The race to define Vice President Harris is on. The likely Democratic nominee for president dropped a new biographical ad at about the same moment Donald Trump\u2019s campaign released an attack ad framing her as \u201cdangerously liberal.\u201d Here\u2019s an assessment of the claims made in each ad.<\/p>\n
This 30-second ad is heavily focused on Harris\u2019s role in the administration to address the \u201croot causes\u201d of migration from three Central American countries, using a label bestowed by Republicans (\u201cborder czar\u201d), which The Washington Post reported in 2021 that she shunned. \u201cRepublicans try to crown Harris the \u2018border czar.\u2019 She rejects the title,\u201d the headline said. But numerous TV commentators adopted the phrase and applied it to Harris, as this video compilation shows, giving the Trump campaign an opportunity to make the label stick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is America\u2019s border czar \u2014 and she\u2019s failed us.\u201d<\/p>\n
This voice-over is accompanied by video of Harris dancing in a colorful shirt. It attributes the label of border czar to a 2022 article in the conservative National Review, which called her \u201cborder czar\u201d in the headline.<\/p>\n
But Harris was not in charge of immigration issues, and she certainly wasn\u2019t a czar.<\/p>\n
In 2021, President Biden assigned Harris to take charge of the \u201croot causes\u201d strategy \u2014 essentially a diplomatic effort with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to stem migration from those countries. The efforts appeared to have some impact \u2014 border arrests from those countries dropped from 700,000 in the 2021 fiscal year to fewer than 500,000 in 2023, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. The downward trend has continued in 2024. For instance, nearly 77,000 migrants from those countries crossed the border in June 2021 \u2014 and the figure dropped to 24,000 in June of this year.<\/p>\n
But the problem shifted. Migrants surged from countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti \u2014 countries that were not part of the \u201croot causes\u201d strategy. In June, more than 106,000 people from countries other than the three Central American countries were arrested at the border \u2014 though that is down from a peak of 239,000 in December. On June 4, Biden issued an emergency order to curb asylum access, and White House officials say illegal crossings have dropped 50 percent since then.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder Harris, over 10 million illegally here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The text of the ad says \u201cover ten million illegal border crossings\u201d \u2014 which is technically accurate \u2014 but the voice-over is false.<\/p>\n
CBP recorded about 10 million \u201cencounters\u201d from February 2021, after Biden took office, through June. But that does not mean all those people entered the country illegally. Some people were \u201cencountered\u201d numerous times as they tried to enter the country \u2014 and others (more than 4 million of the total) were expelled, mostly because of covid-related rules that have since ended.<\/p>\n
CBP has released more than 3.2 million migrants into the United States at the southern border under the Biden administration through April, the Department of Homeland Security said. These numbers, however, do not include \u201cgotaways\u201d \u2014 which occur when cameras or sensors detect migrants crossing the border but no one is found or no agents are available to respond. That figure could add an additional 2 million, bringing the total number of migrants arriving during Biden\u2019s presidency to around 5 million \u2014 about half the figure the voice-over claims remained in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cA quarter of a million Americans dead from fentanyl.\u201d<\/p>\n
The text of the ad says this happened on \u201cHarris\u2019s watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under Biden, according to CBP statistics, overall drug seizures have dropped, especially for marijuana, but until this year increased substantially for fentanyl \u2014 the drug most responsible for overdose deaths. Both the decrease in marijuana seizures and the increase in fentanyl seizures reflect trends that started while Trump was president.<\/p>\n
Moreover, fentanyl deaths increased nearly 50 percent under Trump, rising to 95,000 from 64,000 in a 12-month period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl deaths continued to increase under Biden but have dropped in the past 12 months, so the increase under Biden is 7 percent, for a total of about 102,000 deaths.<\/p>\n
Most drugs come into the United States across the southern border with Mexico. But even a wall does not limit this illegal trade, as much of it travels through legal borders or in tunnels unaffected by visible physical barriers. Even if a wall could curb drug trafficking, it would have a minimal impact on the death toll from drug abuse. As president, Trump often touted how much seizures of drugs at the southern border had increased on his watch. This is an imperfect metric. It could mean that law enforcement is doing a better job. But more seizures also might indicate that the drug flow has increased, and that law enforcement is missing even more.<\/p>\n
The amount of fentanyl seized at the border increased under both Biden and Trump, though so far the amount jumped by a larger percentage under Trump, CBP statistics show. In Trump\u2019s four fiscal years, the number of pounds increased 586 percent, compared with 462 percent in the first three fiscal years under Biden.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrutal migrant crimes, and ISIS now here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Violent crime rates, especially for homicide in large cities, have fallen sharply during Biden\u2019s presidency, after a surge during the pandemic. The violent crime rate is believed to be near its lowest level in 50 years. So the Trump campaign is forced to cite anecdotal stories of migrants killing people.<\/p>\n
The reference to the Islamic State is sourced to a CNN report on the arrest of eight Tajik nationals \u201cbelieved to have connections to ISIS.\u201d Islamic State-Khorasan, the Afghanistan-based affiliate of the Islamic terrorist group, is led primarily by Tajiks. The individuals were allowed into the country but they were tracked down and arrested after intelligence officials connected them to the Islamic State. They are now in federal custody and will be deported.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have any plans to visit the border?\u201d<\/p>\n
