Why Kamala's convention speech proves she is a chameleon: How Harris has transformed from 'everything radical left' to running on 'vibes'

Vice President Kamala Harris concluded her final political reboot Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, channelling a sense of freedom and joy to power her campaign, while shedding her more radical policy proposals.

With the enthusiastic endorsement of all the living Democratic presidents and celebrities like Oprah, Democrats cheered wildly as she unleashed her new campaign.

‘We are charting a new way forward,' she said to cheering crowds. 'Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class.'

The substance-free campaign is far different than the one Harris ran for president in 2020 as she embraced a far-left political agenda in an effort to attract the most radical voters of the party.

Already a Senator for California, Harris shifted further to the left on issues she used to oppose. 

Harris supported the use of marijuana and co-sponsoring a bill that would make it federally legal, even though she spent her life prosecuting marijuana users. 

She supported bills that would offer Americans free college, free health care, cancel student debt, and offer monthly payments to couples making less than $100,000 a year. Harris also sponsored a bill to eliminate cash bail, and vocalized her support for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s $93 trillion Green New Deal.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) joins fellow Democrats from the House and Senate to introduce new legislation to end excessive use of force by police

California State Attorney General Kamala Harris speaks to California Democrats in 2015

As her presidential campaign continued, Harris went even further to the left, endorsing the idea of banning fracking to extract oil out of the ground and the idea of reducing the consumption of red meat to reduce methane gas from cow farts.

Harris also supported the idea of banning plastic straws and decriminalizing prostitution.

She floated the idea of expanding executive power to allow the Justice Department to block state abortion laws and using executive action to require a mandatory buyback program for some semiautomatic rifles and restrict gun sales.

Harris also supported the idea of defunding police departments, eliminating private prisons and mandatory minimum sentences and cash bail, as well as the death penalty. She even supported the idea of restoring the right to vote for felons.

On immigration, Harris supported the idea of decriminalizing illegal border crossings and taxpayer funded healthcare for illegal immigrants. On the subject of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Harris said she was ready to ‘start from scratch’ to reimagine the agency.

While the Trump campaign is trying to bury Harris with her far-left record, the Vice President has pivoted away from policy toward the idea of serving as a ‘joyful warrior.’

Harris put forth the concept of herself as a’ joyful warrior’ in early 2018, as she tried to move away from her persona as an angry anti-Trump prosecutor she had developed.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris poses for a portrait in San Francisco in 2004

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during the National Urban League Conference in Indianapolis, July 26, 2019.

During her first year in the Senate, Harris had energized Democrats by challenging President Trump’s administration officials and trying to block his Supreme Court nominees.

But in a story in Vogue, Harris made it clear she was moving on.

’At the end of the year, I thought back to 2017, and I was like, “Bye, Felisha,” Harris laughed. ‘This year, I’m just gonna be a joyful warrior.’

Speaking to talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres, Harris detailed in April why she decided to change her political persona.

‘We have to be joyful warriors,’ Harris said. ‘I decided at the end of last year, there was so much that was creating depression, anger, anxiety, I said I’m done with that. I don’t like that feeling, I don’t think any of us do. So let’s just go into 2018 and be joyful warriors.’

Harris also spoke about being a joyful warrior in January 2019 during an event with Jonathan Capehart, just before her run for president.

‘We gotta find time to sing and dance and laugh and have a little fun,’ she said.

Harris’ policies and her campaign as a ‘joyful warrior’ never satisfied Democratic primary voters who fell in love with her opponents: Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, and ultimately Vice President Joe Biden, who won the nomination in 2020.

U.S. President Joe Biden hands Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris the microphone at a rally in Maryland 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks onstage during a Pride Celebration hosted by the Vice President Of The United States

Harris ended her presidential campaign in December 2019, before the primary caucuses and primaries even began.

Vice President Joe Biden selected Harris as his running mate in August of 2020, allowing Harris to rebrand herself as having the same more moderate agenda. Harris launched into a three month campaign sprint that resulted in the pair winning the presidential election.

As Vice President, Harris struggled in the role, as she found it difficult to effectively communicate the administrations agenda and defend President Joe Biden. Efforts to portray her 'joy' and enthusiasm, frequently ran flat. 

Now that she has seized the leadership mantle from Biden, Harris has moved back to her familiar 'joyful warrior' campaign but this time without the more radical public policies. 

The campaign has refused to do any interviews about her ideas for the country as she works quietly behind the scenes to calibrate the tone and tenor of her new brand.  

The campaign is running on vibes, as she shifts away from traditional media and toward stadium filling celebrity power events and viral social media content.