Vice President Kamala Harris, in her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee on Aug. 29, clarified her shifting positions on fracking and border security.
Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview with CNN on Aug. 29, 2924, in a still from video. CNN/Screenshot via NTD
During her first unscripted media exchange since launching her presidential campaign on July 21, Harris faced tough questions from CNN’s Dana Bash on reversals from more progressive positions since her 2019 presidential campaign. When asked to explain why she has altered course on fracking and the border, Harris repeatedly responded that “my values have not changed.”
The Democratic nominee’s campaign has so far been light on policy specifics and Harris did not reveal any new policy proposals in the conversation with Bash.
Bash asked Harris about vacillations in policy stances after she supported initiatives like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and a ban on fracking during her unsuccessful 2019 presidential run.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said.
The vice president said she made it clear while debating former Vice President Mike Pence in 2020 that she would not ban fracking in Biden’s White House and reiterated her intention to keep that promise if elected in November.
She highlighted the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022, noting that it is driving investment in renewable energy and creating over 300,000 new jobs in the sector.
“That tells me, from my experience as vice president, we can do it without banning fracking.”
On the border, an issue particularly highlighted by Trump and Republicans, the vice president repeated that her “value has not changed” on the need to secure the border.
Bash asked Harris about her support for decriminalizing border crossings she expressed at a 2019 Democratic primary debate, where she raised her hand in favor of the initiative.
“I believe there should be consequence. We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally,” Harris replied.
The interviewer confronted Harris with the facts about the crisis on the southern border. Record numbers of illegal immigrants have been apprehended during the Biden-Harris administration. Bash asked why it took the president and vice president 3 1/2 years to take action to stem the flow.
Harris, whom Biden appointed to address the root causes of migration, said her work helped reduce the number of crossings. She repeated her support for the bipartisan border bill, which failed to pass the Senate, while blaming Trump for its demise. Senate Republicans had blocked the bill saying it didn’t go far enough to secure the border.
Trump addressed Harris’s shifting positions during the town hall in Wisconsin, casting doubt on the veracity of her support of border security.
“That’s not her belief. Her belief is open borders,” Trump said.
Following the interview, the Trump campaign zeroed in on Harris’s repeated remarks that her values have not changed, saying that she’s still a “radical.”
These Western Wisconsin Counties Flipped for Trump. What About This Year?
Donald Trump draws strong reactions everywhere you go. Juneau County, Wisc., population 26,718 as of 2020, is no exception.
“I love Donald Trump,” Patricia Turkington, a leader in the local Republican Party, told The Epoch Times at the county GOP headquarters in New Lisbon.
“Once Trump came into the picture, it felt like there was a lot of hate that was released,” Diane Dahl told The Epoch Times outside the county Democrats’ office in Mauston.
The big story here since 2016 is the former president’s success. Juneau is one of many counties in western Wisconsin that went for Obama in 2012 before going for Trump in 2016. Virtually all of them stuck with him in 2020—and in some, his lead grew significantly.
Last presidential election, about 65 percent of the vote in Juneau County went to Trump, dwarfing President Joe Biden’s total of about 35 percent.
Turkington’s partner, Marv Newlun, told The Epoch Times that in 2016, he ran into many Democrats who said they were going to vote for Trump.
He said the former president won the county that first go-around “on his own,” with a platform that breached old partisan loyalties.
The Epoch Times traveled through many of the counties that flipped to Trump in 2016 to see if things are likely to change this year.
Many of the most competitive counties are in the Driftless, a landscape that recent glaciation did not touch.
Between the trout-rich streams and the big limestone bluffs, often within sight of the Mighty Mississippi, some communities proved to be as divided as the rest of America.
One was Bagley, a small village in Grant County (where Trump got 56 percent of the 2020 vote) not far from the Wyalusing State Forest.
Matthew Johnson told The Epoch Times that locals in Bagley have a very wide range of political views. He described himself as “a true neutral.”
“Both wings are attached to the same bird, and ever since they went away from the gold standard, the bird has not been serving the people,” he said.
In text messages to The Epoch Times, Johnson elaborated on why he thinks partisan politics can be divisive in harmful ways: little Bagley, a relatively isolated spot on the map, has to pull together during natural disasters.
“We are neighbors first. When the river floods or the bad snow storms hit, it’s not a politician coming to help us. It could be anybody that lives up and down the road,” he wrote.
Many Democrats from the region who spoke with The Epoch Times struggled to explain why Trump has done so well there.
“I think Wisconsin and the Midwest have gotten left behind,” Eric Wilson, then a Democratic candidate in the Third District primary, told The Epoch Times while knocking on doors in Chippewa Falls, Wisc., north of Eau Claire.
Dennis Gerke, a Juneau County Trump supporter who was interested in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2016, shared an explanation The Epoch Times heard from multiple locals.
“There were a lot more union jobs around here,” said Gerke.
—Nathan Worcester
BOOKMARKS
The FDA will now require photo I.D. for tobacco purchasers who appear to be under the age of 30, though the age to purchase cigarettes remains 21. The previous rule required identification if purchasers appeared to be younger than 26.
The Department of Justice is warning Kentucky to alter the way it deals with mentally ill patients, or face a lawsuit. It says the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by temporarily hospitalizing those with mental illness, rather than providing permanent housing and “community-based” care.
Premier Danielle Smith of Alberta, Canada is considering legislation to prevent residents being punished for expressing unpopular or politically incorrect viewpoints. She referenced popular psychologist Jordan Peterson, saying: “As Premier, I will continue to fight for free speech here in Alberta, including for the right for people like Dr. Jordan Peterson to say what is on their mind.”
Two oil executives in Switzerland have been convicted of embezzling more than 1.8 billion from Malaysia’s 1MBD wealth fund. Patrick Mahony and Tarek Obaid bilked the government by pretending their oil company, PetroSaudi, was backed by the government of Saudi Arabia; they also fabricated a nonexistent French energy conglomerate.
The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General has issued a report criticizing the FBI’s handling of child sex abuse cases. The report says that, among other problems, the FBI failed to report alleged sexual abuse to local law enforcement in 47 percent of the cases examined, although this is legally required.
