In recent months, Republicans have regularly mocked Vice President Kamala Harris for having flip-flopped on a number of her positions.

The latest example came this week when the vice president was exposed as having changed her position regarding plastic straws. 

"We do need to ban the plastic"

That fact was brought to light in an article written by Axios contributor Alex Thompson, who recalled how Harris faced questions about plastic straws in 2019 during her failed Democratic primary campaign.

"I think we should," the then-California senator was quoted as saying at a CNN town hall event. "We do need to ban the plastic," she added before acknowledging that the quality of alternative straws should be improved.

Yet a Harris campaign official has since told Axios that getting rid of plastic straws is no longer part of the vice president's agenda.

"She doesn't support banning plastic straws," the official said in a statement. "She cast the tie-breaking vote on the most consequential legislation to combat climate change and create clean energy jobs in history, and as President, she is going to be focused on expanding on that progress."

Vice president now favors border wall construction

The official went on to say that Harris "joked even then about how crappy paper straws are and the need to come up with better eco-friendly alternatives."

Thompson pointed out that Harris' decision to backtrack on straws is part of a wider pattern that has seen her reverse course on multiple policy issues.

Fox News recalled late last month how the vice president once slammed Trump's push to build a wall along America's southern border as a "vanity project" which she would not support "under any circumstance."

However, Harris now says she would both resume wall construction while adopting a generally more hawkish stance regarding immigration.

Harris once said there was "no question" she wanted to ban fracking

Energy is another field in which Harris has shifted, as she declared five years ago that there was "no question" she favored a ban on fracking.

Kamala Harris: “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”

pic.twitter.com/MCMDqQYnQr

— Ben Goldey (@BenGoldey) July 28, 2024

Yet the vice president told CNN host Dana Bash last week that while her values have not changed, banning fracking isn't something she currently favors.

"What I have seen is that we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking," Harris insisted.