Associated Press
Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to outmaneuver former President Donald Trump and address old vulnerabilities on her policy positions as she starts to fill in how she would govern if elected in November.
Vice Presidents rarely have policy portfolios of their own — and almost always set aside any views that differ from those of the Oval Office occupant. Now, after four years of following President Joe Biden’s lead, Harris is taking a cautious approach to unveiling a policy vision in her own right.
But her surprise ascendance to the top of the ticket after Biden dropped his re-election bid also means her policy platform is being pulled together just as quickly.
When Harris inherited Biden’s political operation in late July, the campaign’s website was quietly scrubbed of the six-point “issues” page that framed the race against Trump, including expanding voting protections and restoring nationwide access to abortion. Instead, Harris has peppered her speeches — so far heavy on biography for herself and her running mate — with broad goals like “building up the middle class.” She has called for federal laws to provide abortion access and ban assault-style weapons, but has been thin on the details of what specifically they would entail or how she would persuade Congress to make progress on some of the most hot-button political issues.
Asked by reporters on Saturday when she would unveil her policy platform, Harris promised more details this week and added, “It’ll be focused on the economy and what we need to do to bring down costs and also strengthen the economy overall.”
The first major window into her thinking came this past weekend, with a proposal pulled not from the policy backwaters of the Biden administration or the cutting-room floor of the legislative process but from her rival: Trump.
It’s also one of the most prominent ideas embraced by Trump in his 2024 bid to get back into the White House — a bonus in the view of the Harris camp, which has tried to needle the Republican into making unforced errors.
The Republican was none too amused by Harris endorsing the idea, complaining on his social media platform that “This was a TRUMP idea — She has no ideas, she can only steal from me.”
Trump continued on the matter in an interview with Elon Musk on Monday night, criticizing Harris for adopting his idea after what he claimed was harassment by the Biden administration of tipped workers.
On Monday, the White House said that Biden backed the plan too, though White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn’t address why Biden and Harris didn’t push for it during their first three and a half years in office.
“Obviously, it’s a new idea,” she said, but added later in response to criticism from Trump, “Why didn’t they pass it during the last administration?”
In her first weeks as a candidate, Harris’ most pronounced policy moves have been to back away from liberal stances she took in her failed 2020 bid for the White House, including proposals to ban fracking, establish a single-payer health care system and decriminalize illegal border crossings. Harris dropped out of that heated race before a single vote had been cast but recognizes that voters now could punish her for those stances if not quickly addressed.
Another complication for Harris comes from her relationship with Biden, who quickly endorsed her and handed her the keys to his political operation after he dropped out.
“The last three and a half years, they’ve been in sync,” Jean-Pierre said. “They have been certainly on the same page. And I presume that that will continue from here.”
Biden himself only began outlining detailed policy ideas for a second term during his final, frenzied effort to salvage his candidacy after his disastrous June 27 debate against Trump. He advocated for restoring abortion access, raising the federal minimum wage and passing a new surtax on billionaires. Harris has largely embraced all those priorities, including the incumbent’s call for changes to the Supreme Court.
But all those plans would require congressional support, which proved elusive even when Democrats held unified control of Washington during the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration.
Harris’ campaign, meanwhile, suggested that her attempted shifts to the center are reflective of how she would try to bring consensus to government.
“While Donald Trump is wedded to the extreme ideas in his Project 2025 agenda, Vice President Harris believes real leadership means bringing all sides together to build consensus,” said Harris spokesman Kevin Munoz. “It is that approach that made it possible for the Biden-Harris administration to achieve bipartisan breakthroughs on everything from infrastructure to gun violence prevention. As President, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common-sense solutions for the sake of progress.”
While Trump in recent weeks has resorted to personal and racially tinged attacks on his new rival, his campaign has been working to put Harris’ policy aims front and center, aiming to paint Harris as a radical liberal, pointing to old videos of her discussing policy positions during the 2020 Democratic primary.
“Kamala Harris has flip-flopped on virtually every policy she has supported and lived by for her entire career, from the Border to Tips, and the Fake News Media isn’t reporting it,” Trump posted Sunday. “She sounds more like Trump than Trump, copying almost everything. She is conning the American public, and will flip right back. I will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! There will be no flipping!!!”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
17 comments
SUPER ELVIS THE MAN OF STEEL
August 13, 2024 at 12:36 pm
Good Afternoon America,
Kammy is trying to fool the Democrats by pretending Donald Trumps policys are her policys!!!!
This epic fail of the Democratic Party keeps getting better and more entertaining every day!!!!
