A failed podcast, a bizarre bacon comment, and a president’s disconnected phone line—new revelations expose how Harris and Biden struggled under pressure during the critical months of the 2024 campaign.

In politics, moments of clarity often come from the strangest places. For former Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, two very different yet equally disastrous media missteps have resurfaced—casting a harsh spotlight on the underlying dysfunction that defined their 2024 campaign.

The first centers around an interview Harris recorded for the quirky podcast Subway Takes, hosted by Kareem Rama. Rama, a supporter of Harris and eager to host the sitting Vice President, expected at the very least a light-hearted, memorable episode. What he got instead was an awkward, incoherent segment so embarrassing he never released it.

The infamous moment? Kamala Harris tried—unsuccessfully—to build an entire conversation around the claim that “bacon is a spice.”

According to Rama, the topic was a last-minute pivot from a more relatable anecdote about Harris disliking the TSA shoe-removal process. But Harris’s staff reportedly feared the original take would make her seem elitist or out-of-touch. They instead encouraged a different talking point—one so baffling that even the friendly host tried to stop the recording mid-interview and begged her team to reconsider. They didn’t listen.

“I got lucky because I didn’t want to be blamed for her losing,” Rama later said in an interview. “It was really, really bad. Bacon is a spice? It didn’t even make sense.”

What was supposed to be a moment of relaxed relatability ended in chaos. After recording, her team attempted to cancel the bacon segment—but by then the damage was done. Even attempts to re-edit the interview failed to produce something usable. In the end, the episode was scrapped entirely, and the experience became a metaphor for Harris’s inability to perform under pressure.

Mark Halperin, a veteran political analyst, summarized it bluntly: “Kamala Harris struggles with unscripted moments. She agonizes over minor decisions and freezes when under the spotlight. That’s not just a weakness—it’s a liability.”

This was not an isolated event. Harris reportedly declined several high-profile, long-form podcast invitations—most notably from Joe Rogan and Andrew Schulz—opting instead for tightly controlled appearances with pre-approved questions. Her staff became infamous for making demands as specific as the temperature of drinking water and the dimensions of the interview table.

The Other Half of the Ticket

While Harris stumbled in the spotlight, Biden was busy avoiding it altogether.

In March 2025, months after leaving office, reporter Tyler Pager managed to contact former President Joe Biden directly. To the surprise of many, Biden answered the call. Their conversation was brief. He said he had “no regrets” about stepping down from the campaign and criticized his successor’s presidency, but quickly ended the call to catch a train.

What happened next was telling.

According to Pager, Biden’s aides immediately began calling and texting him—furious that a journalist had reached the former president. Just days later, Biden’s phone number had been disconnected entirely. No voicemail. No forwarding line. Just the standard “this number has been changed or is no longer in service” message.

It was a move that shocked many in the press, but insiders weren’t surprised. For years, Biden’s inner circle had worked to shield him from direct media interactions. What was once justified as protection against gaffes slowly evolved into a full-blown communications blackout.

During his presidency, Biden had become increasingly inaccessible. Spontaneous interviews were rare. Unscripted moments even rarer. Behind closed doors, aides managed everything—from which reporters could ask questions to when, where, and how. Even after his term ended, that protective instinct persisted.

Two Leaders, One Pattern

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden may have taken different paths to failure—one frozen in the spotlight, the other hidden from it—but the result was the same: a profound lack of connection with the public.

Where Harris stumbled over bacon metaphors, Biden disappeared behind disconnected phone lines. Their weaknesses were not mere accidents. They were symptoms of a campaign built on fear—fear of letting them speak freely, fear of transparency, and ultimately, fear of letting the American people see who they really were when no one was holding their hand.

As more stories like these come to light, it becomes harder to argue that their campaign struggles were due to external forces. The truth may be simpler—and more uncomfortable: the calls were coming from inside the house.