Kamala Harris’s Empty Calories Campaign

We’ve all heard the familiar warning from our mothers: “Don’t fill up on empty calories!” Pigging out on sugary and fatty foods with no nutritional value is a surefire way to end up hungry before bedtime. But that’s exactly what America is at risk of doing if voters elect Kamala Harris this November.

Kamala Harris last week became the first modern major party politician to “win” a primary without earning a vote. Democrats and the corporate media are correct that her ascendancy is “historic,” just not for the reasons they think.

Now, the next two months are shaping up to be equally historic for the Kamala Harris campaign in all the worst ways. The liberal establishment seems eager to try to usher Harris into the Oval Office based on “vibes” alone. We are told Harris will bring “joy” back to America, that she represents “hope,” “change,” and “possibility.”

In other words, voters are expected to eat up all of Kamala Harris’s sweet-sounding promises without asking questions about what should be the meat and potatoes of any campaign: the policy.

This glaring deficiency was on full display at the DNC Convention last week. As Michael Goodwin succinctly noted in an opinion piece for The New York Post, “Kamala Harris gave us no idea what she’d do as president.”

“She spoke well and forcefully and electrified the Chicago convention hall, but color me as confused as ever,” Goodwin continued. “Other than not being Donald Trump or Joe Biden, who is she? What does she really believe and what would she do as president? If she knows the answers, she’s keeping them a secret.”

Harris’s remarks on Israel were case in point. She vaguely supported Israel’s right to exist, called for the release of hostages, and criticized Israel for supposedly excess civilian casualties. But what is her plan to actually end the conflict? What is her long-term strategy for peace in the region? Voters would surely like to know.

On immigration, after laughably suggesting that she is somehow a career champion of border security, Harris blamed the current crisis on Donald Trump. Even if one could ignore the fact that it is Harris and Biden, not Trump, who have been in charge for the past four years, and that Harris was tapped by Biden to lead his administration’s response to the border crisis, the question still remains: what does Harris plan to actually do about the border?

Some clues might come from Harris’s past, which includes unconditional support for sanctuary cities, openly thwarting federal immigration authorities, calling for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, slandering border patrol agents, and refusing to even visit the southern border itself. Voters might also look to the 2024 Democrat Party platform, which calls for passage of the U.S. Citizenship Act. That bill would effectively grant mass amnesty to millions of illegals and entice millions more to surge to the border. But from Harris herself we have no concrete answer.

On the economy, Harris has dropped a few more specifics, although they were noticeably absent from her acceptance speech. The vice president has floated imposing price controls on food, along with dramatically jacking up the corporate tax rate and taxing unrealized capital gains. She is opposed to an extension of President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which primarily helped middle- and working-class households.

But ironically, these “policies” – which are really just political pandering – raise even more questions; namely, how to pay for any of this? Harris’s economic pitch would cost at least $1.7 trillion. Is that really the best idea when families are still struggling under the increasing cost of living?

Harris hasn’t provided an answer to any of these questions. Her campaign website entirely lacks an “issues” page. Nor has she been willing even to speak with reporters off-script.

Incredibly, the corporate press has already launched into a campaign to put a positive spin on Harris’s refusal to tell Americans what she believes. “Kamala Harris’s campaign is light on policy – but that’s helped her transform the race,” the BBC declared. Washington Post columnist Ramesh Ponnuru took a different approach, arguing, “Harris and Trump go light on policy. It’s a game Harris is winning” – never mind the fact that Trump has released dozens of direct-to-camera policy videos and “Agenda 47,” his own detailed policy platform.

So far, it appears the mainstream media is largely willing to eat up all the empty calories Harris has to offer and allow the Democrat nominee to avoid the basic responsibility of telling voters the policies they can expect from a President Harris.

The fact that polls have tightened could indicate that a sizable percentage of voters are eagerly consuming Harris’s empty calories as well. Whether or not it will be enough to hand her the election remains to be seen. But if it is, the whole country may find itself hungry – literally and figuratively – over the next four years.

Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.