This week, The New York Times Editorial Board formally endorsed Kamala Harris as “the only patriotic choice for president.” But a review of Harris’s past and the ideologies that have shaped her political agenda paints a far different picture of Democrats’ standard-bearer.
While the Times endorsement was unsurprising, the Editorial Board included a significant caveat. It stated that Harris’s strategy of avoiding tough questions and substantive interviews may earn her victory in November, but that it was “a disservice to the American people and to her own record.”
Perhaps Harris struggles to defend her record because so much of it is indefensible and inaccurate. Vice President Harris purports to be from a humble, middle-class background. She has repeated these talking points so often that it has become an ongoing joke among Republicans. During a recent Trump campaign stop, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., stated in jest, “All you have to know is seven words, and you never have to admit to doing anything wrong again…I was born in the middle class.”
Harris’s now-infamous line may pass muster with legacy media outlets, but even a cursory examination reveals that statement to be overwhelmingly false. Harris’s father, Donald, was a UC Berkeley economics professor with a reputation for romanticizing Karl Marx and “Marxian Economics.” According to research from “The Lars Larson Show,” Donald Harris’s Stanford University paycheck “was twice what the average American earned.”
On top of this, Harris’s mother was a cancer researcher with a high income. While Harris claims to be from Oakland, California, her childhood homes were in Berkeley and Palo Alto, the latter of which boasts some of the most expensive real estate in the country.
Harris’s history of radical policies makes far more sense in this context. Harris integrated herself into California high society from her earliest days in public office. According to a Politico Magazine feature, “From 1994, when she was introduced splashily… as the paramour of one of the state’s most powerful politicians, to 2003…the Oakland- and Berkeley-bred Harris charted the beginnings of her ascent in the more fashionable crucible of San Francisco.”
While serving as District Attorney, Harris became the textbook definition of a West Coast liberal. She spent her days paying lip service to inequality and various social justice causes while spending her evenings rubbing shoulders with California elites at some of the finest restaurants in the world.
As Politico notes, “Harris used as a launching pad the tightly knit world of San Francisco high society, navigating early on this rarefied world of influence and opulence.” She curried favor with VIPs and California elites, making a name for herself as a rising star and celebrity darling. She made “spiffy and powerful friends” who were critical to her success. One early supporter described her as “a socialite with a law degree.”
Of all the relationships and contacts Harris cultivated, arguably none was more consequential than her early befriending of Mark Buell, a billionaire real-estate developer and Democrat mega-donor. Buell’s wife Susie is a co-founder of The North Face and a close confidant of Hillary Clinton. According to Influence Watch, “The Buells are well known in social and political circles in the San Francisco Bay area.”
Buell played a key role in Harris’s campaign for San Francisco DA and has been involved in all of her campaigns since. He was reportedly the driving force behind Harris raising an eye-popping $81 million in 24 hours following the announcement that Biden would be dropping out of the race.
Buell is also a close associate of George Soros and one of the founding members of the Democracy Alliance. In 2021, Politico described the Democracy Alliance as “the most powerful network of Democratic donors.” One member described the organization as the Democratic version of the Koch network but for “the good guys.” Vox called it the “closest thing that exists to a left-wing conspiracy.”
The organization is a central hub through which ultra-wealthy liberals collect and distribute billions of dollars to advance left-wing causes and defeat Republicans under the guise of “social justice.” The group spent some $275 million against Donald Trump during the 2020 election cycle. Individuals linked to at least a dozen organizations who received funding from Democracy Alliance were then given key posts on the Biden transition team. Democracy Alliance studiously avoids media attention as much as possible, preferring to operate from the shadows.
It’s easy to see why Buell and Democracy Alliance have backed Harris so enthusiastically. A recently unearthed video shows then-Senator Harris chanting “down with deportation” at a 2018 Los Angeles rally. Gov Track ranked Harris as the most liberal U.S. Senator, surpassing Bernie Sanders. She was an early co-sponsor of Medicare-for-All bills and the Green New Deal. During her ill-fated 2020 presidential campaign, Harris supported defunding the police, abolishing ICE, decriminalizing illegal border crossings, banning fracking, firearm confiscation, and a plethora of other radical left policies.
Despite her run to the center following her elevation to the top of the Democrat ticket earlier this year, far-left progressivism has always been at the core of Harris’s identity, from her governing philosophy to her social circles and even her upbringing.
In the same way she skillfully navigated California high society, Harris is now attempting to steer attention away from her shockingly liberal past. But while she may be hoping to sell herself as a common-sense moderate and a kid from the middle class, the truth about Kamala Harris’s past and policy record will keep getting in the way.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
Such a shame that many American voters are so woefully economically illiterate. Her ideas don’t work and have never worked. The last 3-1/2 + years have proven that. More than that, her basement strategy that worked so well for Biden is such an insult to the American public.
