Michelle Obama was the Democratic candidate Republicans feared most as an opponent to Donald Trump in the November election, a veteran Republican Party operative has sensationally claimed.
But instead, they made a huge mistake by crowning Vice President Kamala Harris for the post, Justin Evans told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
And that decision means the party has “lost” the election that will now be an easy win for Trump, he said.
“We’re confident we could have beaten Michelle as well,” added Evans, 40. “But she would have easily been the more competitive.”
A veteran Republican operative revealed that after Biden stepped aside, the only replacement the Trump campaign feared was former first lady Michelle Obama.
Trump agent rejoiced at Kamala’s coronation as it means his campaign ‘doesn’t even need to rewrite the playbook’ for its attacks on Biden
“Kamala is a very weak candidate who is closely tied to the White House and the Biden agenda,” said Evans, a veteran Republican operative who worked as a special projects director for her 2024 presidential campaign and remains an adviser to the campaign.
“We didn’t even need to rewrite the playbook, which we would have had to do with someone outside of the White House’s inner circles, like Michelle.”
Evans spoke as the Republican Party comes to terms with the near-certainty that Harris, 59, will carry the Democratic flag into the November election.
Just three days after 81-year-old Joe Biden announced he would not run for a second term, he has already secured enough delegates to secure his spot on the ballot.
But Evans says that’s just good news for the campaign, as it makes Trump, 78, only the second president in history to reclaim the White House after losing at the polls.
“Kamala doesn’t change the landscape in the same way that other new candidates would have done,” he said.
“We considered Biden a dead candidate and we think she is, too.”
Kamala Harris easily clinched the presumptive nomination just days after Biden dropped out of the race, but a Trump insider said she is seen as a “weak candidate” who can be easily beaten.
Kamala’s affair with then-California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown when she was less than half his age could become a sticking point for her campaign, Evans said.
He noted that Harris has a long track record dating back 20 years and has since held continuous public office, first as San Francisco district attorney, then California attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president.
“It’s a record riddled with a lot of weaknesses,” said Evans, 40.
‘There is already a lot of information available about her, including videos, going back decades.
‘She was a disaster as a border czar, which is going to be a big problem, and so is the fact that she’s clearly been covering up the situation about Biden’s mental fragility, and that’s damaging.
‘She also ran for president once before and her campaign was a complete failure, she won no delegates and dropped out before the vote was cast.’
Another issue that will hurt Harris, he said, was her affair with then-California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, which began when he was 60 and she was just 29.
Republicans will bring up this issue whenever they can, he believes.
Justin Evans, former director of special projects for Trump’s 2024 campaign, revealed all in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com
He said Trump’s post on Truth Social in which he wrote about his “absolutely terrible vote numbers” was not a typo.
Instead, he suspected it was part of what will be a concerted effort to recall Harris’s romantic history, which also included an affair with former talk show host Montel Williams.
“There are no accidents,” Evans said.
‘Kamala has already been exposed on the subject, so it’s easy to use.’
Harris has an obvious advantage with voters of color, but even that may not help her as much as hoped because “no one is going to buy her evolution from a hardline prosecutor who locked up minor drug offenders, including young African Americans who are still in prison, to a criminal justice reformer with a marijuana strain named after her,” Evans said.
‘Her record on drugs and crime is something that is going to cost her votes among Democrats and especially among African Americans. That will hurt her and it is something our side is going to criticize.
‘She desperately needs high turnout from the African-American community and that’s not going to happen.
“Another big issue is the border,” he added. “We need to keep Republican voters not just interested, but interested enough that they stay motivated to vote; they can’t be apathetic.
Evans added that the Trump campaign will surely criticize Kamala for her role as “border czar” under Joe Biden, feeling that the border crisis will be a “major issue that will drive turnout.”
‘This will be an important issue that will drive participation in our elections.
‘She’s not a great politician, so all President Trump has to do is let her talk.
“She’s the candidate, but she doesn’t have a mandate from the voters,” said Evans, who lives in South Carolina.
‘She is widely disliked, she is politically similar to Biden, but her policies are more extreme, which is good for us.
“As Biden’s replacement, it’s practically a tie. She’ll be easy to beat,” he predicted. “By choosing Kamala, the Democrats have lost the race.”
‘The state of the race has basically not changed at all with Biden’s withdrawal and her becoming the nominee.’
Evans said that after last weekend’s failed assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the former president’s shocked supporters were more determined than ever to vote for him in November. And he won’t lose “weak” Republican voters to Harris who might have defected to another candidate.
‘We’ll be bringing in disgruntled Democrats who are upset about the process that led to her becoming the nominee and Democrats who are angry that they’ve been lied to about Biden.
“We will also achieve greater voter turnout, which is extremely important because apathy is our enemy.”
Now that Kamala needs to quickly find a running mate, experts fear she may struggle to secure popular candidates such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who will not want to risk being associated with failure.
The GOP insider concluded that he believes Kamala will pick Arizona senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly, primarily because he “has no presidential ambitions for 2028.”
Evans also said Harris may have a difficult time selecting a running mate because those with serious aspirations of becoming Commander in Chief in 2028 and beyond will not want to be associated with failure.
“How is he going to convince Shapiro, Newsom or Whitmer to be his running mates in what will likely be a losing campaign?” he asked about the governors of Pennsylvania, California and Michigan.
‘It would be better for them to wait and run for president in 2028 without having harmed their future chances by playing second fiddle to her and losing.’
He said he thinks she will pick Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, the former astronaut whose wife, then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot and seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in 2012.
“He’s from a swing state, so that’s a positive, and he wouldn’t have to give up his Senate seat if Kamala loses, and he has no presidential ambitions for 2028.”