Why Biden's White House Press Secretary Is Leaving the Democratic Party

[Shrek]

The New Yorker

In a new book, “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” the former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre describes what she considers a betrayal of Joe Biden by the Democratic Party. “I watched Democratic leadership abandon, and in the end betray, a man who’d led our country through a pandemic and a time of historic political turmoil,” she writes. Indeed, Jean-Pierre is so outraged by the often unnamed Democratic establishmentarians who maneuvered to push Biden to step aside as the Presidential nominee, during the summer of 2024, in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, that she has decided to leave the Democratic Party and become a political Independent. (Jean-Pierre, who served for more than two years in her role, which consisted of defending the Administration to the press and explaining its policies, also blames the Democratic Party because it “couldn’t articulate the achievements of the Biden/Harris administration well enough.”) Before her time in the White House, Jean-Pierre worked for Kamala Harris’s 2020 Vice-Presidential campaign; she was the first openly gay and first Black White House press secretary.

I recently spoke by phone with Jean-Pierre. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed why she believes Biden should have stayed on as the candidate in 2024, her surprising feelings about Kamala Harris, and whether Biden was getting accurate information about the state of his campaign against Trump.

[gab13by13]

1. Do we need this right now, just to sell a book?

Our fucking house is burning down, let's throw some gasoline on the fire.

[LymphocyteLover]

2. yeah, I'm done with this conversation. But I'm sure the usual MSM outlets will gobble it up and give her air time

because it's a wonderful destruction from what the Orange Shit King is doing

[Escurumbele]

13. NO! we don't...my goodness, where are people's brains? The mighty $$ seems to always win.

What a disgrace, first Kamala with her book, and now this? Yes, Democrats may have made a mistake, which I don't agree with because I believe in two things about the election, one is that Biden may have lost anyway, and two that I do feel there was cheating involved.

Wait until we get the buffoon and his gang out of office, then write your damn books!

[msfiddlestix]

49. I agree and recommend your post

[yardwork]

29. Just to be contrary, I'll point out that that's her point.

I think she's making some good points.

Our house is burning down and our leaders are... not very vocal.

[BComplex]

36. You're not alone.

I'm sick of what's happened with the leadership of the Democratic party. New York's mayoral race has made so much of it come out of the shadows.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I'd rather read her book than Kamala's.

[gab13by13]

6. Is that an example of Democrats eating our own?

Kamala won the election.

[Escurumbele]

14. But she did not have the need to write that book that only creates negative sentiment against the Democratic party.

[Celerity]

21. No she did not. This continued claiming she did is a direct attack on the Biden administration, the Dem Party, & Harris.

It suggests they were either profoundly incompetent and/or in on the rigging.

These 2024 electional denialism claims are evidence-free CT, same as it was for Maga in 2020.

[reACTIONary]

27. Thanks!

[BannonsLiver]

33. No, she didn't win the election.

[reACTIONary]

41. Jeeze - Not this shit again.

[Cha]

45. I can read both.

[Captain Zero]

52. After Pierre Salingers book

Not really a Press Secretary I want to read.

[SocialDemocrat61]

4. I hope her book outsells

Jake Tapper’s hit job.

[PunkinPi]

10. Kamala Harris's book "107 Days" outsold the Tapper/Thompson book in the first week.

[Cha]

46. Hey Pi... Good to Know..

TY!

[tritsofme]

5. Seems little more than a hook to sell books. She is a joke.

[GoCubsGo]

18. She was making the same threats a year ago.

If you want to go, then just go, already. Don't let the door hit you...

[Cha]

47. I knew we had a Thread like that..

Last edited Wed Oct 29, 2025, 03:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Awhile ago.. Deja vu.

[electric_blue68]

56. Should that be DUja vu, then?

[Cha]

58. Why Not... We can DU what We

Want..

[electric_blue68]

60. 😄

[Javaman]

7. the interesting thing is: we have so many fuckig major colossal problems at the moment

most people have moved on and really don't care about these types of bridge burning books.

[Escurumbele]

15. You are 100% correct.

[Walleye]

16. Yes, we don't wanna be like Trump and can't even let go of the 2020 election

[Joinfortmill]

8. Yup, I'm with her, and the camera angle used on Joe during the debate was deliberate.

All old people have a hideous profile. I know, I have one, too. Scares the shit out of me, frankly.

But, hey, 'stand by your man' right? Not! Joe was great, but way too old, they said. I wonder what they would say today, watching the demented, evil bastard literally tear down the White House.

What's done is done, and we're paying the price for it now, that's for damn sure.

[hadEnuf]

11. Imagine if Democrats went after Republicans with the zeal that they went after Joe Biden.

Trump is a walking fascist mental case, but boy, do we know how to eat our own.

