As the Biden administration continues to unravel, one thing is becoming clear: Kamala Harris is quietly embracing the very policies she once condemned – many of which were championed by President Trump. While she and her fellow Democrats were quick to criticize Trump’s actions during his presidency, Harris has made a habit of walking back her once-progressive positions, leaving many Americans to wonder: what does she truly stand for?
Take police funding, for example. During the height of the protests in 2020, Harris echoed the progressive call to “defund the police,” advocating for diverting funds away from law enforcement and into social programs. But now, in a complete about-face, she’s aligning herself with more moderate positions, ensuring that police departments continue to be funded. In short, she’s moved from the radical left to a more law-and-order stance—something President Trump has advocated from the beginning.
It doesn’t stop there. Harris staunchly opposed fracking, making bold promises during the Democratic primaries that she would ban it entirely. But when the political winds shifted, so did her position. Now, under the Biden administration, fracking continues. In essence, Harris has co-opted Trump’s position on energy independence. What happened to the green revolution? Harris is all talk, but when it comes to governing, she’s falling in line with Trump’s approach.
Even plastic straws weren’t safe from her flip-flopping. Harris once took the stage, grandstanding about banning plastic straws in the name of environmentalism. But as with many of her bold declarations, it quietly disappeared. Trump, on the other hand, consistently stood by the need for practical solutions and didn’t bow to performative environmentalism.
Perhaps the most striking reversal is on the border wall. Harris was one of the loudest voices against Trump’s plan to build a wall and secure the southern border. She called it racist, immoral, and ineffective. Yet now, her administration is allowing sections of the wall to continue construction, a clear concession to the effectiveness of Trump’s approach to border security. If Harris is willing to adopt Trump’s border policies after all her opposition, what else will she flip on when it becomes convenient?
But perhaps this tendency to change her identity based on the audience isn’t surprising. Kamala Harris increasingly resembles Earnest from Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. In the play, Earnest is one person in the city and another in the country, adapting his behavior and identity depending on his surroundings. Harris has mastered a similar political two-step—saying one thing in front of progressive audiences and doing another when the reality of governing sets in.
She can pretend to be whatever the situation demands, but in the end, she’s not “Earnest”—she’s Kamala. And no amount of pretending or political posturing will change that. Just like the character in Wilde’s play, Harris can wear different masks depending on her audience, but at the end of the day, Americans need to see through the act.
Kamala Harris’s rapid adoption of Trump’s policies raises a crucial question: Can we trust the Harris-Walz agenda to stand for anything? They’ve shown time and time again that they’ll say whatever it takes to get elected, only to shift their positions when it suits them politically. From police funding to fracking, from environmental stances to border security, Harris has proven she’s willing to reverse course to save face.
In contrast, President Trump has always been clear about where he stands, championing policies that protect American jobs, secure the border, and maintain law and order. Harris, on the other hand, seems more concerned with staying in power than sticking to her principles. If she’s willing to abandon her promises this easily, what does that say about her ability to lead?
Americans deserve consistent, decisive, and principled leaders. Kamala Harris’s flip-flopping, her willingness to adopt Trump’s policies after condemning them, and her “Earnest” act show that the Harris-Walz agenda stands for nothing. You can’t trust them to lead with conviction, and you certainly can’t trust them to put America first.
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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