On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN News Central, Savannah, GA, Mayor Van Johnson, who is in a nonpartisan position, but is a Democrat, said that 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris flipping positions on a border wall and an electric vehicle mandate is “a natural part of the ebb and flow” but did say that when you change stances, “you have to have explanations about why you’ve evolved and why your position has changed about that.”
Co-host Sara Sidner asked, “I do want to ask you about the politics of both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both being accused of flip-flopping, on a lot of different issues. She’s talking about spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a wall on the southern border, something that she called un-American during the Trump administration. She says now that she does not support the electric vehicle mandate. While in the Senate, she was in favor of eventually outlawing petrol-powered cars. Donald Trump, for his part, has plenty of things he’s sort of flip-flopped on, banning TikTok, and now he’s totally in favor of TikTok, demonizing undocumented immigrants, and now he’s saying, oh, they should get visas if they go to college. What do you make of flip-flopping in this new political climate that we’re in, does it matter, or is there a way for candidates to try and say, look, they’ve evolved?”
Johnson answered, “Well, it is evolving. I’ve been in elected politics 21 years. This is my fifth year as Mayor. And the way I thought 21 years ago is not the way that I think now. When you know better, you do better. You have different experiences, you receive new information, technologies change, you hear from people. And so, I think that is a natural part of the ebb and flow as it relates to that. I think, beyond the statements, you have to have explanations about why you’ve evolved and why your position has changed about that. That’s just the nature of the beast. But, I think, again, for Vice President Harris, she also has a record of achievement, particularly here in Georgia as a part of the Biden-Harris administration that has brought unprecedented funding to cities directly, which places like Savannah appreciate.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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