On CNN’s “The Source” on Tuesday, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) responded to 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris abandoning the multiple immigration positions she took during her 2020 presidential run by saying that the Republican nomination race between former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance has shifted course on several issues, with “positions shifting all over the place,” and that “Democrats are trying too hard to please the far left.”
“I think she’s doing the right thing right now, putting out this commercial, speaking out about this at her rallies, and talking about the need for border security. The best politicians, the best elected officials, are the ones who say what the public is already thinking, and the public is talking about the border. This is a real issue. It’s a lot better than it was just a few months ago, before the president’s executive order, but the public is still very concerned about the border,” Suozzi said.
Host Caitlin Collins then said, “As you well know in politics, everyone is always looking at your past statements and past positions on something. The 2020 Democratic primary was notable because it was a fight on the left. Biden was a candidate who really stuck to his positions. Obviously, he did well, but one thing that Republicans continue to look at is what she said about some border issues in the primaries and it’s a reminder of some of the positions she took.”
Collins then played a video in which Harris vowed to close immigration detention centers, called for a review of the role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and promised to decriminalize illegal border crossings.
Collins then asked, “So when she announces a change of course on some of the issues that we heard about on the campaign trail, how do you put that as a politician?”
Suozzi responded, “First of all, if you’re a Republican and you’re talking about Donald Trump and J.D. Vance reversing positions, look at their records and all the things they’ve reversed. As I said before on your show, J.D. Vance said that Trump is the American Hitler. So any talk about reversing positions…”
Then Collins interjected: “There are a lot of flip-flops here.”
Suozzi responded: “There are duplicitous people everywhere. And one of the big problems in America these days is everybody panders to their base. They’re trying to please their base. Republicans try to please the far right. Democrats try too hard to please the far left. And I think the American people are tired of that. They want to talk about the things they care about, but the American people are in the middle. Can’t we just work together to solve the problems? And I think Vice President Harris has made it clear in this campaign that she wants to find compromise, to find common ground, to bring people together to solve the problems that we face, like the border.” [are] “The two sides of it. We’ve got to secure the border and we’ve got to treat people like human beings. We can do both. That’s what the American people actually want from us.”
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