Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to offer a unified foreign policy vision as the rival Trump-Vance campaign increasingly targets her record on the border, Afghanistan and other related issues.
“Kamala Harris and the DNC are turning a total blind eye to national security, a dangerous trend that shows their lack of real policy ideas,” Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. “We’ve heard Trump’s name mentioned over 150 times in their speeches, but we’ve hardly heard any mention of the national security threats facing America, and not a single mention of the Afghanistan withdrawal that took place three years ago this very week.”
“The world is a more dangerous place under Kamala Harris: Iran is threatening to attack Israel, China is on the march, and ISIS is on the rise again,” Waltz said. “Vibes and buzzwords like “weird” won’t deter these threats or rebuild our military. They’re obsessed with slogans instead of offering solutions.”
“Contrast this with the RNC, where we dedicated two entire days to making America safe again and strong again,” Waltz added. “Biden and Harris have made this country less safe, and yet they offer no plan— and seem to have no interest—in protecting Americans.”
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The Democrats caused confusion this week with the release of a party platform — timed with the start of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) — that still referred to President Biden and his bid to seek a second term. Mayor Regina Romero of Tucson, Arizona, co-chair of the DNC platform committee, explained that the platform was crafted “prior to the president passing the torch in an act of love and patriotism.”
In a statement posted on the Democrats’ website, the party explains that the platform was approved on July 16 — five days ahead of Biden’s historic decision to step back and let the party stand another candidate to face Trump. The party argues that it offers “a vision for a progressive agenda that we can build on as a nation and as a Party as we head into the next four years.”
Harris addressed her foreign policy agenda during the speech accepting the Democratic nomination on Thursday: In a speech light on policy, Harris pledged to pass the border security bill Republicans killed in the Senate earlier this year.
Harris also pledged to lead the way on space-based initiatives and artificial intelligence development, promised to stand up to Iran and Iran-backed terrorists and reiterated her support for Israel while stressing the importance of Palestinian self-determination. She took shots at Trump and his relationship with other world leaders such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. She also made clear that as president she would “stand strong with Ukraine.”
“The record of the last three-plus years has been a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, a green light for Russia to invade Ukraine, maximum deference to Iran, and unprecedented hostility toward Israel,” Richard Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former NSC official, told Fox News Digital.
“Add in a wide open border for terrorists to cross and a war on American energy that gives our enemies an advantage, and she’s helped oversee one of the worst foreign policies in history.”
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Republicans have repeatedly argued that Harris’ foreign policy plans are clear based on her record as vice president and tying Harris closely to Biden’s own policies. Her lack of a published platform that clearly outlines her plans for a first term has made it difficult for her to argue against that.
Harris earlier this week told Fox News in a statement that “re-entering that deal is not our focus,” referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) “Iran nuclear deal” — a seeming break with the Biden administration’s major push to get such a plan enacted in its first two years, though that push has gone soft in the past year.
Harris did roll out a comprehensive, if criticized, economic plan ahead of the DNC in Chicago this week, and she is expected to continue revealing parts of her policy plan in a similar manner now that the convention has ended.
Harris in recent statements has reiterated her support for certain policies enacted under the Biden administration, such as how the administration handled its exit from Afghanistan.
Republicans have decried the administration’s full drawdown from Afghanistan, which the Harris campaign has said the vice president “strongly supported” by asking “probing questions” during deliberations, although a former military official told The Washington Post he didn’t recall Harris “playing any role of significance.”
Positioning herself as a vice president who is closely involved in the administration’s key matters, Harris confirmed to CNN in 2021 that she was the “last person in the room” with Biden before his decision to withdraw U.S. troops and effectively end more than 20 years of war in Afghanistan.
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The Los Angeles Times in 2021 reported that Harris was “at least visually” front and center of Biden’s plans in Afghanistan, attending “most of his security briefings” and attending urgent intelligence sessions as the Taliban swept into power in the wake of America’s exit from the country.
The Times argued that Harris walked a tightrope in trying to “erase daylight” between her and Biden on policies at the time, which would mean that ultimately “the execution of the withdrawal will also be added to Harris’ résumé.”
Harris has also stated her support for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza, reportedly telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he needs to agree a deal and bring home hostages.
“I’ve said it many times, but it bears repeating. Israel has a right to defend itself and how it does so matters,” Harris said following her meeting with Netanyahu the same week she announced her bid for the presidency in July.
“It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” she said, according to Axios.
“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. Let’s get the deal done,” she said. “So we can get a cease-fire to end the war. Let’s bring the hostages home. And let’s provide much needed relief to the Palestinian people.”
The subject that has proven the most contentious and cumbersome for Harris remains her role in dealing with mass immigration on the southern border: Harris has stressed during her stump speeches that she “prosecuted” transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers and “won,” while she claimed Trump “does not walk the walk.”
The Trump-Vance campaign targeted Harris for her work as the “border czar” and failing to make major impact on mass migration over the southern border and the significant fentanyl trade that still occurs in the country.
The Harris campaign and surrogates have stressed that Harris never held the role of border czar and instead focused on working with countries south of the border to tackle the causes of that mass migration.
The campaign claims that there are now fewer people crossing the border than before, and the figures released by Customs and Border Protection appear to corroborate: While the numbers of land border encounters peaked at around 300,000 by the end of 2023, the figure dropped to just over 100,000 in July, marking the lowest number since February 2021.
Harris also declared that she will “bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed” and sign it into law, referring to the bill that Senate Republicans blocked earlier this year. Republicans claimed the bill was “worse than doing nothing” while criticizing their counterparts for failing to pass a House-backed border bill addressing Republican priorities.
Democrats have accused the Republicans of blocking the bill at Trump’s urging, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., telling reporters that they did it so “he could exploit the issue on the campaign trail.”
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.