On Tuesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) said that 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris “had to pivot to the left in 2020” when she was running for president because “base Democratic voters, delegates are looking for someone more progressive.” But 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is “also a candidate…who has modified his positions based on political pragmatism.”
Host Greta Van Susteren asked, “[O]ddly enough, we don’t know much about her, but we’ve actually seen her on the debate stage a lot in primaries and when she debated as Vice President, so, oddly, some of us have seen her more on the debate stage than we have being interviewed. But she does have a — she has a heavy lift, because she goes into this debate with a record. For instance, she, in 2019, to the ACLU…she wanted to defund — she wanted to cut ICE funding. She also wanted to provide transgender surgery to detained migrants. I assume that ABC News is going to hit her with that, because I don’t think her position — I suspect her position has been somewhat moderated since then because she’s got to reach in and grab the Independent, moderate voters. So, how does she do this transition from being very liberal to sort of coming back to the middle?”
Phillips responded, “That’s a reasonable question. There’s no question she had to pivot to the left in 2020, seeking the Democratic nomination, of course, we know base Democratic voters, delegates are looking for someone more progressive. Now, look at Donald Trump. He wrote a campaign contribution check to Kamala Harris. He used to be pro-choice. Now, he’s not. He’s also a candidate, Greta, as we all know, who has modified his positions based on political pragmatism. And I think that will be a source of contention tonight, as two candidates who will try to paint the other in an unfriendly light, point out how wishy-washy, perhaps, they have been, and it will be the task of both of these candidates to attract and invite Independent voters. Donald Trump knows, I think, what he needs to do to win, and that is attract those people and retain moderate Republicans who have not been pleased with him. And Kamala Harris — Vice President Harris is going to have to speak to those very same voters. I think he or she who does that best will come out the victor in this debate.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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