by John Solomon
Candidate questionnaires have long been a part of American politics, locking in politicians to certain policies, pledges and positions. But it has been decades since one has threatened to roil a presidential race, or undercut a major party nominee’s carefully crafted image.
The last time was in 1992 when President George H.W. Bush was stung by his decision to renege on the no-new-taxes pledge he signed as he tried to fashion himself as a Reagan conservative. Bush had earlier staked out that position at the 1988 Republican National Convention with his famous “read my lips” speech.
But Kamala Harris is facing the real possibility that the candidate questionnaire she filled out for the American Civil Liberties Union in 2019 may undercut her efforts to rebrand herself as a moderate and distance herself from the insecurity, immigration crisis, and inflation unleashed by her boss Joe Biden’s liberal agenda the last four years.
The reasons for the threat are simple. Five years ago Harris tried desperately to run to the left of Joe Biden during the 2020 Democratic primary, planting her flag on positions far from the American mainstream, particularly on immigration, law and order and social policy. She also suggested her earlier actions as California attorney general and a U.S. senator were proof of her commitment to far-left policies.
Writing to woo the ACLU, she committed to:
- Taxpayer funding of gender reassignment surgeries and treatments for illegal aliens;
- A pathway to citizenship for those who broke the law by crossing the U.S. border without permission;
- The decriminalization of all illegal drugs under federal law including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl if a defendant claimed they were for personal use; and
- The knee-capping of the nation’s main deportation agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE, as it is colloquially known in Washington circles, by banning its use of deportation
It’s a political ledge that may have no point of return, as the liberal-friendly CNN even made clear when it gasped this week upon learning Harris’s position on taxpayer-funded transgender treatments for illegal aliens. It’s also a precipice that Donald Trump and his MAGA-charging Republican base hope to make Harris crawl across by casting her as a “dangerous liberal.”
“I tell everybody that when she tells us what her position is we should believe her because she has told us on no less than two dozen occasions that she believes the border wall is a vanity project for Donald Trump and she would never, ever do it,” Trump confidante Corey Lewandowski told the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. “She has told us on dozens of occasions that on Day One she will ban fracking in the state of Pennsylvania, and now only to say that she wouldn’t do that.”
“Not a mainstream value”
“She has told us that she now supports Donald Trump’s policy of no tax on tips, even though she cast the deciding vote to basically make our lives more difficult economically,” he added, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act. “And one piece that is amazing to me was in 2019 Kamala Harris told us that she was in favor of taxpayer funded transgender surgery for illegal immigrants. Let me say that again. 2019, Kamala Harris has in writing in a survey she conducted that she was in favor of taxpayer funded transgender surgery for illegal immigrants. That is not a mainstream value.”
Pollster Scott Rasmussen has done extensive survey work in recent months measuring the disconnect between progressive policies and Americans’ expectations and believes it is a winning issue for Republicans, if they worked it relentlessly. He recently found widespread disapproval of progressive efforts to let biological males compete in female sports.
“Only 21% of Harris’s voters, her own supporters, think that should be allowed, and yet hardly anybody knows that Vice President Harris is a strong advocate of letting those biological males compete in women’s sports,” Rasmussen noted. “So the question becomes, you know, when will people learn? What will people learn about Vice President Harris, and when will they learn it?”
Just the News first reported on Harris’ far-left answers on the ACLU questionnaire and in other forums. In recent days, Republicans have ramped up the use of the questionnaire.
“If the American people can see what Kamala Harris truly believed in as a candidate for president herself, when she actually had to go through a real primary process, where she was for cashless bail, where she soft on crime, where she soft on China, where she wanted to get allow people to cross the border illegally and provide health care benefits for them and make this registered voters,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show on Tuesday.
“I mean, Kamala Harris is a left-wing liberal extremist, and the American people need to think long and hard whether that’s the direction we want our country to go in,” he said.
The 2019 questionnaire from the left’s leading civil liberties group pinned Harris down on some of the most contentious issues on the left, from border security to drugs.
Support for decriminalizing narcotics and border crossing
For instance, she answered “yes” when asked by the ACLU “if will you support the decriminalization at the federal level of all drug possession for personal use?” It’s an issue likely to resonate now with Americans wary of the deadly scourge of fentanyl that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives the last four years.
She also answered yes to a question of whether she would “provide fair and achievable paths to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.” A growing number of Americans want to deport illegal aliens, not give them citizenship, recent polling shows.
“As president, I will prioritize immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million plus people living in our communities and contributing to our economy,” she explained.
Taxpayer funding of transgender surgery
One answer that has drawn alarm even in traditional media involves Harris’ support for taxpayer funding for transgender transitions.
She answered “yes” when the ACLU asked if “as President will you use your executive authority to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care?”
She expounded: “It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition. That’s why, as Attorney General, I pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates. I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained. Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment.”
One answer may turn out to displease her far-left base
While most of the answers in the Harris questionnaire would thrill far-left progressives and concern moderates, there is one answer that may offend anti-Israel liberals. When asked about whether she would oppose efforts to reign in certain protests, such as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the Jewish state.
“I oppose legislation that may be interpreted as infringing on or impeding constitutionally protected speech,” she answered. “At the same time, I personally oppose the BDS movement because it questions the legitimacy of Israel, and strongly support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.”
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John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News.
