‘Bless his heart’: Black Democrats defend Kamala Harris after Hunter Biden questions her loyalty to Joe Biden

Critics say Hunter Biden’s comments overlook the pressure Harris faced during her shortened presidential campaign.

Some Black Democrats are calling out Hunter Biden‘s recent remarks criticizing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for not being “loyal” to his father, former U.S. President Joe Biden.

“The least his son could do is shut up and show some grace,” Yemisi Egbewole, a former Biden White House official, said in a statement provided to theGrio.

Hunter Biden recently told liberal political commentator Mehdi Hasan that while Harris “served the country incredibly well” and has a “deep, rich future in politics,” he personally takes issue with how she treated his father as it relates to recent reflections about her failed campaign for president in 2024 after replacing Joe Biden, then 81 years old, as the Democratic nominee.

“I don’t think that she should have ever been any daylight between…she can make daylight between…herself and my dad, but not in terms of what they were able to accomplish over that four-year period,” said Hunter when asked about previously saying that Harris was not a “good politician” and not loyal to President Biden.

“People go like, ‘Well, she was so loyal to your dad’…Well, maybe from your perspective, but maybe not from mine,” he added.

When Hasan asked Hunter Biden to explain how Harris was not loyal to Joe Biden, Hunter replied, “That’s between me and her.” He later clarified that he thought Harris was loyal to his father but “not to a fault.”

“I actually think one of the most difficult things for Harris running her campaign was the fact that she could never fully distance herself from President Biden, or clearly wasn’t allowed to. And frankly, I’m over the Hunter Biden redemption story arc,” said Egbewole, a former chief of staff to Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s former White House Press Secretary.

In her memoir, “107 Days,” detailing her short-lived, yet historic campaign for president, Kamala Harris got candid about her relationship with Joe Biden, the moments and days following his decision to drop out of the 2024 race, as well as claims about how the Biden White House, at times, undermined her vice presidency.

Setting aside Hunter’s thoughts about Kamala Harris’s loyalty to Joe Biden, many political experts have questioned whether that loyalty cost her the presidency in 2024.

During the interview, Hasan challenged Hunter’s critiques of Harris, pointing out that Harris infamously told “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin that she could not think of a single thing she would have done differently than Biden throughout his presidency. She would later write in her book that she declined to litigate the policy differences between her and Biden out of loyalty.

In the book, “FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes reported that President Biden urged Harris not to show any “daylight” between the two when she replaced him at the top of the presidential ticket. Biden later denied it.

“That woman had 107 days and bent over backwards to still show respect to Biden,” Egbewole told theGrio. She said of Hunter Biden, “He’s not an elected official. He wasn’t appointed to do anything. He’s merely the son, and we should hold his opinion exactly down there.”

Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department official during the Biden-Harris administration, said of Biden’s public callout of Harris, “Bless his heart. Hunter missed the mark here.”

“Kamala Harris was loyal to a fault—too loyal, truth be told. His ‘No daylight, kid’ admonition was shortsighted. 2024 was a change election, and Harris needed room to explain where she would lead differently,” Coley told theGrio. “Instead, she bear-hugged an unpopular incumbent president. Her failure to create meaningful distance from Biden was one of the fatal flaws of her campaign.”

Shaniqua McClendon, senior vice president of political strategy at Crooked Media, also took aim at Hunter Biden, telling theGrio, “Hunter Biden spent months pandering to people like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, so it’s no surprise he’s now accusing Kamala Harris of not being loyal enough”

She added, “Her loyalty to Joe Biden is one of the reasons she lost. But I suppose painting Harris as nakedly ambitious is easier than holding Joe Biden accountable for his unwavering loyalty to himself.”