Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris – top Democrat rivals for the next presidential election – have been hit with reports that may cast a serious blow against their chances to defeat President Trump in 2020.
Gillibrand, who has questionable #MeToo associations in her past, led the charge that forced former Senator Al Franken to resign amidst a groping scandal, and as a result, left many leftists who felt he was treated unfairly with a bad taste in their mouth.
Meanwhile, Harris may lose a key seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee due to Democrat losses in the Senate during the 2018 midterms.
The news leaves two top female challengers to Trump’s reelection with some issues to tackle before they mount a serious run in 2020.
Franken supporters think Gillibrand is a traitor to the #MeToo movement
“Believe and support all women … unless you’ve been groped by a Democrat.” That’s the message some leftists are sending to their party leaders, distraught over Gillibrand’s handling of the Franken scandal.
Gillibrand called on Franken to resign, saying she “believe(d) the women” who had made numerous accusations of forcible kissing against him. This was on the heels of photographic evidence showing Franken had groped radio host Leeann Tweeden.
Democrat supporters and donors, however, are willing to overlook Franken’s transgressions and look upon Gillibrand with disdain over tanking his career.
“It was said not in front of Al to impress him; it was said privately in a corner,” Politico reported regarding a gathering of supporters shortly after his resignation. “A group of us were standing there talking about it. He was one of our best weapons against this administration, his presence on these committees.”
“I could stay on the phone all afternoon talking about this,” said a Manhattan-based member of the ‘Majority Trust’ of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, an elite group of top donors, who has donated to Gillibrand in the past. “Let me tell you how strongly I felt about it — I didn’t even vote for her in the recent election. I left it blank.”
Gillibrand, they concluded, “did the damage that Republicans could not do themselves,” and one attendee concurred that multiple Democrats had declared, “Absolutely, I will never do anything for her.”
She would also, a week after calling for Franken’s ouster, call for President Trump to resign amidst his own allegations, though that wasn’t enough to placate the #MeToo fanatics.
Even today, Democrat donors according to the Politico report, refer to Gillibrand as “opportunistic” and “shrewd at the expense of others to advance herself.”
Just as she was when it came to Franken’s scandal. Just as she was when she turned on longtime friend Bill Clinton at the height of the #MeToo movement.
As #DemsInPhilly gather to nominate our next Pres. @HillaryClinton, kicked off #DNCinPHL w/former Pres. @BillClinton pic.twitter.com/nZ1uE18oRp
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) July 25, 2016
It will be incredibly difficult to defeat President Trump when your own base – Democrat women – can’t stand you for taking a stand against Franken.
Kamala Harris getting a demotion in the new Congress?
Senate Republicans, as they head towards a new term, are considering a move to reduce the size of the Senate Judiciary Committee, something that could leave Kamala Harris on the outside looking in.
The role presents “the kind of exposure a new senator usually could only dream of,” the Washington Post reported, citing oversight of the Mueller investigation as a chance for her to whine.
Yet unless Democrats strike a deal, either with the Senate’s Republican majority or with fellow Democrats on the committee, numbers and seniority dictate that Harris will be out — and that has liberal groups scrambling to save her position.
Liberal advocacy groups such as Demand Justice have already begun using the race card as a means to keep her on the committee.
“It (would) be unconscionable to remove the only African American woman from the committee,” executive director Brian Fallon told the Post.
Harris expanded her brand previously on the committee as she pandered to her base during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
At one point, in a demonstration of her ability to reach across the aisle partisan delusion, Harris’ office refused a courtesy call from the White House about the Supreme Court nomination, saying “We want nothing to do with you.”
They have lost their manners and their decency https://t.co/vm2u3PL1w8
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) July 10, 2018
Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee may want nothing to do with her, striking a major blow against raising Harris’ profile prior to the election.
Other 2020 Democrat contenders have major flaws
A number of other potential Trump opponents in 2020 have flaws that could derail their attempts to stop the Trump train.
Cory Booker, aside from his ridiculous ‘Spartacus moment,’ also, by his own admission, groped a friend in his teenage years even “after having my hand pushed away.”
Elizabeth Warren has her ‘Pocahontas‘ scandal, in which she faked Native American heritage to further her career.
And Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who used a woman to make a false allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, will be fighting a referral for a criminal investigation over (allegedly) providing those false statements, obstructing congressional investigations, and conspiracy.
For all his flaws, President Trump is the only one willing to admit to not being perfect and trying to play controversies in his life off as a politician. Gillibrand will pretend she’s not a traitor to the Democrats, while Harris will wallow as a backbencher heading into 2020.
All of it sounds like good news for a President who just wants to ‘keep America great.’
