Kamala Harris’ has begun facing the ire of Donald Trump and the Republican campaigning machine, in new attack ads criticizing the Vice President’s “radical” voting record.
Harris has emerged as the frontrunner for the Democratic candidate for the 2024 Presidential election, with endorsements from President Joe Biden, the Clintons, and the Obamas, among others.
In the latest attack ad, Trump’s campaign has focused on what it calls Harris’ “radical” agenda on criminal reform, immigration, the police, and the economy. Newsweek has examined its criticisms.
“My pronouns are she and her”
The video starts with Harris saying her pronouns are “she” and “her.” However, the footage is from 2022 in which Harris, alongside other attendees, was invited to say their pronouns. Without context, it may appear that Harris announced this without prompt.
The video of Kamala Harris was taken from a meeting at the White House with disability advocates. The announcement of her gender, pronouns, and dress was not out of the blue, as some comments implied, but part of diversity and inclusion efforts in support of the visually impaired.
“The most liberal senator”
Next, a clip shows Harris being challenged about being considered “the most liberal United States senator” based on a rating from the “non-partisan GovTrack.”
It comes from a 2020 60 Minutes interview with Norah O’Donnell. The Trump attack ad is edited to make Harris seem exasperated by the question. In the interview, she responded by saying that she’d been challenged on the point by Republican VP nominee Mike Pence before O’Donnell said that it was based on a GovTrack rating.
GovTrack, which tracks the legislative profile of U.S. Congresspeople, had previously released a report card for the legislative year 2019 ranking her “most liberal” compared to all senators. The page has since been removed. Speaking to The National Desk, GovTrack founder Joshua Tauberer said it had discontinued the report cards, after concluding the data was “‘not sufficient to create a reliable portrait of the activity of legislators.'”
Visiting the border
Harris is then criticized for previous comments she made falsely claiming that she hadn’t been to the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a June 2021 interview, NBC News anchor Lester Holt pressed her about not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We’ve been to the border,” Harris responded, which Holt challenged, saying she hadn’t been to the border in person, she answered, “And I haven’t been to Europe…. I don’t understand the point that you’re making.”
Later the same month, Harris toured Border Patrol facilities in El-Paso, reported The Texas Tribune.
Harris on border enforcement
The next clip includes another quote from Harris saying: “I am in favor of saying that we are not going to treat people who are undocumented crossing the border as criminals, that is correct.” A title appears in the ad suggesting she is for “OPEN BORDERS.”
This clip comes from a 2019 appearance on The View when Harris was asked a series of rapid-fire policy questions. Among them were questions on immigration in which she refuted claims that she wanted to decriminalize border crossings.
Harris goes on to say that she would not make crossing the border without documentation a crime “punishable by jail” saying it should be a “civil enforcement issue, not a criminal enforcement issue.”
“You’ve got to play by the rules but you can’t treat people like criminals when they’re crossing the borders,” Harris added, later saying that she wanted “border security” and to reform the Department of Homeland Security.
The ad also suggests, based on a 2018 interview on MSNBC, that Harris wanted to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE) which is misleading.
While Harris said that she wanted to “critically reexamine” ICE, which could involve “starting from scratch”, the Vice President has not said ICE should be abolished.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt in 2018, Harris said: “Listen, I think there’s no question that we’ve got to critically reexamine ICE and its role and the way it is being administered and the work it is doing.
“And we need to probably think about starting from scratch, because there’s a lot that is wrong with the way that it’s conducting itself. And we need to deal with that.”
Healthcare for migrants
Returning to immigration, the ad then accuses Harris of advocating for “FREE HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGALS” based on a 2019 interview with Jake Tapper.
Tapper quoted from the failed Medicare for All Act, which Harris supported.
“The bill also says ‘Every individual who is a resident of the United States is entitled to benefits for health care services under this Act’, not every individual is a citizen but every individual who’s a resident,” Tapper said.
“So you support giving universal health care Medicare for All to people who are in this country illegally?”
Harris replied: “Let me just be very clear about this. I am opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education or public health, period.”
This answer does not commit Harris’ support for Medicare or other benefits for undocumented migrants, only her opposition to policies that would specifically limit rights. The question was not pressed.
Undocumented immigrants often face difficulties in acquiring health coverage, and a recent KFF study, formerly The Kaiser Family Foundation, found there were only four states where all adult immigrants qualify for state coverage. That list included California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado.
However, a dozen states and D.C. offer fully state-funded coverage for income-eligible children no matter their immigration status, and some extend that to pregnant women as well.
“Defunding the police” and “Cop hater”
The ad moves to another clip, with the heading “Defund the police”, in which Harris asks an interviewer to define “defund the police” when asked whether she supported such policies.
Harris, who was responding to a question by Meaghan McCain at a press conference, went on to say the country needed to reimagine how it is achieving public safety in America.
“To have cities where one-third of their entire budget is going into policing but yet there is a dire need in those same cities for mental health resources, for resources going into public schools, resources going into job training and job creation, come on,” Harris said.
“We have to be honest about this.”
Asked about the concept by The New York Times previously, Harris said the government was “not going to get rid of the police.”
“We all have to be practical. But let’s separate out these discussions,” she said.
The ad also labels Harris a “Cop hater” based on a clip from a 2020 MSNBC interview in which she refuted the idea that “more police officers will create more safety.”
This is an accurate quote from Harris, although claiming here that she is a “cop hater” is editorial, particularly as in that same interview she sympathized with police officers having to deal with public health issues such as homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health.
“We should be looking at our budgets and ask are we getting the best return on investment as taxpayers, much less what is morally right and what is right in terms of actually having safe communities that thrive,” Harris said.
Giving criminals the vote
This attack line is based on CNN Town Hall in 2019 in which Harris was asked whether criminals, including those on death row, should be given the vote.
“I think we should have that conversation,” Harris replied.
The clip is selective but Harris has not been firm on the issue. As reported by CNN, only a few days after the event, Harris would say at an event in New Hampshire that she thought “people who commit murder, people who are terrorists” should be deprived of their rights.
“Kamala Harris – wrong on the economy”
This part of the attack ad does not clearly explain its criticism. Its argument, upon examination, is that Harris supports policies that it argues would have caused “trillions in inflationary spending” and “trillions in higher taxes.” However, without further context, viewers might believe this refers to spending Harris has helped pass or sponsor.
It includes a clip of Harris saying she would have supported ending the filibuster to help pass a Green New Deal.
The filibuster is the political procedure when a senator speaks on the floor for a prolonged period, without breaks, as a way to delay voting on a proposed bill. To stop a filibuster and pass a bill, there needs to be a supermajority of 60 votes.
Harris made these comments in 2019. The argument here appears to be that passing the deal, which was rejected by the Senate that year, would have led to “trillions in inflationary spending.”
The other clip mentions her support for “Bernie’s Bill” or the “Medicare for All” plan. This bill did not pass and plans on how it would be paid for included taxes on families earning over $29,000 to taxing wealthier citizens, not increasing taxes for the middle classes.
“Job-killing policies”
The ad also targets Harris for being in favor of “job-killing policies,” using her previous stance against natural gas drilling, aka fracking, as evidence.
Harris did support a national fracking ban but later walked back that position under Joe Biden’s administration, rejecting claims that Biden would introduce a fracking ban across the country.
Newsweek has contacted media representatives for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris via email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
