CNN panelist Michael Warren said on Friday Vice President Kamala Harris pivoting away from her past far-left policies is creating a messaging problem for Republican nominee Donald Trump’s campaign.
Warren, a senior editor for The Dispatch, argued on “Inside Politics with Dana Bash” that the Trump campaign is struggling to decide whether it is most effective to attack Harris as a “flip-flopper” or as a radical left-winger as she is pivoting to a centrist position on many issues. Harris notably has a far-left policy record throughout her political career, even being named the second most liberal senator next to independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 116th Congress, which ran from Jan. 3, 2019 to Jan. 3, 2021.
“As a political matter, though, again I think it’s causing a problem for the Trump campaign to attack her on these things because are they trying to make the point that she’s a communist [or] a radical or that she’s a flip-flopper? Because what she is flip-flopping to, is a more centrist, general election oriented, almost Trumpian position on these things. That makes it really hard for them to sustain an actual attack,” Warren said.
CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny said both Trump and Harris have made sudden changes to their policy positions ahead of the general election. He further said Harris must address her change in policy position to the press after not having participated in a sit-down interview or press conference after 27 day since she launched her campaign.
“Donald Trump was also saying this week that he will not replace Obamacare, so they both have some issues that they’re adjusting to in the moment. I mean, that was an anthem of his 2016 campaign as I remember it, repeal and replace Obamacare, and that didn’t happen because that is now more popular more than a decade on,” Zeleny said. “So look, she has changed her views on things. You can say in 2019, was that her real view or was she adapting to that campaign, is she adapting to this campaign? Who knows, she has to own all of that.”
“That is one of the reasons debates are important, interviews are important, and she will have to explain why she is changing her view,” Zeleny continued.
While in the U.S. Senate, Harris co-sponsored the Green New Deal in 2019 and supported abolishing the filibuster to prevent Republicans from stalling the legislation. The now-vice president supported a ban on fracking during her 2020 presidential campaign, though her current campaign told the campaign she does not support such a ban.
She further co-signed a “Medicare for All” bill introduced by Sanders, and later introduced her own healthcare legislation allowing for Americans to keep their private insurance. Harris campaigned on establishing a “Medicare for All” system during her presidential campaign in 2019.
Harris further supported handing healthcare to illegal immigrants and compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Ku Klux Klan in 2018, calling on the agency to be abolished and reestablished “from scratch.” The vice president is currently attempting to rebrand herself as a tough-on-the-border candidate, releasing one ad in July claiming Harris intends to increase the number of Border Patrol agents implementing new technology to block drugs from entering the U.S., and spending more money to stop human traffickers.
NumbersUSA, an organization supporting more “sensible immigration,” awarded Harris an F- rating for her support of a number of bills that it says would have weakened border security.
Featured Image Credit: Kamala Harris
