As we head into the final full month of campaigning before the November elections, the presidential nominees and their supporters are hitting the gas and pulling out all the stops to motivate voters to go to the polls in one of the most consequential elections we’ll ever see in our lifetimes.
On Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ list of things to do was visit the southern border, only the second such visit she’s made during her vice presidency despite being President Joe Biden’s border czar since March 2021.
Last Friday, Harris made the trip alongside Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) to Douglas, Arizona, where she looked and sounded like a fish out of water.
She met with border patrol officials (but not rank-and-file border agents), got in some campaign-worthy photo ops, and gave a short speech where she came off like a completely different candidate than the one she was in 2019 when she was pandering for Hispanic votes and was unapologetically pro-open borders.
“Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from reentering for five years,” Harris declared in her remarks. “We will pursue more severe criminal charges for repeat violators.”
Even CBS News noted the “dramatic” change in her rhetoric in comparison to her failed 2019 presidential candidacy.
“Harris’ comments marked a dramatic departure from her more liberal immigration positions during the 2020 campaign, when she signaled support for decriminalizing unauthorized border crossings and more lenient asylum policies,” the network reported.
The Associated Press also noticed.
“Harris walks fence at US-Mexico border as she works to project tougher stance on migration,” was the headline to their story on her visit, with “project,” of course, being the operative word.
Exactly why is Harris visiting the southern border at this late date? Because polls show her opponent, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, is trusted far more to handle the Biden border crisis than she is.
Further, the surveys also show illegal immigration is a top issue for voters in this election cycle. Trump has made it a focal point of his campaign to become president, while Harris is just now playing catch up, hoping to pull the wool over voters’ eyes on the issue.
I think few, if any, will be fooled by Kamala 2.0’s illegal immigration flip-flops, but for any who are, keep in mind that Harris said in 2020, “Trump’s border wall is a complete waste of taxpayer money and won’t make us any safer.”
“The president’s medieval vanity project is not going to stop” transnational gangs, she also said that same year of Trump’s border wall.
Harris now supports building one.
This issue isn’t the only one she’s switched gears on in recent weeks since becoming the Democratic nominee. But it’s one of the most critical ones, happening as reports of illegal immigrants, specifically those who have crossed the border under Biden-Harris, committing violent crimes (with some of the victims being children) are coming in on a daily basis.
Some have argued that Harris visiting the border is a big mistake because it gives Republicans, including Trump, an opportunity to remind voters of her past hard-left stances.
“For her entire career, she has wanted a more permissive immigration structure,” GOP strategist Scott Jennings told CNN in a recent segment. “When she ran for president before, she wanted to decriminalize border crossings.”
“In her heart of hearts, she wants a more liberal, permissive immigration structure,” Jennings also correctly observed, something that fence-sitting voters who are deeply concerned about the border crisis should take into account come November.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
