Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton appeared on ABC News Sunday and pointed out that Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to distance herself from her once far-left views. Cotton challenged host Jonathan Karl’s claim that Harris has moved away from the far-left policies she supported in 2020 while running for president.
During the interview, Karl said, “This is not a radical convention. She – as you heard me go through with Bernie Sanders, she is not taking the positions of the far left of her party. She’s clearly making an effort to move to the middle.”
Cotton responded, “I did hear what you said to Senator Sanders, and I thought it was clear that he was very disappointed that she’s taking these efforts not to change her positions, but to hide her positions, Jon. The American people are totally justified to conclude that Kamala Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal based on what she campaigned on the last time she ran for president and what this administration has done the last four years.”
Cotton then called attention to Harris’ recent distancing from the Biden administration during the Democratic National Convention and criticized her 2020 campaign promises, such as “decriminalizing illegal immigration.”
“Again, you would have thought watching the Democratic convention last week that the Democrats are not in office, that they’re not in power, that they’re campaigning against an incumbent Republican. When in reality, she’s been part of the failures of the Biden-Harris Administration for four years, and she campaigned for president, in her own right, she did, in fact, promise things like decriminalizing illegal immigration -”
Karl interrupted, arguing that Harris has changed her stance and said she has. Cotton pushed back, stating, “No, no she has not. Jon, she has not said that. You pointed out to Senator Sanders repeatedly – things that her campaign has said. Anonymous aides speaking on background reporters have said, ‘Well, she no longer believes these things.’ Okay, maybe she has changed her position on health insurance and confiscating your gun. If she has changed her position, she owes it to the American people to come out and say in her own words when she changed and why she changed.”
Cotton continued, “That’s one reason why she needs to address the American people and speak to these questions because the only basis they have to conclude what she will be like as president is what she’s done for four years in this administration and what she said in her own voice in the last campaign. Remember, these are not, like, college essays, Jon. This is what she said when she was campaigning for president as a 54-year-old woman. If she’s had such a radical change of heart in the last five years, she owes the American people answers.”
Cotton’s remarks highlight the lack of transparency and consistency in Harris’ record and positions. Republicans have repeatedly called out Harris for flip-flopping on her policy stances, including her calls to ban fracking, implement mandatory federal gun buybacks, and abolish private health insurance during her 2020 campaign. However, since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, her campaign and supporters have defended her, even though Harris has not personally addressed these issues in a press interview.
In late July, Harris’ national campaign co-chair, Mitch Landrieu, was pressed during a CNN interview about her stance on defunding the police. Landrieu claimed that Harris “wants to fund the police” but also wants to implement other measures, which is why she has not explicitly stated her position. This lack of clarity and consistent messaging from Harris raises concerns about her ability and willingness to be transparent and honest with the American people.
During her campaign, Harris frequently aligned herself with more progressive and far-left views, leading many to believe that she would promote these policies if elected. However, her recent actions and attempts to distance herself from these views raise questions about her true beliefs and values. It is essential for a presidential candidate to be honest and genuine in their promises and positions, and Harris has yet to demonstrate this to the American people.