She is about as “moderate” as ABC has “moderators”!
Only the uninformed voter will vote for her because of her race and gender. They don’t have a thought about how she will destroy the country. We peons are just being used to get her elected. Once in office she will cater to the elites that paid for her election. We can see her policies in her actions. Like the treatment of the victims of hurricane Helene. There is no help coming from FEMA. All of their money went to help the invaders. Tech billionaires are buying up land in CA to create a city they rule and control. No peons allowed. You don’t sell to them they take you to court. And we all know the judges are in Soros pocket. The dems are pushing candidates that are Marxist. Have one agenda to make the citizens obey and the elites do what they want. There is so much more in play than what we see right now. Trump knows and that is why they are working on eliminating him. Will they succeed? The odds are high. Come November 5th no matter what vote TRUMP/VANCE our very existence depends on it.
Shes deceitful and cant be trusted.
The NY Times should change their name to “NY Isvestia”. Would be far more accurate. However, the Times now seems to be a Maoist propaganda organization.
No wonder, lying and stealing other people’s ideas is normal to her, because that is the forte of communists.
Excuse me but, this little tramp is a Marxist lying chip of the old Leninist Ideology trash can!!
This is not shocking surprising or new. Like Obama she learned on her daddy’s knee. They only preach what they don’t live.
The NY Times calling Harris “the only patriotic choice for president” once again proves its status as a Marxist mouthpiece.
Both parents were well-to-do “educrats.” She knows NOTHING of the middle or lower class. Got plenty of money from ghost jobs set up by Willie Brown while pleasuring him. Dropped charges against Willie’s “bros” when she was DA and also dropped investigation of a Catholic sex abuse scandal. Put lower class people in prison for reefers while smoking them herself!! No redeeming value.
Just let me remind everyone that members of our Party Cheney, Romney, Graham, Bush’s and many others still are publicly supporting Harris and are voting for her, yet no one is verbally denouncing their decisions publicly. Why? Our own Party is consumed by the same Corrupt Traitors that Consume the Democrats Party yet no one in the Republican Party seems offended or even cares.
She’s no “moderate” but she DOES fit alogside the average Democrats ideology.. and THAT fact should scare everyone even more! I’m just grateful she’s an idiit because only one would give a token visit to Helene ravaged states, which are key electoral states, then go off fundraising! Those ppl will remember…
The dumbing down policy has definitely worked. Commielas and the Maoist coward wouldn’t have a chance in the real world. Standard procedure is spouting Mao Zedong “Unburdened by the past…” as some sort of modern nobility. If these animals win America is history!
See? Harris is proving that lying a lot, schmoozing with wealthy, well-connected communists, and buying votes with money that isn’t her own are very reputable things… to lazy, and morally bereft people.
Even the plantation brothers and sisters should be able to see through her. Kyle L.
Air all the videos with Harris day 1
She NOT to be trusted!
She is nothing but a empty Pants Suit.
Harris must be drinking the same Koolaid as AOC, exaggerate the story of her real life background to create the “illusion needed” for the current political climate. Only fools who accept word salad as actual facts will believe
Smoke & mirrors, gaslighting… call it what you will. I call it flat-out lying & deception.
I would not even wipe my a– with the New York Slimes.
I find it infuriating that Harris vilifies the pharmaceutical industry, even though her mother was, reportedly, a cancer researcher. Harris’ false accusations aimed at the pharmaceutical companies completely ignore the regulation-mandated high cost of pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.
1) Pharmaceutical research: The workers are mostly MS and PHD degree holders who do enormous amounts of research and experimentation using high-purity, high-cost materials in labs that have cutting-edge mass spectrometers, HPLCs, stainless steel weigh stations & biosafety cabinets, and lab furniture and that is impervious to corrosion from chemicals. Lab HVAC Systems must take in 100% OUTSIDE AIR, heat or condition it to 72 deg F and 50% RH, and then exhaust it to the outside. The minimum airflow rate is 8 COMPLETE AIR CHANGES for each lab space PER HOUR. How’s THAT for “heating the outdoors”?? Obviously, energy costs for pharmaceutical plants and their raw material suppliers are, literally, “through the roof”.