[Joinfortmill]

12. No shit, right?

[Abstractartist]

30. But most if not 99% don't

Gavin, AOC, Bernie(I), Jasmine, Jamie Raskin, Hakeem Jeffries….

Not a major amount of democrats going after the rotten shit trump and his ilks are doing…

Voter need to show support for our reps running for office and let’s show up strong at the polls…. Let’s not let trump “cheat the vote”this time.

[twodogsbarking]

9. The Dems best get their shit together or they will poop alone.

[Quiet Em]

17. Isaac, the man doing the interview, proved why her book is important.

He didn't seem to get it at all.

I look forward to reading her book and I hope all Democrats who are running for office read it as well.

[Passages]

19. Pierre does not fare well in the interview, imo.

Her response is often, wait, wait, wait.

There remains a scandal regarding President Biden's health, cognitive decline. The Democratic Party has been losing seats for quite some time; best to focus on changing that reality.

[Shrek]

23. She's incoherent at times

At one point she says she didn't think Harris could win, which is okay coming from her, but if anyone other than a black woman says the same thing then it's an insult.

She makes no allowances for anyone who believes that the main imperative is to defeat Trump no matter what.

[Arazi]

25. Even here, expressing the belief that a woman can't win the US presidency

Let alone a black woman, will elicit howls of disapproval.

We are a misogynistic, racist country 😞

[milestogo]

20. Who really cares?

[usonian]

22. I'll reply in greater depth later. Just want to make a few points.

First. History is to learn from. Not the usual perpetuation of grudges. I clearly see a weak party core who had to resort to gossip in the media instead of being face to face with Joe in earnest discussion.

Lesson not learned. In that sense, being independent is a statement that the party needs a revolution within. Progressives are in the lead with the people. Indivisible and NoKings ARE the fighting force.

More:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/13244015
A grassroots revolution is needed for the party to win.

2. Some things just have to be said. Perhaps in a memoir. The behind the back treatment I mentioned above is weak and cowardly. We all knew about the aged liar and pervert. This was not put forth.

I can't grasp a Black, LGBTQ woman's felings but I respect them. She was hurt like hell. People have a need and a right to express themselves, though this may not help. Why?

To me, there are lessons to be learned. And they aren't.

I personally suspected some foul play against Joe in that debate, Putin style, but nearly got banned for saying so. People don't go blank and recover quickly except for a minor stroke, of which Joe has no known history. Spy novels are based partly or entirely on fact. Skulduggery never rests nor ceases, but that's entirely speculation, and if so, top secret.

Where is the party now? There is no permanent presence between elections to drive key points. The opposition does have a concerted 24 by 7 by 365 war, hate and lie machine that goes mostly unchallenged.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20648934

Later ...

[oldmanlynn]

24. It wasn't just democratic establishmentarian's

Let’s be honest everything was moving along great for Biden until that one debate where he look like he couldn’t say hardly anything. then the whole Democratic Party essentially panicked because they know what’s at stake they knew we would get to where we are now and so we all panicked. some of us including myself wanted Gavin Newsom there other people wanted other candidates right but it was really Biden‘s own fault for the panic and how he performed. The Democratic party ( us ) really wanted to not lose to the orange fat man and we moved on from Biden. I have no ill feelings for Biden. In fact, I think he was one of the better legislative presidents in the modern era. I also think that Kamala Harris is not gonna get it done. She had it an attempt and I don’t think she’s gonna get it done.

I think what Pierre did in switching parties was far worse

[PunkinPi]

32. KJP switched to an Independent, not the gop. nt

[fujiyamasan]

37. I wouldn't say everything was going great before the debate

He was trailing Trump in the polls even before the debate. And it was the Biden campaign that called for the unusually early debate. Many here kept saying Trump would t even show up.

[samplegirl]

26. Sounds

Irrelevant and selfish of her now!

[themaguffin]

28. Oh ffs

[aggiesal]

31. When all this occurred ...

I decided never to vote in the (D) Presidential Primary again.

I felt that my vote was ignored, and by having the (D) leadeship's decision to pick a candidate, none of our ballots including mine, never counted.

[BannonsLiver]

34. The real betrayal was not by the party, it was by those closest to him.

[bromeando]

35. Biden

I too was disgusted by the way Democratic Party officials treated Biden. But Biden suggested he would only serve one term. In 2020 Biden said he was only going to run as a transitional candidate and he won.

[fujiyamasan]

38. Meh, sorry Karine you're not really all that relevant

I don’t begrudge her for wanting to make a buck, although the farther away we get from the election, fewer people are going to buy it. I think peak season was when Tapper’s book came out. Now no one cares. She’s just beating a dead horse. Less than one year
into the madman’s reign, it has already felt like an eternity.

