Last week I listed the ten most important reasons to vote against Donald Trump. Here is an accompanying list of arguments for elevating Vice President Kamala Harris to the presidency. Again, drum rolland the countdown to number 1:
10. She has a good resume for the job.
Harris has two decades of experience and a solid track record at every level of government: locally, as a prosecutor and as a district attorney in San Francisco; state, as Attorney General of California; and federally, as U.S. Senator and Vice President. In California, she won battles against transnational criminals, for-profit colleges, evictions, and corporate polluters. At the national level, she has been a champion of reproductive rights and policies that actually help the working class, rather than paying lip service to them. à la Trump.
All told, Harris has more government experience, including in national security (as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and as vice president), than Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and Trump had when they came to power.
9. She is a consensus-oriented pragmatist.
Forget Trump’s whining about Harris as a Marxist; he is the extremist – a “fascist,” as his former chief of staff John F. Kelly called it warns. Harris is “a strong, dedicated public servant … committed to bringing people together,” former Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan said last week as he joined more than 30 former party colleagues in condemning Trump.
Harris’ move to the left five years ago over her short-lived presidential campaign, including on health care, the environment and police, was a pandering to party liberals; she was not true to herself, hence her poor performance. But she learned from her comeuppance and from her service as a veep for the compromise-seeking President Biden. Like Democratic elder James Carville noted Wednesday in the New York Times, Harris’ support stretches from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Democrats’ left to Dick and Liz Cheney on the right, making her coalition “the broadest we’ve seen in modern political history .”
8. She would choose officials for her government.
That Harris (or any president) would assemble a competent Cabinet and sub-Cabinet officials should not be remarkable. But that is true, while the alternative is a Trump administration without the so-called “adults in the room” who previously worked for him. Like Trump recently warnedwhen it comes to choosing advisors: “I know the game a little better now.” Its purpose, as described in Project 2025is to eradicate the impartial civil service and fill jobs with sycophants loyal to him, not the Constitution.
7. She would allow the Trump trials to play out.
Harris would not treat the Justice Department as her personal law firm, as Trump did and would do again, to fulfill his threats. “retaliation.” Assisted by lackeys (see above), he dumped the criminal cases against himself and started new ones against his enemies. He told Right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt announced Tuesday that he would fire special prosecutor Jack Smith “in two seconds.”
More than 40 former Justice Department officials from both parties have done so endorsed Harris, who said she would respect the department’s independence, as has every president except Trump since Watergate. Justice, and righteousness, would continue, because the charges against Trump for January 6 and the seizure of classified documents are justified. They are not, as Trump lies, the result of the Democrats’ “weaponization” of the government.
6. She would be a better fiscal and economic steward.
Neither Harris nor Trump have plans to address the unsustainable growth of the federal debt; both would add something to it. But Harris’ agenda on tax and spending policy, he said, would cost about half that of Trump’s unbiased analysesand ensure better returns on public investments. And in a Wall Street Journal questionnaireMost economists predicted that inflation, interest rates and deficits would be much higher under Trump.
Although he and many voters blame Biden and Harris for inflation in recent years, price increases were inevitable given post-pandemic demand. But inflation has fallen and inflation-adjusted wages have risen pre-pandemic levels. Moreover, Harris would respect the independence of the Federal Reserve; as president, Trump did not.
5. She would build on Biden’s climate change initiatives.
Trump not only fails to acknowledge the existential threat, he mocks it and vows to revoke the historic Biden-Harris investments in clean energy. Instead he would “drill, baby, drill.” (Again, contrary to Trump’s lies, US energy production has picked up under Biden world records.) Harris calls for continuing a hybrid approach, supporting existing fossil fuel projects but emphasizing clean energy subsidies.
4. She would like to signal to the world that the United States remains committed to democracy and its multilateral alliances.
Harris would maintain American leadership in NATO and other global institutions, respect existing international agreements, including on climate, and support Ukraine against Russian aggression. Even more than Biden, she has indicated that she would oppose Israel’s right-wing government. None of this would be true for a re-elected Trump. Foreign allies are terrified he will return to power; By simply electing Harris, Americans would reassure the free world.
3. She would choose diverse, mainstream nominees for the federal courts.
Harris would continue Biden’s practice of choosing esteemed, mainstream judicial nominees who are diverse in professional background, gender and race. She would likely choose relative moderates as opposed to Trump’s right-wing ideologues, especially if, as predicted, the Senate has a Republican majority eager to find any excuse to block her choices. Expect far-right Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas, 76, and Samuel A. Alito Jr., 74, to delay their retirements rather than let her choose their successors. But that is preferable to Trump picking younger clones to serve for decades.
2. She has character.
Harris is not a habitual liar, shows no taste for personal power and self-aggrandizement and is untouched by scandal. Unlike Trump, she would be “a president for all Americans” and “put country before party and herself,” as she said at the Democratic National Convention.
1. She’s not Trump.
Enough said.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
