The humiliating failure of Harris/Walz 2024 will be studied by political analysts for decades to come. They had the advantage of running as the incumbent, a chaotic and divisive opponent, and raised close to a billion dollars in campaign funds. But, thanks to some truly boneheaded strategic decisions, they were steamrollered in every swing state and even lost the popular vote to the Republicans for the first time since Reagan.
As the dust settles attention has been drawn paid to one particularly profligate move – splashing big bucks on celebrity endorsements. Anyone who donated their hard-earned wages to Harris/Walz should feel indignant that they frittered away $20 million on getting Katy Perry and Ricky Martin (among other artists) to entertain crowds who were already nailed-on Democrat voters.
But there’s one particular payout from the campaign that needs to come under the microscope. On Sept. 19, the Harris/Walz campaign put on a star-studded town hall hosted by Oprah Winfrey, with special guests Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, and Meryl Streep. It’s unknown how much was spent in total on the event, but the Washington Examiner reported that $1 million was paid out to Oprah Winfrey’s company.
On Monday, Winfrey was quizzed about this payment by a TMZ reporter and attempted to kill the story, saying: “not true, I was paid nothing, ever.” On Tuesday, her team made an official statement on the matter, saying “at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee” to her.
Technically, this appears to be true. No money was paid directly to Winfrey from Harris/Walz for her endorsement or participation at the town hall event. However, Federal Election Commission findings confirm that the Harris campaign did make two payments of $500,000 to Harpo Productions on Oct. 15.
Harpo Productions was founded in 1986 by Winfrey, she is the chairwoman and CEO, she owns the company, and heck – the company’s name is her name spelled backward. So, while any lawyer worth their salt could successfully argue that payments to Harpo aren’t necessarily payments to Oprah, there’s an obvious financial link between her and her company.
At this point, it’s worth reflecting on the fact that Winfrey has an estimated net worth of $3 billion, so a paltry $1 million is pocket change to her. If Winfrey was serious about a Kamala Harris win, why didn’t she do what tens of thousands of party members did up and down the country and volunteer her time and money for free? She can afford to foot the bill, so why is her company billing the campaign for a cool milly?
You could argue you don’t get to be worth $3 billion by providing your services for free. But what if that money was spent on effective campaigning rather than this parade of millionaire celebrities with zero insight into the struggles of everyday voters? Admittedly, given what we’re discovering about the incompetency of Harris/Walz strategists, it almost certainly would have been wasted on something equally as frivolous but it’s the principle of the thing, dammit.
Perhaps the only real thing Harris/Walz 2024 achieved was making a billion dollars vanish into the pockets of the fabulously rich. If they had any spine, those who made money would donate whatever profits they made to organizations that’ll fight back against the Trump administration, but don’t hold your breath on that.
Published: Nov 13, 2024 11:01 am