Former President Donald Trump has been workshopping political attacks on new Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and one that he’d like to see stick is “radical Left lunatic.”
But as other Republicans criticize her as a “San Francisco liberal,” more traditional political nomenclature, the strategy is clear: caricature Harris for her past policy positions.
Republicans have been increasing their criticism of Harris’s substance rather than her style since Democrats started calling for President Joe Biden to step down as their party’s presumptive nominee. From her past support of Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and Black Lives Matter, to her backing an assault weapons buyback program and the reconstruction of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal agency from “scratch” as recently as five years ago during her 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, Harris’s record provides the GOP with an opportunity to turn persuadable independents, disenchanted Democrats, and disaffected Republicans against her.
California Republican strategist Duf Sundheim, who will likely vote for Harris over Trump, described the GOP criticism of Harris as “liberal” as “the right move,” dismissing the likelihood it will have the unintended consequence of encouraging more Left-leaning Democrats to coalesce behind her.
“It is going to force the Harris campaign to decide whether to allow ‘Harris to be Harris,’ which is too liberal for swing states or to have her tack to the middle,” Sundheim told the Washington Examiner. “She is much more comfortable when advocating [for] liberal change.”
Read more at Washingtonexaminer.com
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