Kamala Says Trump Heaped Praise on Her Post-Election—President Says, Nope
Kamala Harris has a new book and a fresh bid for attention, and Republicans are not exactly buying the glow-up. The book, titled 107 Days, recounts her short-lived campaign and claims about private calls after the election. One excerpt in particular has set off a public he-said, she-said drama that plays right into familiar narratives.
Harris’s excerpt suggests a gracious concession call where President Trump complimented her by calling her a “tough, smart customer” and praising her name. That moment is meant to humanize both sides and give the book a headline-friendly sound bite. But when the supposed recipient of the compliment says it never happened, the excerpt looks less like history and more like campaign theater.
She described one other call, the one in which she conceded the election to Mr. Trump — the phone call that he had never made to Mr. Biden, she noted. She wrote that she pleaded for him to work to bring the country together, and that she knew in the moment it was a lost cause.
“I am going to be so nice and respectful,” Mr. Trump said. “You are a tough, smart customer, and I say that with great respect. And you also have a beautiful name. I got use of that name, it’s Kamala.”
When a claim is that specific, it invites verification and witnesses. Trump flatly denied praising her that way and told reporters he was cordial but did not use the phrase Harris attributes to him. For conservative readers, that denial undercuts the book’s credibility and makes the anecdote feel convenient rather than credible.
He pronounced her name correctly on that call, after mispronouncing it in public all through the campaign.
The media love a moment like this because it’s perfect clickbait: an unexpected compliment, a pit of apparent civility, and then a denial that fuels another headline. But look past the drama and there’s a firmer point Republicans have been making for years. Harris’s campaign performance left many voters unconvinced she had the clarity or leadership to handle the job, and a disputed quote does little to change that assessment.
Trump’s response was terse and efficient. He told reporters he didn’t recall using the phrase but emphasized he was polite during the call. Then he punctured the narrative in a way only he could, offering a dry assessment of her campaign that landed harder than a theatrical compliment ever could.
President Donald Trump rejected former Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim in her new book that he privately praised her during a concession phone call, saying he was cordial but never described her as a “tough, smart customer.”
“[I didn’t call her that] that I know of, but I was nice to her,” Trump told Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, co-host of the new program, “The Sunday Briefing.”
He then added an observation about her campaign that was all the more cutting because it was delivered without flourish. Politely, clinically, he told the world he thought she could have run a better campaign and would have if she had done so. That sort of blunt appraisal is not elegant, but it’s persuasive to voters who judge results over rhetoric.
“I thought Kamala would have done a better job than she did in terms of running, because we really won by a lot. And I thought she would have done better,” he added.
That line landed because it played to a broader record. The Biden era has been marked by border chaos, rising prices, runaway spending, and global weakness in certain theaters. Harris, had she been the nominee, would have been standing in for those policy failures without a clear way to distance herself. For many conservatives, the idea of her as president is a scary proposition.
Beyond policy, Harris’s campaign exposed real weaknesses in message discipline and coherence. She often struggled to answer basic questions and failed to lock in a defining narrative that connected with everyday voters. In short, she never proved she could carry the party and the country where they needed to go.
So when Harris seizes on a flattering moment she says happened, skeptics ask why it matters. A single compliment does not erase a campaign that failed to move the needle or a party that is increasingly out of step with voters on cultural and economic fronts. The exchange, real or not, cannot mask deeper problems Democrats face heading into future elections.
Republicans see this as another example of the mainstream narrative trying to rewrite the story of 2024. The underlying facts that delivered the result remain: voters chose an alternative and the Biden-Harris project produced outcomes conservatives disagree with. A disputed phone call does not change the policy consequences people continue to feel.
In the end, the controversy around the quote is a distraction from what matters: leadership, competence, and results. If Harris is trying to rehabilitate her image with a tidy anecdote, the public reaction shows that voters demand more than a line in a book. They want a record and a plan they can trust.
Bob Hoge—pronounced Hoge like rogue—is a RedState front page contributor and Editor and proud father of four. He is shown sporting his COVID beard, which his wife has since forced him to shave. Follow him on X/Twitter @Bob_Hoge_CA.
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h/t: Red State
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