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Ramaswamy clashes with CNN host who defends Harris’ policy changes: ‘Actions speak louder than words’
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Ramaswamy clashes with CNN host who defends Harris’ policy changes: ‘Actions speak louder than words’

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Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy clashed with CNN anchor Kate Bolduan over Vice President Kamala Harris’s policy changes, a new poll found that some voters see Harris as less radical than her GOP opponent, former President Trump.

Bolduan presented the CNN poll, which found that nearly 50% of likely voters in six key states said Trump’s views are “so extreme that they pose a threat.” About 40% of voters in each of those states said the same about Harris’s views.

“If voters don’t agree with the extreme narrative against (Harris), do you think Trump should change teams now?” she asked.

Ramaswamy said he “respectfully disagreed” with that view, saying voters had not been made aware of Harris’ far-left stance through the media.

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Kamala Harris at meeting

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, September 2, 2024. (Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Voters have not been exposed, largely through the media, to what Kamala Harris’s past positions really are,” Ramaswamy said. “I don’t blame voters. They’ve been fed a new version of Kamala Harris, where she’s running to the center on economic and social policy. But the reality is, if we can use Kamala Harris’s own words against her, as I think we should, she ran for president by asking for a tax on unrealized capital gains, by advocating ‘abolition’ — her words — to abolish private health insurance, a ban on fracking, bans on offshore drilling. These are the kinds of policies that are absolutely not mainstream for most Americans.”

Bolduan defended Harris’ changing positions, saying she “made it clear” to CNN’s Dana Bash last week that she no longer supports banning private health insurance or fracking.

“Those are not her positions,” Bolduan said. “When you evolve on an issue … you can even call it flip-flopping on an issue, if that’s not allowed now, if that should be the death knell for a campaign, then Donald Trump is in trouble.”

Ramaswamy argued that Harris had not simply “evolved” from her previous far-left positions on various issues, but was also distancing herself from policies she had pursued throughout her political career.

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US Vice President Kamala Harris

Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, step off their campaign bus in Savannah, Georgia, Aug. 28, 2024, as they travel through Georgia for a two-day campaign bus tour. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

“Actions speak louder than words,” he said.

“She said she wasn’t for a ban on fracking now, the reality is she was one of the strongest proponents of that ban, so much so that when she was in California she sued the Obama administration for granting fracking permits,” he continued. “She wasn’t just for ending private health insurance. She was a co-sponsor of the Medicare-for-all bill with Bernie Sanders as the U.S. senator. The reality is, if you think about the Green New Deal, she was the leading proponent, not only as a co-sponsor of the legislation, but also by saying she would end the filibuster in the Senate to push that through. So the reality is she can now say what she wants to say, those are actions she has taken.”

“Is someone allowed to evolve?” he returned to Bolduan’s question. “Of course they are, but she deserves to explain exactly why she changed those positions. Exactly what her position is. If it’s not a ban on fracking, what is it? What exactly is her health care plan if she’s no longer in favor of abolishing private health insurance? Which she did just four years ago when she ran for president. That’s the kind of oversight that’s missing.”

Harris ended her media drought last week, giving her first interview to CNN’s Dana Bash since emerging as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee 45 days ago. She has yet to hold a formal press conference or conduct any further interviews, however. Former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, have collectively done at least 37 interviews in the past month.

Ramaswamy said he hoped voters would learn more about Harris’ policies as she gives more media interviews and participates in next week’s presidential debate on ABC.

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Trump and Harris split

Former President Trump and Vice President Harris. (Getty Images)

“The American people and the electorate deserve a rich policy debate that they didn’t have with Kamala,” Ramaswamy said.

Bolduan continued to press Ramaswamy on whether it was acceptable for a candidate to change his position over time.

“It’s not just a change of position,” Ramaswamy doubled down. “These are actual hard positions that she’s actually taken policy action on, both as vice president and attorney general and as a U.S. senator.”