Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

CARLY ATCHISON BIRD: Kamala Harris May Only Be One Election Away From President, But She Has An Achilles Heel

Vice President Kamala Harris speaking at the White House, July 22, 2024. (Screen Capture/CSPAN)

At the moment, Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have the momentum to become the Democratic nominee to replace President Joe Biden.

She has won over most of the prominent names in Democrat politics, from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Bill and Hillary Clinton and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A New York Times headline Sunday declared: “Democratic Billionaires and Donors Rush to Back Harris After Biden’s Exit.”

“We are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris!” Schumer said Tuesday. “I’m clapping, you don’t have to.”

In her first 24 hours as a presidential candidate, Harris has raised $81 million.

Never mind that the Democrat machine successfully circumvented millions of primary voters in what has become, essentially, a coronation of Harris just over 100 days before November. Never mind the reality that here is a candidate initially handpicked by the elites to join the Biden ticket, not because of her outstanding record, but because of her identity as a black and South Asian American woman.

With Harris likely to take over the Democratic Party, it is time her record gets full scrutiny.

In 2021, Biden tapped Harris to address the “root causes” of migration focusing on three Central American countries.

Since then Harris has visited the border a grand total of once, in June 2021.

Illegal crossings surged to the highest levels ever recorded under her watch, including individuals on the terrorist watchlist.

This March, a video showed the Texas National Guard being literally overrun by migrants crossing the border. (Some were later set free by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.)

In short, border security has been an abject failure.

But this should not surprise anyone who remembers her unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign.

In July 2019, Harris declared her intent to expand deferred action and use executive action to grant amnesty to around 2 million undocumented immigrants.

Harris also proudly boasted that her Medicare for All plan would cover illegal immigrants, as she was the first to raise her hand on the debate stage in 2019.

She has also said she would decriminalize illegal border crossings.

A 2017 tweet still stands in which she declares: “An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.”

Then there is her record as a prosecutor in California which demonstrates a clear preference for criminals over cops and inability to lead.

In 2004, police officer Isaac Espinoza was murdered by a gang member using an assault rifle. Despite the murder of a police officer being one of the special circumstances for which California approved the death penalty in 1977, Harris, who was district attorney of San Francisco in 2004, chose not to pursue the death penalty, drawing the ire of police officers across the state.

In 2020, Kamala Harris continued her anti-police agenda and rhetoric, stating in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots that it’s “just wrong” that “putting more police on the streets creates more safety,” while applauding efforts to defund the police.

Her tenure as California attorney general was riddled with employee settlements to the tune on $1.1 million dollars, including one which resulted in a $400,000 settlement.

Let’s not forget the failures of the administration she currently serves: Inflation has crushed families as the cost-of-living soared. Thirteen service members died as a direct result of the poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan. Our greatest ally in the Middle East is under attack from Iran-backed terrorists and war continues to rage after Russia invaded Ukraine (“a country in Europe,” explains our vice president).

Perhaps most disturbingly, Harris was complicit in one of the most egregious political coverups in American history — hiding and denying that Biden is not capable of serving as president.

Fair criticisms will be met with accusations of “racism” or “sexism,” because it is too late for Democrat primary voters to actually choose their nominee.

The Beltway machine has picked for them, and as a result we have an unserious and wholly unqualified candidate who could actually become president of the United States, proving to young girls everywhere that it does not matter what you do, it matters what you look like and who your friends are.

Carly Atchison Bird is the former national spokeswoman for the Ron DeSantis presidential campaign. She is the founder and president of Bird’s Eye Consulting and lives in Virginia Beach.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)