In politics, there’s an unwritten rule about victory laps—you actually have to win first. Yet somewhere between the traditional concession speech and quiet reflection, American politics has discovered a lucrative loophole: the defeat tour. It’s a peculiar phenomenon where spectacular failure transforms into speaking engagements, book deals, and what can only be described as a second place celebration.
The transformation is remarkable. What once warranted a period of introspection has evolved into something resembling a rock star’s farewell tour, complete with multiple cities, international venues, and merchandise. The American public, meanwhile, watches from the sidelines as political figures monetize their miscalculations, turning campaign catastrophes into cash.
This week brought perhaps the most audacious example yet of this trend. A former vice president who managed one of the shortest presidential campaigns in modern history—and lost decisively—has announced something that defies conventional political wisdom.
Kamala Harris is going on tour. Not to run for office, not to advocate for policy, but to promote her new book “107 Days,” a memoir about her failed 2024 presidential campaign. The unemployed 60-year-old will kick off a 15-city international tour on September 24, traveling from New York to London, sharing what she calls “behind-the-scenes moments” and “lessons learned” from her crushing defeat to President Trump.
But some critics are far from jumping on the bandwagon. For example, from ‘Fox News’:
“She’s doing a tour about how she lost? Does her team have 0 self-awareness or do they just hate her?” Deputy White House Press Secretary Abigail Jackson posted. “Because nothing says kicking off your 2028 campaign like a book tour about how badly you lost the last election.”
The announcement, complete with an upbeat montage of Harris grinning on the campaign trail, sparked further ridicule across social media. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) dubbed it “a nationwide comedy tour,” while political commentator Stephen Miller quipped, “Because if this last election taught us anything it’s that people want to hear more from her.”
The Price of Failure
The irony runs deeper than mere political theater. Harris’s campaign burned through an astronomical $2.5 billion in just 107 days, which is roughly $23 million per day, or nearly $1 million per hour, every hour, for three and a half months. And what exactly did voters get for it? Now, having squandered those resources on a losing effort, she’s asking Americans to pay again—this time for the book explaining how it all went wrong.
One social media user captured the absurdity perfectly: “How to blow 2.5B in 107 days.” Another observed, “Never seen someone celebrating an L like that lol.” Even Variety’s Daniel D’Addario couldn’t resist, dubbing it “the Errors Tour”—a play on Taylor Swift’s wildly successful Eras Tour.
Political Alchemy
What we’re witnessing is a form of political alchemy: the transformation of lead into gold, or in this case, defeat into dollars. Harris promises to share her “candid and personal account” of the campaign, offering readers a peek behind the curtain of failure. She’ll travel the country, and beyond, explaining how she “kept moving forward” during those 107 days of decline.
The book, hastily assembled with help from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks (because apparently even failure needs a ghost writer these days), was finished in mere months. Publishers promise it will address “everything we would want her to address,” though notably absent from the promotional materials is any hint of accountability for the campaign’s strategic failures or the billions in donor money that evaporated.
Meanwhile, there’s speculation that Harris might face a Congressional subpoena regarding former President Biden’s mental fitness during his term. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer suggested her testimony would be “helpful” in understanding the administration’s final days. If subpoenaed, Harris might find herself explaining more than just her campaign mishaps.
The contrast with ordinary Americans couldn’t be starker. When a small business owner fails, there’s no book tour. When a worker loses their job, there’s no international speaking circuit. They face consequences, pick up the pieces, and try again—without fanfare, without advances from publishers, and certainly without a 15-city victory lap for their defeat.
Perhaps this is the new American way: fail spectacularly, fail expensively, but fail with enough name recognition that someone, somewhere, will pay to hear about it. Harris’s tour wraps up in Miami on November 20, just in time for the holiday season. One can only imagine the gift-giving potential of a book about losing, wrapped in a bow of unearned confidence.
Key Takeaways
- Harris spent $2.5 billion losing in 107 days, now monetizing that failure through book sales
- Critics mock the “nationwide comedy tour” celebrating political defeat
- The book tour exemplifies how political elites profit from failure
