The campaign for former President Donald Trump has likened the newly unveiled economic strategy of Vice President Kamala Harris to socialist policies, The Hill reported on Friday.
During a call with reporters on Friday, the Trump team gave a preemptive assessment of Harris' Friday afternoon speech in which she attempted to sell her economic vision as one that promises more government oversight over corporations and financial incentives to new families and homebuyers.
"Her policies rival some of the most socialist and authoritarian models from world history. Instead of unleashing American energy and reducing the burden on our people, she would impose price controls that are something out of Venezuela or Cuba," senior Trump campaign adviser Brian Hughes told reporters.
Harris spoke to supporters in North Carolina Friday, outlining her strategy to involve state authorities in more of the interactions between suppliers and consumers. One of her key initiatives is to use the power of the federal government to limit the mergers and acquisitions of meat processors, whom Harris blames for the rising cost of food for Americans.
"This policy is completely preposterous," said Kevin Hassett, an economic adviser during Trump's first term in office.
"The thing is, though, is that it also reveals that if they're willing to have the government take over the pricing of things, it reveals that all of the rollback we saw in the last two weeks of the very extreme far-left policies that she supported in the past, that that rollback was just inaccurate," Hassett added.
Harris also seeks to expand the child tax credit initiative and award $6,000 to families with newborn children as well as offering $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore dismissed Harris' homebuyer plan as ignoring the root cause of the stalled housing market, noting that interest rates are averaging around 6.5%.
"The idea of giving people more money to make their down payment is putting a Band-Aid on a cancer patient," Moore said. "The big problem is people can't afford their mortgage payments because they're so much higher than they were when Trump was president."