When Kamala Harris took to the stage during a Democratic primary debate before the 2020 election and implied that Joe Biden was racist, his wife, Jill's, response was crystal clear.
'Go f**k yourself,' the then-future first lady vented, as she allegedly admitted during a conference call with supporters.
And the relationship between the two women – that began badly enough during that contentious battle for the presidential nomination – has only gone downhill from there.
Now, political insiders have told DailyMail.com that Democratic advisors are struggling to push past the powerful role that Jill Biden's loathing of Harris, 59, is playing in Joe'sresistance to pass the mantle to his VP as pressure ratchets up for him to step down as presidential candidateand allow another Democrat tackle Donald Trump.
According to one former Democrat operative in Jill's circle, the women's long-seated animosity is 'one hundred per cent' part of Jill's resistance to having her 81-year-old husband step aside.
Because the truth, according to a source who knows the First Couple well, is that Jill's is now the only voice to which the 46th president listens.
And as far as Jill, 73, is concerned, the only thing worse than her husband stepping down would be Kamala stepping up to replace him.
The relationship between the two women, pictured together in November last year, began badly enough during the contentious 2020 primary but has only gone downhill from there
According to a source who knows the couple well, Jill is the only voice that the embattled Commander-in-Chief will listen to
The bad blood between the First Lady and the Vice President, a feeling so strong that one source described it as, 'hatred,' dates to June 2019, when Kamala was running against Biden and condemned him during a televised debate for opposing aspects of mandatory busing for school desegregation.
'Jill holds grudges,' one Democrat insider revealed. 'She doesn't let things go and she has never forgiven Kamala for comments that some took to be allegations of racism.'
According to one insider, that was the reason she never wanted Kamala to be her husband's number two in the first place.
They said, 'Jill was trying to stop Kamala joining the Biden ticket in 2020. She has hated her ever since the school bus thing.
'But she bit her tongue because Biden boxed himself into a corner by saying he would pick a black woman for his running mate.'
In recent days Biden has come under almost relentless pressure to step down.
Eighteen House Democrats – three of them after Biden’s ‘big boy’ press conference at the NATO summit - and one Senator have now called on the President to drop out of the 2024 race for the White House.
On Wednesday, Hollywood star and, until now, staunch Biden supporter George Clooney added his voice to the growing clamor for Biden to step down.
The diehard Democrat had been reluctant to speak out against Biden despite the snowballing concerns for the President's mental fitness for office.
But on Wednesday Clooney – who co-hosted a June fundraiser that netted $28 million for Biden's campaign – penned a scathing op-ed for the New York Times in which he stated categoricallythat it was time for Biden to go.
George Clooney visited the White House where he was honored by the President in 2022. On Wednesday the New York Times published a scathing op-ed by the actor calling for Biden to stand down
He wrote, 'I love Joe Biden. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years he's won many of the battles he's faced.
'But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe 'big F***ing deal' Biden of 2010.
'He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.'
Former Maryland Attorney General and Democrat Doug Gansler seconded Clooney's take telling DailyMail.com, Thursday, that he believes Biden will ultimately 'do the right thing' and step down.
Gansler, who worked closely with both Kamala and Beau Biden during their days as Attorneys General for California and Delaware respectively, said that he believed it would be 'hard to imagine someone more qualified' than her to become the next President.
He pointed out that, whatever Jill and Kamala's relationship, 'Joe Biden picked her and arguably in some way he was elected President because he picked her.'
He added, 'He's the antithesis of Donald Trump. He's been in politics half a decade and he's always done it for the right reasons.
'On some level I believe Biden recognizes he cannot win the election. He couldn't win it before the debate and he certainly can't win it after it.'
It was Biden's disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump coupled with his failure to recover from it with subsequent public appearances – a garbled radio phone-in and an unconvincing interview with ABC – that triggered calls for him to step down.
But according to one well-placed source while the light of public scrutiny is trained on Biden's mental acuity, the real power behind the throne is Jill, who wants to stay in the White House almost as much as she wants to keep Harris out of it.
The source told DailyMail.com, 'Jill has become consumed by the power and prestige of the presidency and what that means to her.'
The source pointed out that in January 2022 the Marine Corps band performed an original composition entitled, 'Fanfare for the First Lady,' essentially Jill's personal 'Hail to the Chief.'
The tune is to be performed and repeated at official White House functions from her first appearance until she is ready to speak.
It is all a very long way from the Jill that a long-time associate recalled as a humble 'common' person who exercised at the YMCA in downtown Wilmington and could never be regarded as 'full of herself.'
According to one well-placed source the real power behind the throne is Jill who wants to stay in the White House almost as much as she wants to keep Kamala out of it
Jill has taken front and center stage during Biden's campaign for four more years
Now, according to one, 'It's not about Kamala and it's not really about Joe. It's more about her holding on to her status as First Lady. She doesn't want to give that up.'
Another voiced the way that Jill is 'absolutely unwavering about Joe staying [in the race] but if he is forced out or opts out, she would be fully opposed to Kamala replacing him.'
One insider revealed, 'Kamala never runs competent organizations. Every office, every campaign, devolves into toxicity. And Jill is keenly protective of Joe's legacy.'
Still, one former Democrat insider familiar with the players said that they believed Jill's 'pragmatism' may ultimately hold sway.
And some say it is precisely her prioritizing of her husband's legacy that could convince Jill to flip and counsel her husband to step aside.
According to one well-placed source, as more and more party faithful voice their belief that Biden will lose to Trump, even Jill will be forced to admit that the most likely outcome of her husband's candidacy is one that will 'throw his legacy in the trash'.
And not even her hatred of Kamala can trump that.
A spokesperson for Jill's office denied reports of a rift.
'Jill and Kamala have a great relationship, and the First Lady believes that the Vice President is critical to helping her husband win re-election,' she added.
