US is ready to turn the page on Trump, says Harris

Kamala Harris has declared that Americans are ready to turn the page on Donald Trump as she reached out to centrist voters in her first interview since her dramatic entry into November’s presidential election.
In the interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash, Harris sought to show she is in command of the issues and give Americans a sense of her policy positions with little more than two months until Election Day on November 5.
The 59-year-old Democrat insisted that she would be tough on illegal immigration and support controversial oil and gas fracking – while sticking to her liberal background by pledging a fairer economy.
“I am the best person to do this job,” Harris said in a joint interview with her running mate Tim Walz while on the campaign trail in the swing state of Georgia.
The first female and black and South Asian vice-president described Trump as “diminishing the character and the strength of who we are as Americans, really dividing our nation”.
“I think people are ready to turn the page on that,” she said. “People are ready for a new way forward.”
The Democrat also said that she would name a Republican to her cabinet if she wins, in another sign that she is reaching out to wavering middle-of-the-road voters.
“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican,” she said.
Trump branded the interview “BORING!!!” in a post on social media.
The Republican former president called Harris the “greatest flip-flopper” as he addressed a rally in the swing state of Michigan, before mocking her appearance in the interview.
“She didn’t look like a leader to me,” he said.
Harris rejected criticism that she has shifted positions on politically sensitive issues including fracking, which she once opposed but now supports, and illegal migration over the Mexican border, where she has taken a harder line.
“As president I will not ban fracking,” she said – clearly aiming to settle the controversy in fossil fuel-rich Pennsylvania, one of the vital battleground states in what both candidates admit will be a tight election.
Addressing criticism that she had been too soft on immigration – a core part of Trump’s right-wing message – Harris said that as president she would sign tough legislation.
“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequence,” Harris said.
Her comments appeared designed to court centrist voters worried by immigration and fuel costs.
However, in a nod to her left-leaning supporters, she insisted that she had not fundamentally shifted.
“My values have not changed,” the vice-president said.
On another hot-button topic on the US political landscape, Harris urged a ceasefire in Gaza, but told CNN that she would not change President Joe Biden’s policies for key US ally Israel, including deliveries of weaponry.
“No, we have to get a deal done,” she said, adding that she was “unwavering” in her support for Israel but that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed”.
Harris dismissed a comment from Trump in which he questioned whether she was a black American.
“Same old tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, responded by saying: “I look so forward to Debating Comrade Kamala Harris and exposing her for the fraud she is.” Trump often falsely refers to Harris as a Marxist.
Harris meanwhile described for the first time how she was cooking with her family when Biden rang her on July 21 to say he was ending his White House bid.
“He told me what he had decided to do. And I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’” she said.
Republicans had criticised Harris for not giving any interviews since Biden abruptly dropped out, following mounting concerns over his health and age at 81.
She has enjoyed a honeymoon period with surging polls and record fundraising, but has also faced scrutiny for keeping many of her policies vague as she pulls her campaign together at record speed.
Harris has also been cautious with the media since a widely panned interview on migration in 2021, but she offered a measured performance on CNN on Thursday.
Harris gave the interview while on a campaign bus tour of Georgia, one of the seven battleground states that are expected to decide the November 5 election.
A number of polls out on Thursday showed Harris ahead of Trump, if only marginally, with several of them finding increased support for Harris in battleground states.
Since becoming the Democratic candidate for president last month, Harris has surged in the polls, brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations, and had a series of forceful campaign speeches.
She leads Trump 45% to 41% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday that showed the vice-president sparking new enthusiasm among voters.
Some critics suggested she might be less polished in unscripted settings like a TV interview, but she appeared to make no major mistakes on Thursday.
Jeremi Suri, history and public affairs professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said that Harris came across as knowledgeable and a “consensus builder” in the interview but she could have had “more concrete and specific answers” on what she would do on her first day as president.
Trump has himself been hitting the campaign trail hard in recent days, after a period where the 78-year-old former president appeared to struggle to find his footing against a new, younger, female candidate.
Speaking at the event in Potterville, Michigan on Thursday, Trump targeted Harris on her immigration policy shifts, saying: “Where has she been for three and a half years?”
Harris and Trump are set to face off in their pivotal first debate on September 10 in Philadelphia.