Kamala Harris has a long digital history – what we used to call a paper trail – that portrays her as an ultra-liberal.
This is not surprising, since for most of her career – from prosecutor to state attorney general to senator – she only needed to appeal to her leftist base in real, blue California.
But as a Democratic candidate, Harris will at some point have to explain, or justify, some of those past positions that will not be viewed favorably in a close national election, where a series of polls show her in statistical ties with Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and with a 6-point lead in Minnesota.
Trump’s camp, where the former president called Harris a “tramp,” among other epithets, and bragged about mispronouncing her name, is dredging up some of her greatest liberal successes. But the mainstream press has what influential blogger Andrew Sullivan calls “amnesia,” writing that while she might even win, “Harris is one of the weakest, most progressive Democratic candidates out there. She cannot credibly appeal to the center after such a far-left stance.”
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Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Fake Images)
So if Harris' honeymoon is over, that's the vice president's challenge. She has to tell voters why she no longer holds those positions, if that's the case. Maybe it's because she's “evolved.” Maybe it's because she was mostly representing San Francisco at the time. Maybe her time as vice president has changed her perspective. But she can't just let it go.
Even the sympathetic press will overcome its amnesia sooner or later.
Some examples: During the BLM riots in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, Harris helped promote a bail fund to get criminals out of jail.
In an interview, he said: “They're not going to budge and they shouldn't. And we shouldn't either.”
Harris said in another interview: “It's outdated, and it's actually wrong and retrograde to think that more police officers will create more security.”
And during her 2020 campaign she said: “Private prisons are making money off of the incarceration and suffering of human beings. One of my first acts as president will be to begin phasing out private prisons and detention centers.”
During the same campaign, Harris supported Medicare for All (Bernie's favorite program), although she acknowledged that it would abolish private health insurance. Joe Biden refused to lean that far to the left.
Harris also promised to ban fracking, but backed away from her promise after comments from an aide.
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When the media instantly switched their allegiance from Biden (of course he can serve another four years!) to Harris (she's a fresh, young voice!), they quickly formed a defensive squad.
Several major news organizations attempted to debunk the idea that she had ever been named border czar. The most embarrassing case was Axios, which said that “the Trump campaign and Republicans have repeatedly labeled Harris with the title of 'border czar,' which she never actually had.”
Except in 2021, Axios said, “Biden's Harris Appointed as Border Czar…”
(Axios has updated its story.)
Granted, this was merely journalistic shorthand, that Harris was assigned to work on the root causes of illegal immigration and that she worked diplomatically with Mexico and Guatemala, but why deny that she held that unofficial title?
Those who believe the vice president was chosen by DEI justify it by saying that Biden had essentially promised to choose a black woman.
A FOX Business guest went even further by comparing Harris to Hawk-Tuah's girl (it implies a sexual act. Google it if you need to).
Meanwhile, Trump has accused Harris of plotting a “coup” (no one ran against her). He also said that Jews should have their heads examined if they vote for Democrats (Kamala, of course, is married to a Jew).
President Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, on his decision to abandon his bid for Democratic presidential reelection. (Evan Vucci, Pool via AP)
The former president may have lowered expectations by calling Harris “dumb as a rock,” given the near-flawless performance of her first week.
I get the impression Trump is still trying to figure out how to compete against Harris, 59. (The Washington Post posted a nice TikTok video about how Donna Brazile and other allies spent weeks planning a Kamala run in case Biden dropped out.)
Now compare that to the media's treatment of JD Vance, where no old comment is considered too small to be resurrected.
Harris' team is trying to portray Trump and Vance as outsiders, with a statement referencing their “weird and extreme views.” Trump's team is trying to portray Harris as outsider. The whole thing is, uh, very strange.
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Vance's biggest controversy is his 2021 Fox interview in which he said a “childless cat lady” – including Harris – has no “direct interest” in society and is miserable in her own life. He has expanded that claim to include childless journalists.
These comments earned him a spat with Jennifer Aniston, not exactly what one would want, and earned him a reprimand on the Wall Street Journal's editorial page.
At first, the Ohio senator told Megyn Kelly he was being sarcastic and that he loved cats.
On Sunday, Fox host Trey Gowdy, a former Republican congressman, told Vance that George Washington and James Madison were among those who had no biological children.
“If you look at what the left has done,” Vance said, “they've radically taken this out of context and, in fact, aggressively lied about what I've said. What I do think is true, Trey, and this goes to the heart of what I talked about three years ago in those comments, but it's something I'll continue to talk about, is that the left has become increasingly explicitly anti-child and anti-family.
Former President Trump shakes hands with Sen. J.D. Vance during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
“They've encouraged young families not to have children because of concerns about climate change. They've suggested that people who do have children are somehow selfish, when I think that being a parent is actually the most selfless thing you can do and, again, it really does transform your perspective.
“So this is not a criticism. It was never a criticism, Trey, of all the people who don't have children.”
By the way, Harris has been deeply involved in raising her husband Doug Emhoff's children, according to a statement from Doug's ex-wife.
This is undoubtedly the strangest campaign in American history and may well generate perceptions of weirdness, but there seems to be a double standard, given the media consensus that Trump is a danger to democracy.
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Note: Now that Trump has decided not to debate or discuss Harris any further for now (claiming he is not yet sure who the nominee will be), it is important to remember one thing.
Trump negotiated those terms with Joe Biden and accepted Biden's conditions. He now has every right to renegotiate with Harris because she abruptly became the new nominee. Fox News has proposed a debate in September after Trump rejected ABC for bias. I don't know if there will be debates, but the former president has every right to reach a new agreement.
By the way, it was Biden who insisted on an early debate with Trump in order to turn the campaign around. It was the beginning of the end. Knowing what we know now, how could his team send him there?
