unscripted moments that reveal whether someone truly has your back. Former Vice President Kamala Harris recently peeled back the curtain on one such moment, and what she revealed was as telling as it was unsettling.
In an interview with Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Harris recounted a call from then-President Joe Biden just before her high-stakes debate with Donald Trump. At a time when she expected encouragement — perhaps wisdom from someone who’d stood on that same national stage — what she got instead was something else entirely. A moment of self-focus. A grievance. A signal that, in her words, “his motivation was all about himself.”
Kamala Harris now says Biden angered her and reveals how she “really felt” about the whole situation.
Why is she suddenly speaking up now? 👀
Thoughts? ⬇️ 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/qe5OxHsbT4
— Tony Lane 🇺🇸 (@TonyLaneNV) October 31, 2025
According to Harris, Biden began the call with a brief pep talk but quickly pivoted to something that caught her completely off guard: he told her that some people in Pennsylvania were speaking negatively about her because they believed she had criticized him. That was the content he chose to bring up, just before she stepped into the political arena to take on Donald Trump in what may have been her most scrutinized moment to date.
Her reaction was immediate: “Unbelievable,” she said. And “yes, I was angry.”
Harris wanted strategy, solidarity, maybe even a moment of clarity from the man who had walked that path before. Instead, she got a phone call that, in her own analysis, served his ego more than her preparation. “There are only two people in the world other than me that have debated this guy, Hillary Clinton and him,” Harris emphasized. And yet, the man who should’ve had the most to offer, gave her only more to carry.
The interview unraveled something deeper than campaign-season drama. It touched on trust — the kind that’s supposed to exist between running mates, between a president and his VP, between two of the most powerful elected officials in the nation. When Harris was asked directly if Biden truly wanted her to win the election, she paused. Yes, she said — but only because she was the one who could protect his legacy. Not for her own sake. Not for the good of the party. Not for the country. For his image.
The implications are hard to ignore. If Harris’s account is accurate — and it came across as deeply personal, not politically calculated — it reveals an administration where personal insecurities and political self-interest may have played a more dominant role than many would like to believe.
Legacy politics is nothing new. But when preserving one’s image becomes more important than supporting the very team you built, it speaks to a fractured leadership style. Biden’s presidency, already strained by age questions and wavering approval, now adds another layer of concern: a commander-in-chief who couldn’t put his vice president first, even in a moment that demanded unity.