2) Pharmaceuticals manufacturing is far more regulated and costly than research. Formulating injectable product, and filling ampules and bottles under sterile conditions requires specialized biocidal architectural work, HEPA-Filtered, laminar-flow supply air, high-tech environmental formulation and filling systems with process piping, equipment, and controls that are many times more costly than non-pharmaceutical/biotech plants. All of these facilities and their equipment must undergo continuous testing and revalidation by separate teams dedicated to those functions. The whole of this is called “GMPs” (“Good Manufacturing Processes”). Some of the most exotic materials ever used in manufacturing are routine components and fixtures in pharmaceuticals. By the way… GMP formulation and filling rooms can use SEVERAL DOZEN ROOM AIR CHANGES PER HOUR.
That’s right! Heating and cooling all that outdoor air to precise, required, temperature and humidity conditions means that pharmaceutical facilities have boiler & chiller plants that are bigger than most industries. A plant where I oversaw projects had 4 cooling towers replaced at a research facility about 3 years ago, to the tune of a 25% increase in capacity. The newly installed cooling tower capacity at that facility is now 4,000 TONs.
All of this, mind you, is to KEEP ALL OF US OUT OF HOSPITALS when we’re sick. These products enable us to live at home with our families, and go to our jobs, outpatient exams and rehab. Yet, this filthy-dishonest candidate named Harris is calling down the entire industry, where many dedicated, professional people with enormous responsibilities… that sometimes demand around-the-clock work… tend to the public health. She says they are “ripping us off”.
The most outrageous part of Harris’ lies is that she ignores the fact that pharmaceutical companies INVEST THEIR OWN MONEY ON RESEARCH AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT… AND ONLY RECOUP THAT MONEY WHEN A DRUG IS SUCCESSFUL IN THE WORLDWIDE MARKETPLACE.
I say HARRIS IS AN OUTRAGEOUS PHONY…. a “counterfiet candidate” who never lifted her own little finger to help anyone… EXCEPT HERSELF. She victimizes legitimate parties by falsely identifying them as Straw Man Wrongdoers… when THESE people actually dedicate their existence to tireless research, manufacturing, continuing training and education.
Come election day, I WILL VOTE FOR THE CANDIDATES WHO ARE REAL PEOPLE – WHO HAVE MADE REAL, DECENT, AND MEASURABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR SOCIETY.
Harris and her running mate will not be among the ones I select.
Kumbaya Harris poses a dangerous threat to our country if she’s elected. (God forbid!)
A duplicitous person of low to non existent integrity.
Why is it Democrats always hide who they really are and what they truly believe? During election season they morph into a reasonable position. If one would look at their actions and voting record, it would be obvious what policies they would enact if given the power to do so.
It is shocking that half of this country would vote for someone who took all of our money to give it to illegal migrants, Iran, and the Ukraine, so that FEMA now has no money to help and rescue the victims of Helene.
Defund the Police, antifa, blm Rioters not prosecuted, Criminals run free, Cut the Military, Abolish Prisons, No Bail, Illegal Aliens run free and get Government Benefits off taxpayers backs, 80 Percent Income Tax, No Constitution, No rights, More Censorship, No Energy, No Food, No American Jobs, More Taxes for money to give to Foreigners, WWIII. These are just a few things that you can count on with Communist harris.
The really sad thing about K’s alleged Radical Roots — I do not believe she has the cognitive capacity to fully grasp the vicious Anti-human currents that run DEEP in the modern radical-activist community. Ms. Harris seems to be one of those people with a profound hunger for validation. It’s tricky to get that from wholesome interactions when it’s such a challenge to speak in complete sentences. So, cheap psychological surmise here – she goes before a rally of Chanting Greta-wannabes, all she has to do is call out a few Slogans of one or two words, and the crowd is Shrieking their approval of her.
Smiles, Grins, Hugs, High-fives, and she’s got her approval-fix, by a performance fully within her limited capacities.
Tragic, really.
Good article. Most of what I know from living in the SF area. One thing not mentioned is Kamala’s junior & senior high years spent in Montreal Canada. Back then, those were the school years US History was taught.
These people if Harris gets in and they have nothing but high bills no money and own nothing like a home good for all of them and when she raises taxes her ideas never will work they never did before with other rulers and it will not work for her.People need to just stop and look at what she has to say and if not her then Biden and then look back all these years with failed policies the have done are you really happy with what they have done do you want more remember it is nice to give money to everyone for free but where will it come from think of that.It will not come out of Biden and Harris bank accounts it will come out of every person in this country.
By any definition ofthe term,”Kackles”Harris is a prostitute.Walz couldn’t tell the truth if it meant exposing his life of deceit and treachery.Fact.
It looks like my friends and family will join me in no longer buying “The North Face” products, since this article states that company was founded by the wife of a Kamala Harris campaign mega-donor. I’ll be bringing my NF jacket to our next campfire and I won’t be wearing it.