Welcome back to your weekly US politics update, where North American Bureau Chief Jade Macmillan brings you up to speed on the key developments in America as we approach election day in November.

In the current US election success story, this week’s Kamala Harris interview was yet another primetime item.

The vice president rose to the top spot on the Democratic ticket at the last minute without new primaries taking place.

Her reluctance to engage with the mainstream media in the weeks after Joe Biden dropped out of the race meant the CNN interview marked the first time she had been seriously tested in an unplanned setting since emerging as his replacement.

All this led to more and more attention being paid to her achievements.

Harris avoided major missteps, such as the awkward 2021 “I’ve never been to Europe” comment that is now part of Republicans’ attack ads.

And while she also failed to produce any standout moments that could have boosted her early momentum, her campaign overall would likely be satisfied with a somewhat neutral result.

But the vice president failed to fully answer some of the biggest questions posed to her. And with just two months to go until Election Day, she will face continued pressure to do so.

‘My values ​​have not changed’

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Harris markets himself as a candidate for change, using campaign slogans like “A New Way Forward” and “We’re Not Going Back.”

However, as vice president in the current administration, this inevitably raises questions about what exactly she wants to do differently from Biden.

Harris stressed that she had no regrets defending the president’s qualities after his disappointing performance at the debate, saying it had been an honor to work with him.

She made it clear that she would not deviate from US policy on the war in Gaza. She joined Biden in arguing that Israel has the right to defend itself, although “how it does so matters.”

And when she spoke of her desire to “turn the page on the last decade” — prompting CNN host Dana Bash to point out that the administration she served in spanned nearly four years of that period — she suggested she was talking about Trump.

“I’m talking about an era that started about a decade ago where there was a suggestion — I think it’s a distorted statement — that the power of a leader is measured by the person you defeat,” Harris said.

“Rather than what I think most Americans think, which is that the true measure of a leader’s strength depends on who you elevate.”

Harris has faced criticism over energy policy and immigration policy, two areas where she has moved increasingly to the political center in recent years.

In 2019, while running for her party’s presidential nomination, Harris told a town hall meeting that she supported a ban on fracking, a process used to extract natural gas.

Five years later, with the resource-rich state of Pennsylvania seen as a surefire win by Democrats, she continues to insist she is not an opponent.

When asked why she changed her position, Harris argued that the Biden administration had shown that climate change could be prioritized without imposing a ban on fracking.

But she also introduced a phrase that was repeated throughout the interview: “My values ​​haven’t changed.”

Harris was then asked about her position on border security. In 2019, she had raised her hand during a debate when asked whether unauthorized crossings from the U.S. to foreign countries should be legalized.

Harris now says there must be “consequences” for those who enter the country illegally.

She accused Donald Trump of deliberately letting a bipartisan border package fail because it wouldn’t benefit him politically, before returning to her previous argument.

“My view on what we need to do to secure our borders has not changed,” Harris said.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, called the vice president’s position ridiculous and called him “bizarre.”

“If you still have the same values, why did you change your mind on literally every issue that you previously had an opinion on?” he said on Fox News.

“I think it’s important that we don’t buy this.”

Trump will use what he calls Harris’ “flip-flops” to deploy one of his most consistent lines of attack on her: that she is dishonest.

“I look forward to debating Comrade Kamala Harris and exposing her for the fraud that she is,” he said on Truth Social.

“Harris has changed all her long-held positions on everything.”

The last time the former president took the debate stage, his opponent left the race weeks later.

With the head-to-head confrontation with Harris less than two weeks away, neither side has to worry about how significant the confrontation will be.

Trump’s IVF Promise

While the focus this week was largely on Harris’ answers, Trump also raised questions about his own position on another key campaign issue: reproductive rights.

The former president promised that either his government or health insurers would cover all costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.

Trump nominated three of the conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, giving states the authority to pass abortion bans.

An Alabama court’s ruling earlier this year that a frozen embryo is considered a child gave new force to Democrats’ warnings that other reproductive rights could be at stake.

The state legislature later passed a law allowing IVF clinics that closed their doors after the ruling to resume operations.

Trump did not provide details in his announcement about how his administration would pay for IVF treatments, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

But it is part of a broader effort to neutralize an issue that could cost him support in November.

The trade-off proved more difficult when it came to questions about a ballot measure aimed at overturning a six-week abortion ban in Florida, where Trump is registered to vote.

Trump initially indicated he would vote for the measure, telling NBC he believed “we need more than six weeks.”

But anti-abortion activists reacted angrily to the comment, and Trump’s team quickly intervened to say he had not disclosed what he planned to do.

Within hours, Trump announced he would vote against it after all — something Harris’ campaign was quick to emphasize.

“Kamala Harris is going to fight for your rights,” Democratic campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz argued.

“Donald Trump will take them away.”

ICYMI: An ugly brawl on sacred ground

Not far from Washington DC lies Arlington National Cemetery, where thousands of veterans are buried. It is one of the most solemn places in the US.

Trump visited the cemetery earlier this week at the invitation of several relatives of soldiers who died during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The former president took part in a wreath-laying ceremony to mark the third anniversary of his death.

But when he moved to an area known as Section 60, where the graves of victims of Afghanistan and Iraq are located, a brawl broke out.

Trump’s team included staff members who took photos and video. Footage of the visit was later posted to TikTok.

The US military claims that a cemetery worker who was trying to enforce laws prohibiting any form of political activity in the area was “suddenly pushed aside”.

Trump’s campaign responded by accusing the employee of being the one who “initiated the physical contact and verbal harassment that was unwarranted and unnecessary.”

The former president himself claimed he took photos at the families’ request and blamed Biden’s “incompetence” for their deaths.

The military said the incident had been reported to police, but the employee had decided not to file a complaint.

It considers the issue resolved. The political controversy may not be.