And no, democrats didn’t stab Biden in the back. Congressional reps and senators were simply listening to their constituents who had made it clear they didn’t want another term. Polls were also showing Biden would lose and would possibly drag democrats down ballot.

Maybe she should have taken those concerns directly to Biden.

[Melon]

53. Except that she said that she didn't have access to Biden

His staff was directing her.

Nobody cares about her book. We are too far past the election now.

[Jose Garcia]

59. This confirms Tapper's book where he reported that

a small group of WH staff were limiting access to President Biden to hide his decline.

[QueerDuck]

39. She's an idiot. This is self-serving and does NOTHING to help or grow or improve the Democratic party.

It's revenge and sabotage. Whatever changes she wants to see will not come from the outside-in... they will come from within.

So... she can take her little dollies and go home... stomping all the way in her patent-leather black and white saddle shoes and her ankle-high white socks with pink embroidered scalloped trim.

[awesomerwb1]

40. She can go

f do one

[Passages]

42. Interesting report coming out, I don't see her name associated with it.

snip* As President Trump’s consolidation of autocratic power gains steam, it’s often been argued that the failures of liberal governance meaningfully helped to bring us to this moment. In this reading, the Biden administration—and other Democratic leaders in recent years—allowed well-intentioned caution and respect for parliamentary safeguards and procedures to hobble ambition, frustrating voters and making them easier prey for demagogues peddling authoritarian governance as our civic cure-all.

This reading has now picked up the endorsement of a surprising group: a large bloc of former high-level members of the Biden administration.

The left-leaning Roosevelt Institute is releasing a major new report Tuesday—with input from nearly four dozen former senior Biden officials across many agencies—that seeks to diagnose the administration’s governing mistakes and failures. The report, provided in advance to The New Republic, may be the most ambitious effort involving Biden officials to determine what went wrong and why.

In the report, Biden officials extensively identify big failings in governing and in the execution of the politics around big decisions—but with an eye toward creating the beginnings of a Project 2029 agenda. The result is a kind of proto-blueprint for Democratic governance to show that it can work the next time the party has power.
https://newrepublic.com/article/202327/trump-autocracy-rising-dems-unnerving-answer?vgo_ee=KW9NuBLAY56hLCywbCaWCM3VoZElbME7Bz8FNX0lVbXLKKHHWKMJ%3AbMTyX9%2BDDaOtEweXe%2FTzTz2Vbe1F8TJV

Imho, Lina Khan was Biden's greatest asset against corruption, but not many Americans may have understood how important she was to address his goals.

[pat_k]

43. Circular firing squad stuff is essentially...

... hope-sapping, counter-resistance, messaging.

Just say no.

[Mysterian]

44. Yeah, she was happy being a Dem when she was cashing their paychecks

Now she's cashing in on discontent caused by republican malfeasance.

[IcyPeas]

48. What irks me is while they are on book tours.....

ICE are terrorizing and kidnapping americans in blue states
Trump is demolishing the White House
Hiding the Epstein Files
Bombing boats in the Caribbean
Threatening/intimidating anyone who speaks ill of him
Extorting law firms and universities and corporations, and cable news
Punishing our allies with tariff nonsense

And while they have every right to write and promote their books at this point in time it's giving ammo to the magats...

As I type this they are bashing Joe Biden's decline and use of autopen. They're not talking about any of the topics noted above.

DISTRACTION

[MorbidButterflyTat]

50. I've seen this before

And, who cares?

[Wifes husband]

51. I have been a Biden supporter for decades

I believe he was the best vice president we ever had, and would have been a good president 30 years ago. I voted for him every year he ran, but he was too old both times he ran for president.When he was elected, he was supposed to be a translational, one term president. His selection of Harris as vice president was considered important, if you remember. During his last year as president he was obviously not at his best, even though he was not a bad president, especially considering the rodeo clown we have now. I believe vice president Harris was carrying more of the load than usual, and I think she would have made an amazing president. I certainly had no problem voting for her.

I actually don't think he did that bad during the debates. At least he answered the questions and did not tell ridiculous, bold faced lies.
However. He should not have run for re-election. Simple hubris

[krawhitham]

54. She's not wrong

[Hassler]

55. Wasn't she the Press Secretary? It was literally her job

To make the case for the Biden Admins accomplishments.

[betsuni]

57. "I'm not going to be IGNORED, Dems," is what I come away with, along with "Dems don't fight" and

"Why don't Dems stop Republicans from ruining democracy."

Says a former press secretary who had, as she says, daily contact with the president of the United States.

Don't get the point when Democrats are passive-aggressively blamed for everything while Republicans are sort of a footnote. She says the two party system isn't working, that's why people are leaving the Democratic Party. Gee whiz, yah think it might just possibly be that one of the parties is a radical extremist right-wing anarchist nut cult freak show. What the fuck. But if Democrats yell at them loud enough everything will be all better?