President Joe Biden awarded 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presenting the highest civilian award in the country to notable figures in politics, including twice-failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The list also included athletes, actors, and fashion icons like designer Ralph Lauren and editor Anna Wintour.
The White House stated that those selected for the distinction are individuals “who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.” The White House typically uses the distinction to highlight individuals and principles that the president believes are especially important.
The medal was given posthumously to former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was the father of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the man selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be his secretary of health and human services. Among the recipients were renowned scientist and conservationist Jane Goodall and philanthropist and Democratic contributor George Soros.
In addition, Biden selected actors Michael J. Fox and Denzel Washington, U2 leader Bono, and William Nye, widely known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy.” The list also included former basketball player Earvin “Magic” Johnson and soccer star Lionel Messi, as well as Spanish chef José Andrés, whose World Central Kitchen supplies local populations with food by traveling to conflict areas and disaster-affected places.
Former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and George W. Romney, the former governor of Michigan and father of newly retired Utah Senator Mitt Romney, are among the other awardees. Together with Hamer, a co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, both received the medal posthumously. Hamer, who passed away in 1977, contributed to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
An image of Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris, who also lost to Donald Trump in a presidential election, went viral on social media.
For her part, Harris is not planning to “go quietly into the night” after she was thumped in the 2024 presidential election.
During a segment on CNN, reporter Isaac Dovere revealed that Harris privately tells backers she is considering running for governor of California in 2026 or president in 2028. Harris also reportedly does not want her “final act” to be certifying Trump’s election victory over her.
“We haven’t seen or heard much from Vice President Kamala Harris since she lost the election last month,” CNN’s Manu Raju told CNN’s viewers. “But the Democratic Party still reeling from Trump’s victory.”
Dovere said that Harris is mulling two options.
“What she’s been saying to people over the last couple of weeks, donors, other supporters that she’s been talking with, As you haven’t seen the last of me, I’m not going quietly into the night. Advisers, people close to her are debating about what that means. They do not want her final official act ever to be essentially certifying Donald Trump’s win over her, especially four years after January 6th. And so they look at this governor’s race in California in 2026, and it seems to them like a layup essentially, that she would probably clear the field or mostly clear the field and she would get to be governor of California,” Dovere said.
“But if she does that, that means that she couldn’t turn around and run for president again in 2028. She’d need to essentially declare right away. And that is what it really comes down to because there are people close to her who say she didn’t get a fair shot this year,” Dovere added.
Dovere continued, “It wasn’t it wasn’t up to what she could have done. And look how well she performed anyway. She should get to go again in 2020. And then there are ones who say, look, with where things are with the Democratic Party at it, she would not have a clear field or a cleared field, rather, in the Democratic primary and could lose the nomination. And to come off of 2024 into that would be really terrible.”
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Harris allegedly told associates she was “staying in the fight” and considering a 2028 presidential campaign or a California gubernatorial run in 2026, prompting Democratic strategist Theryn Bond to urge Harris not to run for president again.
