Harris and Trump race to the middle
Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
(CNN) — There were some interesting and off-brand pledges on the environment from Kamala Harris and on abortion policy from Donald Trump to close out the week.
Harris shifts
The vice president and Democratic presidential nominee made very clear during an exclusive interview with CNN that she now supports fracking, the oil and gas extraction process that climate and environmental activists largely oppose.
“I cast the tie-breaking vote that actually increased leases for fracking, as vice president. So I’m very clear about where I stand,” she said, arguing the US can have a clean-energy economy and still embrace fracking.
Trump contradicts himself
The former president and Republican nominee floated making either the US government or insurance companies pay for expensive in vitro fertilization treatments, crossing both abortion activists and small-government conservatives.
“I kept hearing that I’m against it, and I’m actually very much for it,” Trump said at a town hall in Wisconsin. It’s not clear how he would square an expensive government mandate with his longtime opposition to the Affordable Care Act, which also required insurance companies to cover certain services.
Trump also had to clarify his position about a six-week abortion ban in Florida. Trump told NBC News he thinks the six-week ban is “too short” for women. “It has to be more time,” he said.
But he later told Fox News he would oppose a Florida ballot initiative that would reverse the current six-week policy put in place by Republicans who run the state government.
Trump’s rhetoric against a six-week ban but effective support for it in his home state is contradictory, at best, but also speaks to the difficulty of his position.
There are obvious political explanations
On the one hand, Harris acknowledges the threat of the climate crisis and brags about the administration’s record on climate policy.
On the other, she is also hoping to hold on to Pennsylvania and Michigan, “blue wall” states won by Joe Biden in 2020. Fracking is big business in both places.
Meanwhile, recent polling has shown a strong advantage for Harris with women voters, although the race remains close overall.
On the one hand, Trump wants credit with conservatives for appointing the US Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, which allowed some states to severely limit or end access to abortion.
On the other, a more moderate position on abortion and support for more affordable IVF could appeal to women.
Reaching across the aisle
“Yes, I would,” Harris said simply in the CNN interview, when asked if she’d put a Republican in her Cabinet. “Of course,” said Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance when asked by Fox News if a second Trump administration would put a Democrat at the table.
There’s a long history of cross-party Cabinet officials in the US, but neither Trump’s first administration nor the Biden administration brought in a voice from the other party when they had the opportunity.
For reference, then-President Barack Obama’s secretary of transportation was Republican Ray LaHood, and then-President George W. Bush’s secretary of transportation was Democrat Norman Mineta.
At the Democrats’ convention this month, Republicans were featured as speakers every night. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan were both given prime spots to raise the alarm about Trump.
Shifting parties
Kinzinger, a longtime Trump critic, has the kind of foreign policy views that would be welcomed in the old-school GOP of Sens. Mitt Romney or Mitch McConnell, both of whom have acknowledged the Republican Party has moved away from them. Former Rep. Liz Cheney, another hawk who says Trump should not be elected, has not endorsed Harris, but she has said she won’t vote for Trump.
On the other side, Trump got the endorsement of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran and a former Democrat who made her name as an anti-war activist.
The parties have drifted on foreign policy. Following Trump’s cue, many Republicans now question giving Ukraine additional aid to stand up to Russia’s aggression, for instance.
Along with Gabbard, Trump named another former Democrat, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to his transition team. Kennedy’s unique brand of vaccine skepticism, opposition to processed food and environmental activism might appeal to some on the far left. But Kennedy drew the ire of his family members and Democrats by endorsing Trump.
A public retreat from identity politics by Democrats
Conservatives have focused on fighting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the government and in corporations, and Trump has tried to question both Harris’ identity and her qualifications. Harris, on the other hand, has noticeably avoided overt appeals to minority groups.
When CNN’s Dana Bash asked Harris about Trump’s ridiculous insult that Harris recently “turned Black” for political reasons, Harris did not engage. “Same old, tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”
Later, Bash noted that Harris did not mention gender or race in her speech accepting the nomination, and she asked the vice president about an inspiring photo of Harris’ young grandniece looking up at her at the DNC, wondering how Harris feels about the fact that her candidacy means a lot to a lot of people.
Before saying she was humbled, Harris first stepped back from the historic nature of her candidacy.
“I am running because I believe that I am the best person to do this job at this moment – for all Americans, regardless of race and gender,” she said.
Trump told to avoid insults, focus on policy
Even Trump has heard from advisers, according to a recent report from CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Steve Contorno, that he should steer clear of the insults that are in his DNA and focus on policy contrasts with Harris.
Some of the policies he’s pushing sound like they could come from Democrats: appealing to wage earners by calling to exempt tipped earnings from taxes, and now an IVF proposal aimed at anyone struggling to pay for infertility treatments.
None of this means the country is not divided – and you can bet that when Trump and Harris meet for their first debate on September 10 hosted by ABC News, they will each try to paint the other as extreme. Plus, Trump can be told to avoid insults and focus on policy, but he has so far been unable or unwilling to do so.
These larger appeals on specific, across-the-aisle policies from both sides, however, do show that the presidential campaigns see value in toning down their rhetoric and moderating their positions as they try to win the White House.
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