During Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, Charlamagne Tha God was highly vocal in supporting the now-president and his current Vice President, Kamala Harris.
However, in an interview with Politico, the radio host and best-selling author says he regrets throwing his weight behind the Biden-Harris campaign.
“In 2024, it’s a race between the cowards, the crooks and the couch,” he said, referring to Biden, Trump and the choice not to go out and vote.
Throughout the campaign, Biden and Harris vowed to tackle issues affecting the Black community, which other administrations had failed to impact in any meaningful way.
Mental health was one of those issues.
African Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious psychological distress, such as major depressive disorder, than white Americans, according to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Charlamagne has been an advocate of mental health reform, publicly sharing his personal struggles. In his book, “Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks On Me,” he revealed his decades-long battle with panic attacks—and the fact that he was not properly diagnosed until he was 30.
For years, he has worked diligently to change the narrative when it comes to mental health in the Black community and the stigma attached.
In 2019, Harris unveiled her plan to tackle the nation’s mental health crisis, which included covering mental health care on demand via telemedicine, doubling the number of treatment beds nationwide and funding more research for veterans’ mental health.
The Veteran’s Army (VA) did launch a pilot program to provide mental health services to caregivers enrolled in the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. In September, the Biden-Harris announced an unprecedented $200 million investment through Biden’s Unity Agenda to tackle the mental health crisis and support community-based behavioral health care and treatment.
Charlamagne believes Harris has still fallen short.
“I’ve learned my lesson from doing that,” he stated. “Once they got in the White House, she … kind of disappeared.”
He added, “When I give people my word like: ‘Yo man, I think we should be supporting Kamala Harris for vice president … because she’s going to hold it down.’ When we say those things and people don’t see her holding it down, that causes issues,” he said.
Charmagne says to date, he still gets pushback from listeners who hold him responsible for encouraging them to vote for the current administration.
