In the summer of 2024, the Democratic Party faced one of its most turbulent chapters in recent memory—a political crisis triggered by President Joe Biden’s faltering debate performance against Donald Trump in June. What followed was a whirlwind of backstage maneuvering, private panic, and strained relationships at the highest levels of American politics, as detailed in ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl’s forthcoming book, Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America, due for release on October 28, 2025.
According to excerpts published by The Dispatch and reported by multiple outlets, the days and weeks after Biden’s debate were marked by a growing chorus of Democratic voices urging the 82-year-old president to withdraw from the race. But the drama wasn’t limited to public statements—it played out in private calls, unreturned messages, and tactical silence among the party’s most influential figures.
One of the most striking revelations centers on Vice President Kamala Harris. As the Biden campaign scrambled to contain the fallout, party leadership reportedly asked Harris to call Democratic lawmakers and rally support for the president. Harris, however, declined. Karl writes, “Calls to lawmakers, Harris believed, could be misinterpreted as the early stages of an effort to secure the nomination for herself. If she called Democratic members, those members could later disclose that they had spoken to her and misrepresent the purpose of the call.”
This decision, according to Karl, was motivated by a mix of loyalty to Biden and self-preservation. Harris recognized that any perceived jockeying for the nomination could backfire, especially as whispers grew louder about Biden stepping aside. Instead, she kept her “head down,” choosing to remain loyal yet reserved during what Karl calls “those fateful three weeks in July.” As Karl notes, “Although she was the obvious heir apparent, Harris had not so much as hinted, publicly or privately, that Biden should drop out of the race as calls for him to do so grew louder.”
Meanwhile, veteran Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and former South Carolina state legislator Bakari Sellers were busy contacting influential Black leaders and state party officials. Their message was clear: “You need to stand with Biden as long as he’s in the race. But if he drops out, we all need to unite behind Kamala Harris,” according to Karl’s reporting. The effort to secure Harris the nomination had begun, but not by Harris herself.
The chaos inside the Democratic Party was further fueled by Biden’s own reaction to the mounting pressure. Instead of reaching out to allies, Biden retreated into a tight circle of family and advisers. According to Karl, Biden spent two full weeks in July 2024 refusing to take calls from Barack Obama, his former boss and long-time friend. Even after Biden suspended his campaign, he gave Obama the cold shoulder for another month, speaking to him only shortly before the Democratic National Convention.
Why the frostiness? Rumors swirled that Obama’s team had quietly encouraged Hollywood star George Clooney to pen a scathing July 10, 2024, New York Times op-ed urging Biden to bow out. Clooney’s piece, which declared that Biden “cannot win,” landed less than a month after the actor co-hosted a Democratic fundraiser that raised about $30 million but was overshadowed by Biden freezing up and needing Obama’s assistance offstage. According to a Biden White House official cited by The New York Post, “Obama caused tension when he would visit the White House because he operated as if he still ran it. He made Biden feel secondary in the room even when staffers were present.”
Biden’s silence wasn’t reserved for Obama alone. He also reportedly declined calls from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was leading the charge to push him out of the race. As polling numbers plummeted and public calls for his withdrawal intensified, Biden relied more heavily on his closest confidants, shutting out even some of the party’s most powerful figures.
As the Democratic Party’s internal drama unfolded, Harris and her team understood the stakes. Karl reveals that as soon as Biden ended his campaign, Harris insisted that he endorse her immediately—just 27 minutes after his announcement. She warned that any delay, as some of Biden’s advisers initially planned, could open the door to a contentious fight for the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. “It needed to come immediately,” Karl quotes Harris as arguing. “Otherwise, she argued, Biden would be opening the door to an ugly fight for the nomination.”
Biden’s endorsement, delivered with precise timing, was meant to prevent a fractured party and a bruising battle on the convention floor. Yet, despite these efforts, the party’s unity was more fragile than ever. Harris went on to become the Democratic nominee, but the wounds from the summer’s infighting lingered. In the general election, Harris lost to Donald Trump in an Electoral College landslide, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years to lose the popular vote.
Karl’s book paints a vivid picture of a party in turmoil, with its top leaders caught between public loyalty and private ambition. The revelations about Harris’s refusal to call lawmakers on Biden’s behalf, Biden’s months-long freeze-out of Obama and Pelosi, and the behind-the-scenes machinations to secure Harris’s nomination all point to a summer defined by mistrust and uncertainty.
The Democratic Party’s public face of unity masked a much messier reality. As The Dispatch and The New York Post report, the relationships that once defined the party’s leadership—Biden and Obama’s “brotherhood,” the presumed loyalty of Harris, the guiding hand of Pelosi—were all tested, and in some cases, fractured irreparably.
Looking back, the 2024 campaign’s “most chaotic summer,” as Karl describes it, will likely serve as a case study in the perils of political succession and the high-wire act of party unity. For all the efforts to keep hostilities in check, the details now emerging show just how close the Democratic Party came to unraveling at the seams.
While the headlines may have moved on, the Democratic Party’s summer of 2024 remains a stark reminder: beneath the surface, even the most disciplined political machines can teeter on the edge of collapse when ambition, loyalty, and crisis collide.