SUPER ELVIS
Yrral
August 15, 2024 at 7:15 am
Trump policies are mostly criminals,he cannot solve his own problems,how he gonna solve yours
Ron Ogden
August 13, 2024 at 12:48 pm
““This was a TRUMP idea — She has no ideas, she can only steal from me.”
No True Words!
Kamala Harris is an ersatz candidate. For all you Gen Z-ers, that means “fake.”
Tom
August 13, 2024 at 1:51 pm
Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Republican, introduced the Tax Free Tips Act in 2007, 2009 and again 2011.
Sorry, facts matter – it was NOT a trump or harris idea.
Day 23
August 13, 2024 at 1:56 pm
Well we know it wasn’t Harris’ idea. There ain’t an original thought in that head of hers. Keep giggling Kammy.
Michael K
August 14, 2024 at 10:42 am
More projection from someone who constantly changes her name.
FLPatriot
August 16, 2024 at 12:49 pm
Oh Ronnie, Might want to look that up. Very rarely do you see original ideas. At some point someone else introduced all of Trumps “ideas”. The only one that is original that stands out is doing away with all taxes and tacking on tariffs to everything we buy. Which would throw the US into a depression.
Thou doth protest too much…
August 13, 2024 at 12:58 pm
Actually, it’s “clever” because it will work with softer Trump-leaners who haven’t drunk the Kool Aid.
SUPER ELVIS THE MAN OF STEEL
August 14, 2024 at 6:24 am
Thank you “thou”,
What you say is not false,
HOWEVER:
There are only 13 people in the USA which fall into your “Self Described Catagory”.
Anyway thanks for the “Obsure Factoid”.
“Thou” lets talk Real Real now,
You and the rest of the country [with the exception of your “Obsure 13”] will wisely vote Trump.
Thank you, “Thou” for your support of DONALD J TRUMP,
Super Elvis
Tom
August 13, 2024 at 1:55 pm
I always carry cash for tips and when I give them the cash, I explain that I already payed taxes on it so there’s no need for them to pay it again. Generally, people appreciate it.
Day 23
August 13, 2024 at 3:15 pm
This article is all propaganda fluff for Kammy. There is no policy rollout besides her jumping on the Trump “tax on tips plan”. I’m guessing the headline is by design to convince the zombie force that Kammy is making proposals. She hasn’t yet. She is still erasing her past
FLPatriot
August 16, 2024 at 12:52 pm
You do realize Trump jumped on that plan that was introduced by Ron Paul in 2019
Michael K
August 13, 2024 at 5:25 pm
Funny how some of the people obsessing over “policy” are oblivious to the Trump policy framework that is Project 2025. Or the people who are obsessed with what Harris said in 2019 yet are fine with JD Whatever calling Trump “Hitler,” or his “thought experiements,” which is a direct line out of the mouth of his maker, Peter Thiel.
I guess if you believe more in Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to do what is best for ordinary Americans, then yes, Trump is your old man.
But I am putting my faith in the two people who did not attend elite schools and are authentically middle class to represent my interests and those of future generations.
Day 23
August 13, 2024 at 7:34 pm
Once again Michael K all in on Project 2025 which is nowhere to be seen on the Republican Platform, but Michael K obviously gets his news from Fakebook, Tik-Tok, and Instagram.
Tom
August 14, 2024 at 7:10 am
I doubt anyone is buying that crap. trump flying around with Kevin Roberts and Vance writing the foreword to his new book is kinda of a tell. It would seem highly unlikely that they are as dumb as they pretend to be although, with those two, who knows.
cassandra was right
August 14, 2024 at 8:19 am
What a naive comment from Day 23. Project 2025 is all over the Republican Platform! The same Christian Nationalist authors even! Google it. One RPP area:
“It’s a call for more fetal personhood laws, which can be much more extreme and wide-reaching than abortion bans. These laws confer all the same rights on fetuses in a uterus — and sometimes just fertilized eggs — [as] any person walking around. More significantly, the fetus’ rights supersede those of the pregnant woman.”—- LATimes
Of course Trump is hiding his national plan!
SUPER ELVIS THE MAN OF STEEL
August 13, 2024 at 9:31 pm
Good evening Sage Patriots along with ELVIS’ Besty Leftys who have agreed to vote Trump,
As you know I, SUPER ELVIS, have ran many a National campaign to victory and nobody has my Sage Political Acumen on the Planet Earth.
Which is why I & Only I, am qualified to go ahead and call this Presidental Election this far out from the voteing taking place.
“I, SUPER ELVIS, HEREBY CALL THIS PRESIDENTAL ELECTION FOR DONALD TRUMP”.
Thank you Sage Patriots along with ELVIS’ Besty Leftys who have agreed to vote Trump,
Dont forget to Relax Your Sphincters,
SUPER ELVIS
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