How to Make the ‘Flip-Flop’ Charge Stick to Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has more flip-flops than a Ron Jon Surf Shop. But if we observe Ramesh Ponnuru’s rule of thumb when evaluating political flip-floppers, conservatives and Republicans can take some solace in the fact that the Democratic nominee’s effort to reinvent herself has featured the candidate moving rightward.

Once an advocate of what she herself called a “mandatory gun buyback program” for so-called assault weapons, Harris now insists she no longer supports firearms confiscation, compensated or otherwise. “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” the Democratic presidential nominee once insisted. Now, her campaign maintains that she favors the exploitation of America’s domestic-energy reserves, and the Trump campaign’s “false claims about fracking bans are an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class.” Harris portrays herself today as a “border state prosecutor” with a record of supporting the “toughest border control” measures possible. In reality, she was anything but.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

Featured Tags

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has more flip-flops than a Ron Jon Surf Shop. But if we observe Ramesh Ponnuru’s rule of thumb when evaluating political flip-floppers, conservatives and Republicans can take some solace in the fact that the Democratic nominee’s effort to reinvent herself has featured the candidate moving rightward.

Once an advocate of what she herself called a “mandatory gun buyback program” for so-called assault weapons, Harris now insists she no longer supports firearms confiscation, compensated or otherwise. “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” the Democratic presidential nominee once insisted. Now, her campaign maintains that she favors the exploitation of America’s domestic-energy reserves, and the Trump campaign’s “false claims about fracking bans are an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class.” Harris portrays herself today as a “border state prosecutor” with a record of supporting the “toughest border control” measures possible. In reality, she was anything but.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.