In one of the most fiery exchanges in the early stages of the presidential debate, Donald Trump said that Kamala Harris’ father taught her well.
Normally, that would be a good thing — except her father, Donald Harris, was a Marxist professor.
The remark came during a debate over tariff and technology export policies, in particular regarding China.
Trump noted that America “hardly make[s] chips anymore because of philosophies like” the Biden administration has pursued.
“And policies like they have. I don’t say her, because she has no policy,” he continued. “Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window.
“She’s going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat,” he joked.
However, he noted that despite the fact that Harris’ policies have snapped toward the center just as she became the de facto Democratic nominee — and, in particular, blatantly ripping off one Trump proposal to not tax tips received by wait staff — that’s definitely not how she’d govern.
“She’s a Marxist,” Trump said.
“Everybody know she’s a Marxist. Her father is a Marxist professor in economics, and he taught her well.”
TRUMP: “Her father is a Marxist professor. And he taught her well.” pic.twitter.com/4s87UDAUZv
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) September 11, 2024
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While Harris attempted to laugh her way through the exchange, it did bring into relief the difference between what she believes now — which is to say, very little of substance — and what she believed four years ago, which could be considered quite Marxist.
And, yes, her father is a former professor of economics at Stanford University, described by The Economist as a “combative Marxist economist focused on questions related to growth.”
“In his diagnosis of capitalism as inherently insecure and, if left to its own devices, insufficient to improve living standards, there is an echo of themes in both American party’s platforms; namely, the public investment and industrial policy in Bidenomics, which is intended to juice growth for the ‘middle class,’ and the more interventionist aspects of Donald Trump’s economic nationalism,” the publication noted in a July article.
“Americans across the political spectrum now seem to agree that the unfettered free market is not the route to widespread prosperity.”
However, Americans do tend to disagree on other less abstract Marxist themes that the Democratic nominee has espoused — notably, Medicare-for-All, open borders and price controls. And, as it’s also worth noting, Harris was rated as the most left-wing senator by voting record in the upper chamber before she became vice president.
Considering that this includes an avowed Marxist — namely, independent socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders — that’s indeed saying something. No wonder this one hit a nerve.
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