Stunned Democratic operatives retreated into group chats to vent at Karine Jean-Pierre’s shock decision to snag a book deal with apparent plans to torch those who sought to push Biden to end his reelection bid.
The stunning announcement by Jean-Pierre’s publisher about her forthcoming tome, Independent, resurfaced complaints about her own capabilities and officials who insulated the former president from criticism that could have helped right the ship.
‘I laughed reading her book announcement that claims she “presents clear arguments and provocative evidence” when our party failed to make a compelling argument for Democrats with her as one of our most visible messenger for three years,’ one steaming former Biden administration official told DailyMail.com.
‘She lost whatever media cachet she had after the White House, and The View isn’t taking her call anymore so she has to resort to a selfish stunt to sell books and get any attention,’ said the former official.
That last comment was a reference to Jean-Pierre’s decision to go on ABC’s ‘The View’ while serving as Biden’s White House press secretary, in a move some took as a bid to line up a post-White House gig for herself on the program.
Another Democrat, former Commerce Department spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki told Politico : ‘The only reason we stand a chance to reduce the harm inflicted is the Democratic Party did the right thing here. It’s completely nuts to be more upset that the Party didn’t prioritize Joe Biden’s ego and keep him on the ticket than to thank god we averted complete and total disaster.’
Many of those urging Biden to get out after his debate disaster argued it was the only way to avoid an electoral wipeout. As it turned out, Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in at the 11th Hour and lost to Donald Trump anyway.
Most surprising to many is that Jean-Pierre announced she is leaving the Democratic Party, after a long career as an operative, at a time when Democrats are soul-searching to try to find a way to combat Donald Trump. Her new book, titled Independent, has a cover featuring shattered glass, and a PR release describes its substance as ‘a look inside a broken White House, outside the party lines.’
Her publisher Hachette describes an ‘urgent, timely analysis’ and urges Americans to ‘vote their values and maintain individuality within party lines.’
One operative called it ‘the most grift-y thing I’ve seen in a long time, and that’s saying something in Washington.’
‘A lot of group chats were revived today,’ posted former White House official Symone Sanders-Townsend, a former advisor to VP Kamala Harris, on X, adding a smiling / crying emoji.
‘Counting 13 on my end,’ chimed in former Biden State Department spokesman Vedant Patel.
‘Lol,’ wrote former White House assistant press secretary Jeremy Edwads, reposting an article about Jean-Pierre penning the book and leaving the party.
Former officials contacted by DailyMail.com said they didn’t know what kind of advance Jean-Pierre was coming in, after failing to land a high-profile TV gig as did her predecessor Jen Psaki, now an MSNBC host.
‘Probably best to purge the party of our most delusional and self-serving personalities,’ the former official added.
The slack-jawed responses came after news broke that Jean-Pierre, who spent years defending Biden from the White House podium on both substance and questions about his age, health, and mental fitness was writing the book.
It comes as her former boss has been hit by a round of tough press coverage with the release of Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s new book, ‘Original Sin,’ which rakes the Biden White House for covering up signs of his decline.
‘In a country obsessed with blind loyalty to a two-party democratic system, Karine Jean-Pierre, former White House press secretary to the Biden-Harris administration, shares why Americans must step beyond party lines to embrace life as Independents,’ according to an online release for the book.
‘Jean-Pierre didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly,’ it says – indicating she has leaving the party, after working in the Biden administration.
She worked as a political director for Obama. She also worked for liberal outside group MoveOn. Jean-Pierre didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on her new project.
The write-up for her forthcoming book indicates she’ll take on people within the party who tried to force Biden to end his reelection campaign after his debate disaster.
‘She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,’ according to the release.
It calls it a ‘hard-hitting yet hopeful critique.’
The tome runs 256 pages, and goes on sale October 21.
Although she has been largely quiet since Biden left office following former Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat, Jean-Pierre referenced some of the scores she plans to settle during an interview in February at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
She said the ‘toughest thing to see’ was a ‘firing squad’ during the weeks after Biden’s debate, when a series of party stalwarts pushed him to get out of the race, arguing he couldn’t defeat Donald Trump with his lousy approval ratings.
‘I had never seen anything like it before,’ she intoned. ‘I had never seen a party do that in the way that they did. And it was hurtful and sad to see that happening – a firing squad around a person who I believe was a true patriot.’
Harris’ loss to Trump in all seven heavily contested battleground states has led to a round of soul-searching among Democrats while Trump seeks to transform the country and takes on institutions from the Ivy League to the legal establishment to arts institutions like the Kennedy Center.
Prominent figures inside and outside Biden’s inner circle are getting quizzed on whether they themselves saw evidence of mental decline in the 82-year-old Democrat.
The White House last year was forced to deny a report of an internal plot to entice Jean-Pierre to leave her post, amid complaints about some of her stumbles her reliance on a binder of prepared information.