Top aides of the failed Kamala Harris presidential campaign appeared this week on “Pod Save America,” where they discussed what went wrong, including why Harris never appeared on the most popular podcast in the world, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” after an invite. Senior campaign adviser David Plouffe shockingly suggested host Joe Rogan did not have pure intentions and was using the invite as “leverage” so now-President-elect Donald Trump would appear in the Austin-based studio. “So what’s clear is we offered to do it in Austin, people should know that,” Plouffe said. “It didn’t work out. Maybe they leveraged that to get Trump in studio, I don’t know.” Stephanie Cutter, another senior Harris campaign adviser, claimed the team just couldn’t make a date work for the extremely popular podcast. “We had discussions with Joe Rogan’s team, they were great, they wanted us to come on, we wanted to come on, we tried to get a date to make it work and, ultimately, we just weren’t able to find a date. We did go to Houston and she gave a great speech at an amazing event,” Cutter said, according to Fox News. CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE “We were hoping to fit it in around that but ultimately weren’t able to do it,” she continued. “As it turns out, that was the day that Trump was taping his Joe Rogan [appearance], which they had never confirmed to us. We just kind of figured that out in the lead-up to it. You know, she was ready, willing to go on Joe Rogan.” Despite evidence that shows Trump’s Rogan appearance helped him with younger males, Cutter insisted that keeping Harris off the podcast didn’t make a difference in the election. “It didn’t ultimately impact the outcome one way or another, but she (Harris) was willing to do whatever it takes,” Cutter said. However, Jennifer Palmieri, senior adviser to second gentleman Doug Emhoff, gave another reason for skipping the podcast. She told The Financial Times that the appearance didn’t work out “because of concerns at how the interview would be perceived within the Democratic Party.” “There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn’t want her to be on it, and how there would be a backlash,” she said. On social media platform X, politicos were not convinced by the explanations. Some pointed out that Harris decided to make time for the sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” which has much lower ratings than “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “Kamala Harris ‘left the battleground’ to appear on SNL… which has far fewer viewers/listeners than Joe Rogan,” one comment read. “I don’t know who is more incompetent, Kamala Harris the candidate or her campaign team that blew through more than a $1 billion and got crushed,” Steve Cortes wrote. “Her campaign is now claiming ‘Kamala didn’t have time’ to go on Joe Rogan’s podcast but they really wanted to!” “It’s the #1 podcast in the world, and they couldn’t make time,” he said. I don’t know who is more incompetent, Kamala Harris the candidate or her campaign team that blew through more than a $1 billion and got crushed. Her campaign is now claiming “Kamala didn’t have time” to go on Joe Rogan’s podcast but they really wanted to! It’s the #1 podcast in… pic.twitter.com/nZ7MNLmmIQ — Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) November 26, 2024 Jeff Carlson called out the Harris team for “lying.” “Even during the post-mortem of her campaign,” he wrote, “the Harris people blatantly lie.” Even during the post-mortem of her campaign the Harris people blatantly lie — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) November 26, 2024 Related: Joe Rogan Reveals Kamala’s Podcast Demands. Rogan Doesn’t Agree

With All Eyes On Trump, Biden's Bubble Gathered For One Last Swanky, Insulated Sendoff

The sergeant alleged that she refused to comply with orders

'This was a deliberate and calculated act'

Universities have suffered a cataclysmic decline in public approval and support. A Gallup poll taken this year found that only 36 percent of Americans polled either expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education — once the agreed-on touchstone to upward mobility. Gifting to most universities has been down for […]

Joe Biden pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys

'It was bad enough that Biden took that action'

