How has candidate Harris performed? It’s still really all about the policies….

After the Democratic Party Convention, some of the forecasts offered below have turned out to be, as we have suggested, totally wrong. Harris has pursued the tried and true Biden strategy of ‘hiding in the basement’ so that she can avoid making her policies known to the public.¹ Amazingly, Vice President Harris is being packaged by Democratic Party operatives as the candidate of change though she is a part of the administration that instituted all the policies which have been disastrous for the country.

To hear the major media and the usual Democrat suspects, a Kamala Harris run for the presidency is just what the doctor ordered for a campaign season that threatened to be a slam dunk for Republican candidates across the board…including Donald Trump. Speaking of her candidacy you hear words like “new life into the Democratic Party” or as an Axios article quoted a Delaware Democrat: “…the switch to Harris had been ‘like a shot of adrenaline to the heart’ for the beleaguered troops of the former Biden-Harris campaign…”² Axios went on to ‘foretell’ the future of the race for President.

• Harris will stress that this is a choice between a criminal and a ‘law-and-order’ former Attorney General.
• She will highlight Trump’s age as contrasted with her ‘youth.’
• She will likely “pick a moderate white male as her running mate” to try to attract undecided potential voters.
• She will probably get a boost from the August Democratic Party Convention in Chicago.³

Of course, her law enforcement record did not extend to the national level when she as ‘border Czar’ should have enforced immigration law. In our view, her chronological difference with President Trump does not really concern age so much as it concerns Trump’s experience versus her naiveté. She did select a white male for the party ticket’s Vice President, her candidate is the extremely liberal and immoderate governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz. CNN has called him “a progressive populist folk hero.”⁴ It does appear the convention gave her a boost, but it has been exceptionally weak.

As it has turned out, candidate Harris has not embraced in any real way, the talking points above. In fact, her deliberately unfocused statements regarding policies and her selection of a Vice Presidential running mate have been vastly different. Consider some of her most recent policy rhetoric.

• Economic Policy: Harris has said nothing of substance about halting inflation but she has made several promises regarding governmental giveaways. Among many more of these, Harris promises $25,000 in down-payment aid for first-time homebuyers, $6,000 for low- and middle-income families with new babies and $3,600 per child per year in an expanded child tax credit. Nothing has been said about how these will be paid for but be assured, we will be taxed for them.
• Social Policy: Harris has promised to see that the Congress enshrines unrestricted abortion in opposition to Trump’s policy of state choice.
• Immigration Policy: She promises reform built on a foundation of a pathway to citizenship, hiring thousands more border agents, a crack-down on fentanyl and human trafficking. In fact, Harris would only need to rescind President Biden’s recension of President Trump’s border security executive order.
• Foreign Policy: Harris promises to highlight her abhorrence Palestinian ‘sufferring’ in Gaza while at the same time, supporting Israel’s right to defend itself.⁵ In reality, both of these choices will result in civilian ‘collateral damage.’

You can be sure though, the Democratic Party informal spokespeople that populate the airwaves from the major media outlets will be taking every opportunity to echo the party line. And since the convention, indeed they have. Along with the official Obama-esque adoption of the one word policy platform ‘joy’, regularly on the evening news one sees stories about how Vice President Harris will turn the economy around, restore abortion for everyone at any time and how she will steer Israel towards a cease-fire in Gaza.

There will be some problems for Harris and the Democrats. Most recently her statements supporting a border wall and domestic energy production have not been persuasive. And, her record as former Attorney General of the State of California does not gibe with the description ‘law and order.’ In 2014, she and her office formed and supported the passing of ‘Proposition 47’ named “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act” that appears to have caused a vast increase in theft in California. The CEO of the California District Attorneys Association, Greg Totten, said of Proposition 47 that…

• “Prop 47 was a lie from day one. Its deliberately misleading title was designed to trick voters …A decade later things, are worse than they have ever been.”⁶

