Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during the Democratic primary debate hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

During the CNN Democratic debate, one of the more shocking moments was the absolute thrashing that Tulsi Gabbard put on Kamala Harris regarding her real record as attorney general of California.

Gabbard pointed out Harris’ office slow-walking evidence and harsh enforcement policies that make up just some of the questionable tactics Harris endorsed in her career as a prosecutor. The gutting provided by Gabbard appears to have had a lasting effect on Harris: She’s tanking in the polls.

CNN poll: 2020 Democrats

Biden 29% (+7 since late June)
Sanders 15% (+1)
Warren 14% (-1)
Buttigieg 5% (+1)
Harris 5% (-12)
O’Rourke 3% (-)
Booker 2% (-1)
Castro 2% (+1)
Gabbard 2% (+1)
[everyone else 1% or less]https://t.co/nSU6zOT1k3

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) August 20, 2019

Harris has dropped twelve points in the polls, and it’s only going to get worse. Harris has two problems.

The first is what Gabbard hit her on: She’s a cop. She’s always been a cop. She will always be seen as a cop. What made people excited about committee hearings she was involved with was the fact that she was a prosecutor, a person whose goal is to get the opposition to say exactly what she wants them to say. If you go back and listen to her responses to Gabbard, she got caught in the same trap Chris Christie crushed Marco Rubio on in 2016 – the robotic talking points. She didn’t defend herself, but instead went back to what she was saying before the attack.

She couldn’t defend the attacks.

The second is much more dangerous for her: Attacking Joe Biden is an attack on Barack Obama. Harris has tried to hit Senator Joe Biden and not Vice President Joe Biden, but Biden has been clever enough to always refer back to his time with Obama to remind black voters he was Obama’s guy. If you attack Obama’s guy, you attack Obama, and that’s a major problem for Harris.

Harris could end up out of future debates if she doesn’t find a way to rehabilitate the image. She’s in trouble.