Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami said Vice President Kamala Harris’ policy record “opens up a huge opportunity to take a tougher stance.”
Ramaswamy pointed to Harris’ decision to back away from some of the policies she put forward during the 2019 Democratic presidential primary, and saw that as an opportunity for former President Donald Trump’s Republican opponents to use to woo voters.
“The reality is, I think most people like private health insurance. She’s in favor of eliminating it,” Ramaswami, a former Trump surrogate, said during a CNN appearance Thursday morning. “Most people like fracking and drilling and the effect it has on energy prices, but she’s against fracking. She’s against offshore drilling.”
“These are issues we have to get tough on,” he said. “Take the tax on unrealized capital gains, for example. It means most farmers and small business owners literally have to pay taxes with cash they don’t have, which is a formula for a great depression. So my assessment is we haven’t been tough enough on her on her policy record.”
The entrepreneur said focusing on policy is a “winning” strategy that will contrast with Democrats who are “hurling personal insults” at Republicans.
“There’s an opportunity to hit policy performance harder and I think our country will be better off if we have those policy debates,” Ramaswami said.
The former Republican presidential candidate echoed a similar message last week, saying the Trump campaign needed to move on and focus on policy instead of personally insulting their opponents, adding that he had spoken to the former president about the issue and that he was receptive.
“We’re still two months away. I’m optimistic. This is where it’s going to go after the glitz of the Democratic National Convention. Once we’ve got John Legend and Oprah Winfrey done, we can wrap up our shows and get to the real action of the policy debates that the American people want to have,” he told CNN.
