In a recently released excerpt from her forthcoming book, 107 Days, Kamala Harris revealed that Pete Buttigieg would have been her ideal running mate if she had been a straight white man. But she ultimately decided not to choose Buttigieg, who is gay.
“We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”
You might have thought that Eugene Daniels, who is married to a man, would have criticized Harris for her rejection of Buttigieg.
But for Daniels, Democrat solidarity apparently trumps gay solidarity.
On Saturday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Weekend, co-host Daniels defended Kamala’s decision. The show aired Buttigieg’s response to Kamala’s explanation of her decision, in which he said, “I just believe in giving Americans more credit than that. My experience in politics has been that the way that you earn trust with voters is based mostly on what they think you’re going to do for their lives, not on categories.”
Retorted Daniels: “This country is run on categories.” Co-host Jonathan Capehart, also married to a man, emphatically agreed.
Daniels went on to make the case for rejecting Buttigieg.
Kamala Harris, as a black woman, ran with a straight white man, and they lost! So why would asking them for another “other” make it easier? I think that is like a really, it’s really important to be honest about that.
And that doesn’t mean that America is bad because that would be too hard for people to swallow. But like, we tried a white woman, didn’t work. They, we tried a black woman, it did not work. Asking them for another thing is very difficult for a lot of Americans to swallow.
We’ll never know if Harris would have done better with Buttigieg on the ticket, though it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t have been more effective than the bumbling, clownish Walz.
And to the extent that the claim by Daniels and Capehart that “this country is run on categories” is true, they have no one to blame but themselves and their fellow liberals.
It is the left that has made identity categories central to its politics. Through DEI and related initiatives, liberals have undermined the goal of E Pluribus Unum upon which our country was founded.
The American people elected Barack Hussein Obama president just seven years after 9/11. Seems that Buttigieg was on to something in saying that he gives Americans more credit than Kamala—and Eugene Daniels—do.
Here’s the transcript.
The Weekend
9/20/25
8:52 am EDTEUGENE DANIELS: In her upcoming book, 107 Days, former Vice President Kamala Harris reveals that former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was originally her first choice for a running mate in 2024.
In a new excerpt in The Atlantic, Harris explains why she thought America wasn’t quite ready for that ticket. She writes that Buttigieg, quote, would have been an ideal partner if I were a straight white man. But we were already asking a lot of America to accept a woman, black woman, black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, screw it. Let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.
I want to go immediately to Pete Buttigieg’s response, and then we can talk about it on the other side.
PETE BUTTIGIEG: Well, I was surprised when I read that. I just believe in giving Americans more credit than that. My experience in politics has been that the way that you earn trust with voters is based mostly on what they think you’re going to do for their lives, not on categories.
DANIELS: Now, she was like, you were the guy.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right!
DANIELS: And you know the thing that is very, and Pete was just very smart. Good at this. He’s clearly going to be running again.
A lot of this feels like it is 2028 kind of really kicking off because of this book.
CAPEHART: Not kind of. No, be definitive. This is the start of 2028.
DANIELS: This is the beginning where you’re starting to see this book is coming out. She’s kind of talking about everybody a little bit. They’re talking back. That is how the kind of conversation starts.
What I think is so fascinating is that this country is run on categories.
CAPEHART: Yes!
DANIELS: Kamala Harris, as a black woman, ran with a straight white man, and they lost! So why would asking them for another “other” make it easier? I think that is like a really, it’s really important to be honest about that.
And that doesn’t mean that America is bad because that would be too hard for people to swallow. But like, we tried a white woman, didn’t work. They, we tried a black woman, it did not work. Asking them for another thing is very difficult for a lot of Americans to swallow.
