Kamala Harris spent lavishly in her failed effort to win the White House, doling out huge sums of cash to effectively bribe celebrities like Oprah for their support.
The Washington Examiner reports that Harris paid $1 million to Oprah to boost her glitzy presidential bid, which burned through $1 billion and left Democrats locked out of power in Washington.
Despite an enormous cash advantage and overwhelmingly positive media coverage, Harris lost in a wipeout to President Trump, who secured a historic second term backed up by the popular vote. Trump also led Republicans to reclaim the Senate, and they are on pace to maintain a House majority.
Harris' disastrous defeat has reignited criticism of the Democratic party's embrace of identity politics, with many arguing the party has lost touch with the electorate to embrace niche, "woke" causes.
While voters were concerned with the economy and immigration, Harris focused on "democracy" and the notion of Trump as an aspiring dictator, using famous celebrities to get out her message.
An October 1 town hall event with Oprah cost the campaign $1 million, the Examiner reported. Oprah lavished praise on Harris as the only moral choice for voters.
"We’re voting for values and integrity," Winfrey said at the rally. "We’re voting for healing over hate."
A source told the Washington Examiner that the campaign spent six figures to build a set for Harris' appearance on the sex podcast Call Her Daddy, where Harris plugged her messaging on abortion.
The spending spree kept going until the night before Election Day, when Harris' campaign blew $20 million on a swing state concert series featuring Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, and Christina Aguilera.
The Democrats' disastrous defeat has led to finger-pointing, with some blaming Joe Biden for taking too long to end his re-election bid and others criticizing the party's drift from the working class.
While few Democrats have said so publicly, Harris was a weak candidate, who struggled to separate herself from the unpopular Biden administration and often left voters puzzled about her agenda with rambling, vague responses to questions.
Voters were ultimately drawn to President Trump's authenticity and his message, which was focused on day-to-day issues like inflation.
The lesson here? “Money can’t buy you love or a good candidate,” one Trump campaign adviser said.
