That didn't take long! The Trump campaign spent last night reacting in real time to Kamala Harris' dodgeball on CNN, especially attacking her inability to explain a series of policy flip-flops. CNN's Dana Bash gave Harris a couple of opportunities to explain these as some sort of rational evolution, but Harris kept offering a slogan -- "My values have not changed" -- rather than an explanation.

This particular exchange highlights the problem especially well. Bash asks her to explain why her policies changed, and Harris just keeps repeating the slogan, emphases mine:

BASH: Generally speaking, how should voters look at some of the changes that you've made, that you've explained some of here in your policy? Is it because you have more experience now and you've learned more about the information? Is it because you were running for President in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you're saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?

HARRIS: Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed, and I have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.

We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set goals for the United States of America and, by extension, the globe around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example. That value has not changed.

My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the Attorney General of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the passage, illegal passage of guns, drugs, and human beings across our border. My values have not changed.

Harris spoke for nearly a minute and said nothing responsive to the question. If Harris' values haven't changed, why did she reverse herself on these policies? Are her policies not tethered to her values? The bigger question is just how committed Harris will remain to these policy shifts, and whether she's just lying to look less radical in order to win an election.

Even NBC's Yamiche Alcindor didn't buy this spin during the program:

Harris keeps saying “my values haven’t changed” while not explaining why her positions have changed.

Harris is also preparing how to describe shifting views on policy and stances such as fracking. A source told NBC News a way Harris might message on that would be to explain that her views have evolved since she got access to the presidential daily briefing and after having traveled extensively talking with everyday Americans for three years as vice president.

Perhaps, but Harris never mentioned the daily briefing in any of these responses. Harris also never spoke about "talking with everyday Americans" as a catalyst for changing these positions. She never provided an explanation at all. Not even the lame suggestions given sotto voce by anonymous campaign sources.

By early this morning, Team Trump had created a new 60-second ad that will hopefully run in battleground states highlighting Harris' vacillations and lack of integrity:

COMRADE KAMALA: "MY VALUES HAVE NOT CHANGED." pic.twitter.com/ZjYR02wFBe

— Trump on 𝕏 (@trump_repost) August 30, 2024

Brilliant. This is the line of attack that Trump has to use himself, too. Harris is a phony, both politically and intellectually. She'll say anything to get elected, and that is her core value.

Unfortunately, we can't count on the Protection Racket Media to report honestly about Harris' utter lack of substance. Even today, they're trying to circle wagons around Harris and Tim Walz by claiming that this interview answered the serious questions about their campaign. Not one of them will even address the issue of Harris' participation in the cover-up over Joe Biden's cognitive decline, even after Dana Bash brought it up to get an explanation of why Harris is the new nominee instead of the current president.

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