Trump Campaign Attacks Kamala Harris as Both a Radical and a Centrist

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump campaign is painting Kamala Harris as both a radical leftist and as insufficiently liberal to unite the progressive wing of her party behind Joe Biden.

Almost immediately after Biden announced Tuesday that she would be his running mate, Harris was attacked for being “the most liberal U.S. senator,” who would push the Democratic presidential ticket far to the left, and was also portrayed as a centrist whose moderate positions would prompt progressives led by Bernie Sanders to rebel.

Shortly after Biden announced his choice of Harris, a senator from California, on Tuesday, Brad Parscale, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign and former campaign manager, tweeted “Bernie Bros get burnt!”

But on Thursday, President Donald Trump went back to the original line of attack, assailing Harris as part of the “radical left.”

“She’s done things that are terrible in terms of the police, in terms of the Second Amendment, in terms of everything else,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business News’s Maria Bartiromo. “And she is a big taxer, as Joe is a big taxer. They want to tax $4 trillion, going to be the biggest tax increase in history by far.”

On Tuesday, Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called out Harris’s “extreme positions” on taxes and health insurance. A short while later, the Republican National Committee sent out a press email titled “Liberals revolt against Biden, Harris ticket,” saying that “it’s highly unlikely the left’s reception of Kamala” would be positive. “Talk about embarrassment,” the statement added.

Harris, the first Black and Indian-American woman on a major party presidential ticket, embraced liberal policies like the Green New Deal and Medicare For All, in her own presidential campaign. She ultimately backed away from universal health care after co-signing a bill with Sanders. During the Democratic primaries, she was considered an establishment candidate and found little support in the left wing of the party.

Her record as a prosecutor has also come under attack from the Trump camp. White House Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters during a gaggle Wednesday that Harris has been “very soft on crime.”

That statement appeared to contradict comments a day earlier from Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson who said: “Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat Party.”

The Trump campaign said Wednesday that it’s message has been consistent.

“The campaign has been clear: Kamala Harris is a California liberal who completes the radical takeover of Joe Biden,” said Ali Pardo, deputy communications director for the Trump campaign.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, President Donald Trump reacted to the news of Harris’s selection by calling her the “meanest” and “most horrible” senator. But he has contributed to her campaigns in the past, giving $5,000 in 2011 and $1,000 in 2013 to Harris’s re-election campaign for California attorney general, according to state campaign finance records.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.