With crime being one of the most out-front issues in the closing days of the 2024 presidential campaign, you’d think support for Prop 36 would be a no-brainer for Kamala Harris.
After all, her campaign has spent months emphasizing that she was once a prosecutor, a way to preemptively strike any soft-on-crime attacks against her. Surely the proposed California law, which is aimed at curbing retail theft and drug use in a state where woke laws have caused an epidemic of it — and the concomitant loss of major stores in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles — is an easy layup for the Harris campaign, right?
Instead, when the measure was brought up, the vice president decided to call attention to the issue by failing to say whether she was on either side of the proposition.
While appearing in Detroit to mark the last day of early voting in Michigan, Harris was asked how she’d vote on the measure — which would see those convicted of certain drug or theft crimes receiving an increased sentence, even if their theft was under $950 — by a reporter.
“I am not going talk about the vote on that because, honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election and I don’t intend to create an endorsement one way or the other,” she responded.
🚨 Kamala was just asked how she voted on California’s Proposition 36, which would increase criminal penalties for shoplifters and drug traffickers:
“I am not gonna talk about the vote on that because, honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election.”pic.twitter.com/3wlkWkM0Ax
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 3, 2024
Ah, yes. It’s the Sunday before the election, so she can’t tell people how she’s voting on what’s arguably the most important thing on her home state’s ballot. Because of course. How disingenuous can you get?
It’s worth noting that, when she was the state’s attorney general, Proposition 47 — the measure that reclassified certain thefts and drug crimes as misdemeanors and thus dissuaded police from investigating them — passed by an overwhelming number.
Is Kamala Harris soft on crime?
“Although her office wrote Proposition 47’s summary and title, Harris herself took no position on the initiative,” opinion contributor J.T. Young wrote in The Hill regarding her role in the 2014 ballot initiative passing. “Proposition 47 went on to pass overwhelmingly. And ever since, California has been overwhelmed by the consequences.
“Drug use not only surged but spilled into the streets. Homelessness spiked. What had been felony theft (including shoplifting, grand theft, forgery, and fraud) was now simply a misdemeanor (so long as it stayed below $950), and newly reclassified ‘shoplifting’ skyrocketed,” Young noted.
“And without DNA testing for now-reduced drug and theft offenses, many other serious crimes went unsolved.”
And, of course, this gave her a do-over to say that she supported curbing the excesses of Prop 47 with Prop 36. What did she do? She punted. Of course.
Donald Trump’s social media accounts — along with those of other conservatives — ripped her for the pusillanimity.
🚨 BREAKING: Kamala REFUSES to say how she voted on California’s Proposition 36 — which would create tougher penalties for serial retail thieves and drug traffickers.
“I am not gonna talk about the vote on that because, honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election.” pic.twitter.com/IzAQlmZX6p
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) November 3, 2024
It’s extremely dishonest for Kamala Harris to refuse to tell voters how she voted for prop 36. But then again she’s extremely dishonest. pic.twitter.com/y4M1nc16q2
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) November 4, 2024
Prop 36 is one of the most significant issues on the California ballot. YES ON PRO 36 will help solve the crime problem.
Kamala Harris obviously doesn’t support it or else she would say.
YES ON PROP 36!
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) November 3, 2024
And this is the thing — if she supported it, saying she did would be the easiest thing in the world. It’d make her look tough on crime in the closing moments of a momentous election cycle and might seal the deal for her in swing states.
The fact that she won’t say anything should tell you a lot about what a Harris presidency will look like: an inveterately progressive Californian trying to appear somewhat moderate to middle America while appeasing the worst elements in her own party. If that wasn’t clear enough already, this should clinch it.
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