Myths & Facts: Rebutting Trump’s False Attacks on Harris’s Record

A central strategy from the Trump campaign and his MAGA surrogates will be to brand Vice President Harris as “the most liberal nominee ever” and to paint her as a radical leftist on the border and public safety, health care, and energy —a perception that new Blueprint polling shows could hurt the Vice President. And we have just begun to see what these ads and messages will look like. Democrats’ path to victory is centered around a mainstream vision for the country—not by tacking further to the left and playing into the Trump narrative that Vice President Harris is a radical leftist.

The Biden-Harris Administration has pushed back on extremes on both the left and the right and consistently delivered for the vast majority of Americans who would rather put progress over partisanship and solutions over ideology. We debunk these myths with facts about Harris’s mainstream record during her time in office.

Border Security & Immigration

MYTH: Harris embraces “open borders” and “abolish ICE.”

FACT: Harris supports the toughest and fairest bipartisan border security bill in history, killed by Donald Trump, that would’ve invested $20 billion in new security and personnel at the border, reformed asylum processing, and disrupted fentanyl trafficking. The Biden-Harris Administration has increased funding for Customs and Border Protection by $3 billion to hire more border agents and enhance security technology. The administration has seized nearly six times as much fentanyl at the border compared to the Trump administration.

Public Safety

MYTH: Harris will “defund the police.”

FACT: The Biden-Harris Administration has invested $15 billion in public safety and law enforcement for local communities, including doubling funding compared to Trump for the two largest crime-fighting programs to hire and train more police officers, holding criminals accountable by clearing court backlogs, and preventing future crime before it happens. The legislation enacted has helped bring violent crime rates down to a 50-year low—lower than at any point during the Trump presidency.

Energy & Climate

MYTH: Harris will “destroy American energy” and “’transition’ energy workers.”

FACT: Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the United States has pursued a truly all of the above strategy – keeping prices low by producing more oil and natural gas than any other administration in history, and deploying more clean energy than ever before to make America energy independent. Legislation enacted by the Biden-Harris Administration has spurred record private sector investment and created hundreds of thousands of good-paying, good-quality jobs across the entire energy sector, including industries like batteries, natural gas, nuclear energy, and renewables.

Inflation

MYTH: Harris has caused “runaway inflation.”

FACT: The Biden-Harris Administration has had the strongest economic growth and recovery from the pandemic of any G-7 nation. More Americans are working than ever before, Americans are wealthier today (especially the middle class), and real wages have risen substantially. The Biden-Harris Administration is also tackling high costs for consumers by taking an axe to “junk fees” and cracking down on corporate price gouging. Inflation hit every advanced market economy after the pandemic. America has done better than every other country.

Health Care

MYTH: Harris will “eliminate private health insurance” and give “health care [to] illegals.”

FACT: The Biden-Harris Administration has firmly rejected Medicare-for-All. Instead, they have worked to preserve—and strengthen—the Affordable Care Act, ensuring people have stable and secure coverage. The Biden-Harris Administration has expanded the ACA’s cost caps, making premiums for private insurance more affordable for the middle class. They have capped insulin at $35 for seniors, passed a law that allows Medicare to directly negotiate lower prices for ten high-cost drugs, and capped seniors’ out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy. The Biden-Harris Administration has also fought to combat medical debt. Undocumented immigrants, outside of Dreamers enrolled in DACA, are not eligible to enroll in these services under the Biden-Harris Administration.

Guns

MYTH: Harris will institute “gun confiscation by force.”

FACT: The caricature of the Biden-Harris Administration confiscating guns from homes across the country is false. The Biden-Harris Administration enacted the first major gun violence legislation in 30 years—which was a bipartisan deal spearheaded by Republicans from deep red states. The bipartisan law enhanced background checks, made gun trafficking a federal crime, and implemented “red flag” laws to prevent dangerous people from owning guns.