Thanksgiving is upon us and, three weeks after Election Day, America STILL does not know the makeup of the incoming U.S. House. Pathetic! As of Tuesday at 11:22 p.m., The Associated Press reports Republicans have won 219 seats to the Democrats’ 213. At this writing, three seats remain uncalled:  Democrat Adam Gray inched past Republican Rep. John Duarte by 182 votes in California’s 13th District, with 99% of ballots tallied. (For goodness’ sake, after 22 days, where the hell are those other votes?) Duarte led Gray by 207 votes as late as Tuesday afternoon, with 98% of ballots counted. Another 1% of votes turned up, and—Bang! Zoom!—the Democrat suddenly is on top. Here we go again. In California’s 45th District, Democrat Derek Tran is 613 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Michelle Steel. Iowa’s 1st District finds Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks edging Democrat Christina Bohannan by 800 votes. If these margins hold, the new House should include 215 Democrats, 220 Republicans—a slim three-seat GOP majority. But wait! Florida Republican Matt Gaetz just ditched his seat after abandoning his nomination for U.S. attorney general. And Republican Mike Waltz of Florida will depart Jan. 20 to become President Donald J. Trump’s national security adviser. These resignations have triggered Jan. 28 primaries and April 1 general elections. These vacancies shrink the expected Republican conference to 218 seats. It gets worse: Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is Trump’s choice for United Nations ambassador. Assuming a quick Senate confirmation, she would leave the House and commence diplomacy on Jan. 21. Remaining GOP seats: 217. Kathy “The Hack” Hochul—New York’s hapless, colorless Democrat governor—is in no rush to comfort Republicans. She likely will maximize GOP anxiety by scheduling the latest possible special election, 90 days hence: Tuesday, April 22.  If everything goes smoothly, the Republican House must govern between Inauguration Day and April Fools’ Day with 217 seats and three vacancies. If all 215 Democrats stay united, Republicans must vote unanimously, lest they drop beneath the 217 votes needed to pass anything. This will turn every decision—from adopting budgets to approving each day’s Congressional Record—into a Hitchcockian thriller. If just one Republican oversleeps, gets sick, or endures flight delays, major legislation could crash and burn. Any single Republican also could hijack the entire House until securing whatever ransom buys his or her cooperation. Republicans also could squander “safe” special elections to fill these vacancies. For a cautionary tale, recall how then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., left in 2017 to become Trump’s first attorney general. His seat, in a stalwart-Republican state, was a lock. And then hints and allegations emerged about GOP nominee Roy Moore’s unusual habit of courting females as young as 14. “I don’t remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother,” Moore assured Fox News host Sean Hannity. Suitably appalled voters sent liberal Democrat Doug Jones to the Senate—from Alabama! History could repeat itself in any of these normally reliable GOP seats. And yet another hazard light flashes: House Speaker Mike Johnson’s surprisingly weak leadership has earned the scorn of GOP representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Add one vote to their Nays and Gaetz’s absence, and the Louisiana Republican could lack the votes to regain the speakership. If so, the House would drift like a ghost ship for days or even weeks until a new captain arises. Meanwhile, Trump’s “America First” legislative agenda would bob aimlessly among the waves. This tiny sliver of hope might help: Gaetz should change his mind and take back the seat that he defended on Nov. 5, 66% to 34%, over Democrat Gay Valimont. Gaetz then should chair a new Select Committee on Federal Injustice. It would detail the Justice Department’s violations of the U.S. Constitution, federal law, and its own regulations. These would include, but not be limited to, the FBI spying on Trump’s 2016 campaign, the FBI’s lies to the FISA court, the three-year Russia hoax, the Hunter Biden laptop cover-up, the FBI’s alleged inducement of Jan. 6 violence, the federal arm-twisting of Big Tech to censor and deplatform citizens, the surveillance of conservative Catholics, the designation of parents’ rights activists as domestic terrorists, and more. While Gaetz no longer will cleanse DOJ’s Augean stable internally, he could present Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi the facts, dates, and—most important—names of the perpetrators behind these abuses. Bondi should dismiss and, where appropriate, prosecute these tyrants. This Florida Republican pincer movement would reinvigorate the constitutional and civil rights that DOJ and the FBI have battered since Trump descended his golden escalator in June 2015. Thus, Gaetz could mitigate, by one seat, this entire fine mess left by Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and the National Republican Congressional Committee, or NRCC. They should have secured a victory commensurate with Trump’s sweeping triumph and Senate Republicans’ 100% reelection of incumbents and conquest of four Democrat seats. Hudson and the NRCC failed Trump and Republicans nationwide by botching an excellent opportunity to win a robust working House majority. Trump and Senate Republicans romped. Hudson and the NRCC barely survived.  Forthcoming details of their incompetence and pettiness will expose them as this Thanksgiving’s biggest turkeys. The post GOP House Majority: Thinner Than Saran Wrap Around Leftover Turkey appeared first on The Daily Signal.