Republican former president Donald Trump announced his campaign for the 2024 Presidential Election on Nov. 15, 2022, the start of what the world presumed would be a rematch between Trump and current Democratic President Joe Biden. Diving straight into the 2024 primaries, polls began to indicate that Biden’s chances of reelection were not as unwavering as the campaign would hope. Momentum was further stalled on June 27, with the first 2024 presidential election debate proving that the campaign would need strategic efforts to prove that Biden, who will turn 82 on Nov. 20, was not impeded by his age or physical health.
Then on July 21, 2024, everything changed. Eight days after the assassination attempt at a Trump rally in Butler, P.A., Joe Biden posted a brief letter to social media announcing that he would be dropping out of the 2024 Presidential Race, and endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris. In the first week after launching her presidential campaign, Harris raised over $200 million, a record in campaign history. Despite this whirlwind of momentum, it was time to ask the question: where does Kamala Harris stand on important issues?
Harris’ campaign website organizes several policy approaches into three categories: “build an opportunity economy and lower costs for families,” “safeguard our fundamental freedoms” and “ensure safety and justice for all.” Under these headlines are various policy areas dealing with tax cuts for middle-class families, expanding tax deductions for new businesses, lowering healthcare costs and restoring reproductive rights, specifically by preventing a national abortion ban from taking effect. Harris also addresses gun violence, referencing her controversial time as California’s Attorney General and securing the U.S.–Mexico border. Under each section, Harris compares “Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda,” highlighting the dramatic differences in policy approaches between her plan and a document highly associated with Make America Great Again Republicans.
Trump’s website tells a different story. Under “Issues,” the former president lists twenty core goals defining his “Project 47,” including securing the border and “stopping the migrant invasion,” as well as carrying out the “largest deportation operation in American history.” In other policy areas, Trump ensures to “keep men out of women’s sports” and cut funding for schools promoting the use of Critical Race Theory, “Radical Gender Ideology” and other content relating to race, sexuality and politics that could be deemed as inappropriate. On the economic end, Trump promises to end inflation and “Make America Affordable Again” and end the tax on tips, as well as make America a global manufacturing superpower.
Harris has received several critiques for her “New Way Forward,” including a comparison that several different policy issues seem to be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency rather than a new administration altogether. On Trump’s end, criticism is directed more toward democracy and the rule of law, important considerations following the events of Jan. 6th and Trump v. United States (2024), in which the U.S. The Supreme Court ruled six to three that Trump has presidential immunity from all “official acts” during his term.
sglisson@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @sturdyAlex, X