As to the description of Donald Trump as a criminal and convicted felon, the Trump campaign will point out what is obvious to many of us: Trump’s conviction was an act of political abuse of the justice system by Democratic Party operatives hoping to tarnish him or even put him in jail, so that he cannot win the Presidency. Trump’s campaign will likely take Harris’ assertion of her youth versus Trump’s age and point out that Harris has no real experience in governance. Her record as a one-term Senator and Vice President boasts no accomplishments of note and several failures. In 2021 President Biden put her in charge of negotiations with Central American nations to resolve illegal immigration issues at the US southern border. She came to be described by the press on the left and the right as Biden’s “border Czar.”⁷ Of course, she did nothing to solve the immigration problem. It remains to be seen if Harris’ choice of a white male as her Vice-Presidential candidate reminds people of color of the same old Democratic party tactic of talking about diversity but in reality, their actions are much different. Here at I Vote My Vote we still urge everyone to keep their eyes on the real issues of importance in this race. In Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign for the Presidency, his political advisor James Carville was quoted as saying in reference to the main issue of the day, “It’s the economy, stupid.”⁸ We would amend this quotation for the current campaigns for the President so that it states, “It’s the policies!”

With a Trump vs. Harris race, it is essential to compare their actions and policies. Trump has a record as President. If you liked his policies, you will very likely support his candidacy and like his return to the office of the President. Harris has a record as California Attorney General, Senator and Vice-President. Examine her record in public service. And remember, as Biden’s Vice-President, a Biden policy – whether it’s economic policy, domestic policy or foreign policy – is a Kamala Harris policy. We here at I Vote My Vote urge you to let your voice be heard. Learn about the candidates and vote!

1. Lowry, R. (2024). Kamala updates Joe’s basement campaign — still hiding, now behind a Teleprompter. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2024/08/05/opinion/kamala-campaign-mimics-joes-hiding-behind-a-teleprompter/
2. VandeHei, J. and Allen, M. (2024). Behind the Curtain: The new 2024 campaign foretold. Axios.com. Retrieved from https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/trump-kamala-harris-election-campaign-strategy
3. Ibid.
4. King, J., Zeleny, J., Gangel, J., Lee, M., Strauss, D., Krieg, G., Holmes, K. and Klein, B. (2024). Harris decides on Tim Walz as running mate. CNN.com. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/06/politics/tim-walz-harris-vice-president/index.html
5. Janse, A. (2024). What we know — and don’t know — about the Harris policy agenda. WHYY, PBS, NPR. Retrieved from https://whyy.org/articles/kamala-harris-policy-agenda-what-to-know/
6. layton, A. (2024). Will it stay or will it go? California voters decide fate of ‘momentous’ criminal justice law. Theguardian.com. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/01/california-proposition-47-criminal-justice-

7. Kight, S. (2024). Harris border confusion haunts her new campaign. Axios.com. Retrieved from https://www.axios.com/2024/07/24/kamala-harris-border-czar-immigratin

1. Q: Why is there concern about Kamala Harris’s candidacy for president?

Ans: The concern is that Harris may be nominated without sufficient discussion or consideration of other candidates, potentially undermining the democratic process and bypassing the voice of the voters and delegates who initially supported Joe Biden.

2. Q: What issues are raised regarding Harris’s record as Attorney General?

Ans: Harris’s record includes support for Proposition 47, which critics argue led to increased crime rates in California, and her support for bail reform efforts that critics say allowed violent criminals to remain free.

3. Q: How might Harris’s campaign strategy be problematic?

Ans: Critics argue that her campaign’s focus on contrasting her “law-and-order” stance with Trump’s alleged criminality and her choice of a likely moderate running mate may not address substantive policy issues or effectively engage voters.

4. Q: What are the concerns about the Democratic convention process?

Ans: There are concerns that the convention may be predetermined in favor of Harris, with some delegates who were initially committed to Biden being reassigned to Harris without proper polling, which could lead to a contentious convention similar to the 1968 event in Chicago.

5. Q: What should voters focus on when choosing between Trump and Harris?

Ans: Voters are encouraged to focus on the policies and records of the candidates. Trump’s record as president should be compared to Harris’s performance as Attorney General, Senator, and Vice President, with an emphasis on their actual achievements and policy stances.