The ad then selectively clips from an interview Harris had in June 2021 with NBC\u2019s Lester Holt during a visit to Guatemala. He twice asks her if she plans to visit the border and she answers that she will go to the border, but expresses frustration at his question.<\/p>\n
Harris: \u201cI\u2019m here in Guatemala today. At some point, we are going to the border; we\u2019ve been to the border \u2026\u201d<\/span> The ad clips out all her comments about planning to visit the border, her concerns about the border and her focus that day on Guatemala. It just shows viewers this highly edited exchange:<\/p>\n Holt: \u201cDo you have any plans to visit the border? \u2026 You haven\u2019t been to the border.\u201d<\/span> The implication is that she\u2019s dismissive of the idea. The NBC interview took place on June 8, 2021. Harris visited the border on June 25, 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cKamala Harris. Failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal.\u201d<\/p>\n The ad ends with this tagline.<\/p>\n This is a positive biographical 60-second ad that seeks to portray Harris as tough and decisive \u2014 the opposite message of the Trump ad. It begins with the voice-over saying: \u201cThe one thing Kamala Harris has always been: fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a prosecutor, she put murderers and abusers behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n This is pretty self-evident \u2014 this is what prosecutors do. Harris was district attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011, and the line is intended to show she cares about crime and is not \u201cdangerously liberal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs California\u2019s attorney general, she went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners.\u201d<\/p>\n As recently recounted by Fortune, during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008 Harris walked away from a nationwide settlement that would have netted California no more than $4 billion in compensation for homeowners \u2014 what she called \u201ccrumbs on the table\u201d \u2014 and cut a deal with three major banks that won state residents $20 billion. The agreement was intended to help people stay in their homes through lower mortgage payments. In a surprise, however, more than half chose the settlement\u2019s option to sell their homes for less than what they owned the bank, according to a 2013 report by the program\u2019s monitor, then-professor and now-Rep. Katie Porter (D).<\/p>\n Harris received some criticism for not seeking to charge bankers with crimes \u2014 which she acknowledged. \u201cI too, like most Americans, am frustrated. Clearly crimes occurred and people should go to jail,\u201d Harris told the Los Angeles Times in 2016. \u201cBut we went where the evidence took us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd as vice president, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, cast the tiebreaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, an omnibus bill that included a provision to cap the cost of insulin offered through Medicare at $35 a month. It also required the federal government to negotiate to lower the prices of some drugs \u2014 a policy shift that infuriated pharmaceutical companies.<\/p>\n Drew Hammill, who was deputy chief of staff to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), told The Fact Checker that Harris \u201cwas a key player in securing the necessary votes to pass the IRA. The vice president helped will the legislation into existence and was an important advocate in securing the insulin provisions.\u201d When Harris first ran for president in 2020, she pledged she would \u201cstop pharmaceutical companies from price-gouging patients by setting a fair price for what they can charge for prescription drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis campaign is about who we fight for. We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. Where every senior can retire with dignity. But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. To give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act.\u201d<\/p>\n The ad then shifts to excerpts from Harris\u2019s first campaign rally, in a Milwaukee suburb, where she tried to frame the election as a choice between the future and the past.<\/p>\n The key factual claims are that Trump wants to \u201cgive tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has not detailed specific tax plans, except for eliminating taxes on tips, but privately he has expressed interest in cutting corporate tax rates further if he is reelected, according to a Washington Post report. (His 2017 tax bill significantly cut corporate tax rates.) Congressional Republicans have also expressed interest in corporate tax cuts to increase U.S. competitiveness, according to another Post report. Trump also has dangled tax breaks to wealthy donors in exchange for campaign contributions, the report said.<\/p>\n As for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, Trump was frustrated in his first term that he could not terminate the law. In 2023, he suggested he would again make an effort, posting on social media: \u201cI want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!\u201d But in 2024, Trump has mostly remained silent on his plans for the law \u2014 which remains popular and a rallying point for Democrats.<\/p>\n (About our rating scale)<\/p>\n Send us facts to check by filling out this form<\/p>\n Sign up for The Fact Checker weekly newsletter<\/p>\n The Fact Checker is a verified signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network code of principles<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The race to define Vice President Harris is on. The likely Democratic nominee for president dropped a new biographical ad at about the same moment Donald Trump\u2019s campaign released an attack ad framing her as \u201cdangerously liberal.\u201d Here\u2019s an assessment of the claims made in each ad. Trump ad: \u2018I don\u2019t understand\u2019 This 30-second ad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHolt interjects: \u201cYou haven\u2019t been to the border.\u201d<\/span>
\nShe answers: \u201cAnd I haven\u2019t been to Europe. I don\u2019t understand the point that you are making. I\u2019m not discounting the importance of the border. \u2026 I care about what\u2019s happened at the border. I\u2019m in Guatemala because my focus is dealing with the root causes of migration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHarris: \u201cAnd I haven\u2019t been to Europe. I don\u2019t understand the point that you are making.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHarris ad: \u2018Fearless\u2019<\/h3>\n