Harris Smears GOP Policies Because Hers Are Crazy

Kamala Harris’ vapid interview with CNN’s Dana Bash revealed much about the presidential candidate (not to mention the sycophantic media). Perhaps the most intriguing: For someone so willing to attack others’ policy proposals, Harris seems quite unwilling to offer many of her own.

I refer, of course, to the attacks by the Harris campaign, the Joe Biden reelection campaign before that, and the left in general on Project 2025, a policy and management blueprint issued by a coalition of conservative organizations so that the next conservative president can hit the ground running next January. Those attacks have led Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to assert repeatedly that no outside organization can speak to what policies he would implement if elected.

Those caveats aside, it’s worth unpacking the dynamics of the attacks, because they reveal much about the state of our current politics — and not for the better, unfortunately.

Irony 1: Policies Are ‘Unpopular’ Because They’re Rational

I will confess that while I read the Project 2025 chapter on health care in great detail, I have not done so with most of the other chapters in the 900-page book or the hundreds of policy proposals contained therein. (Side note: If a left-wing friend, or member of the media, starts making comments about Project 2025, ask them if they’ve actually read the entire document itself. The number may be so infinitesimal as to approach zero.)

Most of the attacks on Project 2025 insinuate that there is something unpopular or radical about the proposals included in the policy blueprint. To which there is one obvious response: Duh.

At present, our country is running deficits approaching $2 trillion a year, which are projected to remain at record-high levels as a percentage of our economy in peacetime. Project 2025 in general, and the health care chapter in particular, emphasize that the federal government cannot continue this unsustainable spending. Many of the policy proposals in the blueprint therefore attempt to right-size the federal government, including the health care programs that are eating the federal budget alive.

Almost by definition, any plan to reduce deficits this large will become unpopular, in the same way that a parent telling a child he cannot stay up until midnight, or eat ice cream for dinner, will make the parent unpopular. That doesn’t mean the parent shouldn’t insist on the principled, even if unpopular, behavior — and so it is with Project 2025’s suggestions for fiscal responsibility in Washington.

Irony 2: Kamala Harris Has No Policy Plans

The CNN interview brought this point home. Harris fumbled around for an answer on what things she would change on day one of her administration (perhaps because she’s currently serving as vice president of the present administration). She didn’t provide a clear answer about her position on fracking. She didn’t outline her positions on new fuel mileage regulations that will require automakers to pump out money-losing electric cars that Americans don’t want to buy, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago, or many other issues.

When it comes to one of the few areas where Harris has outlined a semi-specific proposal — a federal ban on price gouging — Democrat operatives have spent the past week-plus trying to run away from it. They have claimed on background that it would never pass Congress even if Democrats win control of both chambers and that price gouging restrictions would only come into effect in certain limited circumstances (e.g., a natural disaster). If either or both are the case, then why did Harris even make this announcement, other than as a political stunt to try to grab attention?

For someone who loves taking potshots at the Project 2025 proposals, Harris and her campaign have avoided specific policy ideas like the plague. No wonder the CNN interview seemingly spent more time talking about the reaction of Harris’ grandniece at the Democratic National Convention, and what Harris likes to make for Sunday breakfast, than what she would do as president.

Irony 3: Harris Has No Plans Because Her Ideas from Her First Presidential Campaign Are Radical 

There’s a reason why Harris wants to run a policy-free campaign. Consider just some of the policies Harris and her campaign have tried to backpedal away from since her first presidential run five short years ago. She pledged to ban fracking. She supported outlawing private health insurance — and then, in a fit of “moderation,” pledged that people could have a private plan option — but only after they gave up the coverage they have currently.

And then there’s immigration. Kamala Harris supported decriminalizing border violations, wanted to give the World Health Organization an effective veto over enforcing our immigration laws, and proposed allowing as many as 200 million “climate displaced persons” into the country.

It’s more than a bit rich for Harris, Democrats, and the rest of the left to attack Project 2025 when Harris is trying to distance herself from practically all of the major proposals from her last presidential campaign. If the Trump campaign is smart, it will characterize those proposals as Kamala Harris’ own Project 2025, unless and until she puts out a series of detailed policy plans saying exactly what she will do if she is elected to replace Joe Biden. 

Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, a policy consulting firm based in Washington, and author of the book “The Case Against Single Payer.” He appeared in the 1995 “Jeopardy!” Teen Tournament and is on Twitter: @chrisjacobsHC.