Sen. Harris, Vice President Harris, Presidential Candidate Harris and the Harris Campaign are not on the same page
Donald Trump: You can't compete when you need to pay this much for energy
Former President Trump takes questions on the economy in Pennsylvania ahead of the election.
Energy is at the heart of two defining issues this election: high prices and foreign policy. Food, utilities and consumer goods have been more than 20% higher during the Biden-Harris administration, all driven by expensive energy.
Simultaneously, high energy prices have produced a windfall for Russia and Iran’s respective national economies, and both countries have escalated their war machines.
Energy is on the ballot this election, and at almost every step Vice President Kamala Harris has bungled her energy positions, leaving everyone from oil speculators to Green New Deal advocates thoroughly confused.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a rally at the Resch Expo Center on Oct. 17, 2024, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Here are three ways Kamala Harris and her campaign have undermined their own energy policies.
ENERGY WORKERS IN KEY SWING STATE FEAR A HARRIS PRESIDENCY: 'NOBODY BELIEVES' WHAT SHE SAYS
To Frack or Not to Frack
For someone often accused of "word salad" answers, when it came to fracking bans in 2019, then-Sen. Harris was as clear as crystal. "There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking," she decisively stated at a CNN Town Hall. She told a live audience on the "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" that she was committed to "putting an end to fracking once and for all".
However, since becoming the presidential nominee in July, Harris has worked hard to reverse that position without any plausible explanation. At the only presidential debate in September, she claimed, "I will not ban fracking," in an effort to reassure blue-collar workers in swing states.
That was until this week, when a campaign climate adviser playing a game of Uno dropped a "reverse" card on the "reverse" card, telling reporters the Harris "does not support expanding" fossil fuels and fracking.
Of course, no one understands what this means. It puts John Kerry’s infamous 2004 non-sequitur – "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." – to shame.
Harris and her campaign staffers are desperate for the voters to believe what they want to believe. If you like fracking, Harris is for fracking. If you don’t, good news, neither does she.
Oil and Gas Production
In another Harris v. Harris moment, the presidential candidate has tripped over her own rhetoric against oil companies. The 2019 candidate wanted to prosecute oil executives on criminal charges. As recently as August, Harris boasted she "took on" big oil.
That was then. Now, Harris celebrates record high oil and gas production, and takes credit as she claims the success is "an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil." This contradicts many of the actions from the Biden-Harris administration.
On foreign policy, Biden-Harris eased oil sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. On domestic policy, the administration has issued the fewest oil and gas leases since World War II, sending a market signal that has kept the price of oil at a higher price point than previous presidential administrations.
Once again, Harris is saying if you like oil, so do I. And if you don’t like it, no worries, I don’t either. And we are all confused.
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EV Mandates
Perhaps most galling of all is Harris’ position on gas-powered cars. As senator, Harris supported legislation to ban the combustion engine. As vice president, her administration issued an executive order mandating 50% off all vehicle sales must be electric buy the year 2030. Her home state of California has gone even further, mandating that all new vehicles sold in the state are electric or hybrids by 2035.
On the campaign trail, and in Flint, Michigan, of all places, the presidential candidate vows, "I will never tell you what care you have to drive." Conveniently, the change of heart comes as consumer demand for electric vehicles slows and unsold cars collect dust on the lots.
Sen. Harris, Vice President Harris, Presidential Candidate Harris and the Harris Campaign are not on the same page, and chaos is the result.
Market chaos, as markets are looking for stable policy actions to make myriad business decisions. Foreign policy chaos as world leaders and bad actors are looking for signals to deal with the world’s largest superpower. Economic chaos as industry has no idea how to plan a future that is so uncertain.
Americans are tired of chaos, and long for certainty or the normalcy promised us by the Biden-Harris administration. Energy is on the ballot this election, and voters deserve so much, and so much better, than what Harris has given them.
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Daniel Turner is the executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF
