I supported Donald Trump’s candidacy for president in 2016 because I believed he was an entrepreneur who would usher in a new era of post-partisan realpolitik. To say he failed to deliver on that promise is an understatement. Instead, he demonstrated incompetence in the face of the global pandemic, succumbed to his nationalistic instincts, and when he lost the 2020 election, he fomented rebellion.
I support Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 because I believe she is the candidate who can move us out of ideological rule. Their common-sense policies are often consistent with economic growth and social inclusion.
The rally hosted by Donald Trump last weekend at Madison Square Garden was a wake-up call for Charles Lindbergh’s 1939 pro-Americanism rally at the same venue. The 1939 event, which featured a photo of George Washington strung between American flags and swastikas, was a fascist white supremacist rally cloaked in false patriotism.
The rhetoric at each rally was shockingly similar. In 1939, speakers denounced “Jewish refugees taking their jobs” and said it was “very American to protect the Aryan character of this nation.”
In 2024, Trump described America as a “garbage can”, after previously saying that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country”. At his rally in Madison Square Garden, he said that the United States was an “occupying country.” Another Trump rally speaker, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, described Puerto Rico as a “pile of garbage floating in the ocean” and said black Trump supporters would “carve watermelons” for Halloween.
If you’re willing to overlook the blatant racism and dire warnings from more than 40 former Trump officials, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former Chief of Staff John Kelly, because you think Trump would be better for your wallet, then we’ve got news for you: mass deportations and fees Tariffs are devastating to the economy.
Trump’s agenda is economically regressive, benefiting the wealthiest Americans and harming the working class while exacerbating the deficit. Trump’s mass deportation plan would cut 7.9% from US gross domestic product, and tariffs would shrink the economy by another 1.3%, according to Bloomberg Economics. Analyzes by The Wall Street Journal, Goldman Sachs, Moody’s, and 16 Nobel laureates have issued similar warnings. The result of Trump’s policies will be a severe economic recession twice that of the 2008 financial crisis, not to mention massive human cruelty.
Are we supposed to take Trump “seriously, but not literally” on immigration? On CBS’ 60 Minutes last weekend, Tom Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under Trump, made it clear that Trump is very serious about enacting his mass deportation plan, even if it means arresting all… people forcibly. Families with children born in the United States
On the other hand, Vice President Harris’s tax proposals would raise the real income of Americans in the bottom 20 percent by 13.6%, while marginally increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Trump’s plan would make the richest 10% of Americans richer by more than 4% in annual income while reducing the real income of those in the bottom 20%.
The Trump campaign asked voters: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Humans tend to have short memories, but let’s try to remember where Trump left us. He ignored the playbook of the pandemic response from the Obama administration and his own administration officials like former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert, leading to an unnecessary degree of death and economic hardship. Nearly $2 trillion in untargeted COVID-19 stimulus under Trump laid the foundation for the inflationary storm we saw in the early years of the Biden-Harris administration.
While we must find additional ways to accelerate America’s reindustrialization and raise working-class wages more quickly, the Biden-Harris economy and stock market are performing well, even in the face of historic interest rate increases.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is trading at its highest levels ever, rising more than 50% since Biden’s inauguration. The US economy has added more than 15 million jobs in that time, resulting in historically low unemployment rates, including adding 50% more manufacturing jobs than under Trump. Annual real wage growth of 1.5% matches Trump’s pre-Covid-19 levels. Oil production is one million barrels per day more than it was under Trump, which has led to lower gas prices now.
The prevailing narrative in 2024 is that former President Trump is the better candidate for business. The fact that Trump is still a factor in the race means that voters are willing to overlook his myriad legal problems and character flaws because, as James Carville famously put it: “It’s the economy, stupid.” However, the reality is that Vice President Kamala Harris has a better economic record and plan, focusing on tax cuts and credits for small businesses and working-class families.
When voters feel left out, they vote for change. But Harris is the change we need, not Trump.
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