Staff Reports
Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign apparently went out with a flash—and a hefty price tag, if the latest reports are to be believed. Buckle up for this one: a staggering $1 million was forked over to none other than Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire talk show titan. All for what? A couple of appearances and a last-minute rally that the Harris team evidently thought would work magic, despite the glaring reality that crumbling approval ratings were anything but magical.
In September, Oprah joined up with Harris for a televised town hall, where she did not shy away from using her platform to paint a nightmarish picture of voting consequences—essentially threatening women with a life devoid of choices unless they showed up at the polls. Maybe someone should have calmly reminded Oprah and Harris that Americans are more inspired by solid policy proposals than high drama straight out of an infomercial.
Her involvement didn’t stop there. Oprah made her theatrical ascent during the Democratic National Convention, infamously bestowing the terms of her support with the reminiscent shout of “J0000000yyyyy!” into the cameras. This scene, meant to pump up the party base, turned out to be more cringe-worthy than galvanizing, illuminating the yawning gap between elite Hollywood spectacles and the everyday lives of American voters. Apparently, the Harris team was banking on a star-studded extravaganza to paint their vice presidential aspirant as relatable, which, spoiler alert, did not pan out.
The report from the Washington Examiner detailed that the campaign plastered a cool million onto Oprah’s company account on October 15. What were they thinking? The campaign seems to have gone on a spending spree labeled “Operation Celeb-Craze,” burning through cash not just on Oprah, but also on high-priced concerts featuring the likes of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry—events that arguably catered more to influencers than to the average Joe in Middle America. Even after reeling in a whopping $1 billion in donations, the grand finale of this celebrity circus apparently threw the campaign into debt.
Oprah Winfrey nuked her own credibility. Who is ever going to believe the sincerity of one of her endorsements ever again?https://t.co/BIYjnc843v
— Mike LaChance (@MikeLaChance33) November 11, 2024
Following President Trump’s decisive victory on election night, the fallout from Harris’s team relying on Hollywood heavyweights is just beginning to sink in. The strategy may have sounded good on paper—pit the dazzling allure of Hollywood against the reality of working-class struggles—but it seems the latter group remained unimpressed and decidedly untouched by the flashy antics. As the dust settles, it becomes crystal clear that financial investments might only take a campaign so far, especially when it trades genuine connection for a parade of glamorous faces. The math just doesn’t add up for Kamala and her team.
