Donald Trump has pledged to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants by executive order, if he is elected, which would be a clear violation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
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presidential debate wrap-up
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Last night was the first – and perhaps only – debate between US presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump.
The two had never met in-person and Harris made a point of walking over to Trump to introduce herself and shake hands. She introduced herself by name, which was interesting in that Trump frequently mispronounces it. She had to cross over to his side of the stage as Trump made no move to meet in the middle for a handshake as is customary for presidential debates.
Harris proceeded to answer questions and explain her policy ideas while also correcting some of Trump’s erroneous assertions.
Trump had a lot of trouble staying on topic and lied about a bunch of things. When either the moderators or Harris corrected him, he often doubled down on the lies. For example, he said that immigrants are eating their neighbors’ pets in a certain city, which is not true at all according to the police and government officials there. For Trump to claim such an outlandish thing in a presidential debate is just absurd and out of touch with reality.
Trump spent most of the debate looking glum. Harris sometimes looked at Trump with pity, sometimes with incredulity.
Harris came across as an intelligent, experienced leader, while Trump appeared to be confused and combative. Trump’s mode of thought and expression reminded me uncomfortably of some family members when they were developing Alzheimer’s. This is particularly concerning because Trump’s father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease at a similar age and it tends to run in families.
To learn more about Kamala Harris’s positions on issues and proposals for her presidency, visit the issues page on her website here. There are numerous drop-down sections with specific policies. By contrast, Donald Trump’s Agenda 47 page is more a series of statements than an explanation of how he might implement them.
There is not currently an agreement for a second debate. I can’t imagine the Trump campaign wanting him to try this again.
Project 2025, the lengthy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to lay out plans for the “conservative president” they expect to be elected this year and which mirrors Trump’s Agenda 47 and the Republican party platform, would raise middle class taxes by thousands of dollars per year per household while lowering taxes by over a million dollars per year per household for those making over $10 million.
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After presenting evidence to a new grand jury, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed this superseding indictment against Donald Trump in the 2020 election interference case before Judge Tanya Chutkan, charging Trump as a candidate in conspiracy with other private citizens, thus avoiding any evidence that could be thought of as part of his “official duties” after the controversial Supreme Court decision bestowing broad presidential immunity for official acts and evidence related to executive branch communications, including the Department of Justice.
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Project 2025, the lengthy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to lay out plans for the “conservative president” they expect to be elected this year and which mirrors Trump’s Agenda 47 and the Republican party platform, would direct the FDA to reverse the current approvals of mifepristone nation-wide, restricting medication abortion, miscarriage care, and other uses, even though the medication has proven to be safe and effective. (p. 458)
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Project 2025, the lengthy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to lay out plans for the “conservative president” they expect to be elected this year and which mirrors Trump’s Agenda 47 and the Republican party platform, would weaken child labor protections, allowing youths to do dangerous jobs (p. 595).
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a changed landscape
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
There has been a torrent of presidential election news since I posted Vote for Democracy #12 the day after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. For those who may not follow United States election news, this post will try to fill you in on what has happened to change the presidential election so massively since then.
The Republican party held their convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15th-18th. While it had been billed as being unifying in the wake of the assassination attempt, the message seemed to be welcoming only to those ready to believe the lies about the 2020 election being “stolen” and a lot of other lies about crime rates, immigration, the economy, and a host of other issues. Ohio Senator JD Vance became the vice-presidential nominee. At age 39, he is literally half Donald Trump’s age. He has only served in office for a year and a half and is better known as an author and venture capitalist. Trump gave the longest televised nomination acceptance speech ever at about 92 minutes. He started by recounting the assassination attempt but then veered off the prepared remarks into a version of his rally speech with a lot of rambling.
Meanwhile, President Biden was under increasing pressure to step aside from the presidential campaign, which he did on July 21st, putting his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination. It is unusual for a US president to decide not to seek an additional term, especially this close to an election and there are reams of commentary about it.
Like Joe Biden, I’m Catholic and think about his decision to step aside as an example of servant leadership, a model that is exemplified by Christ. Too often, leadership in the Church has been dominated by clericalism and in government by authoritarianism, oligarchy, or other forms of being power- or wealth-hungry. Biden did what he thought would be best for the country, not seeking re-election to concentrate on his presidential duties for this last six months of his term or one-eighth of his presidency.
About half an hour after announcing his decision, President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination. He asked the delegates pledged to him for the Democratic party’s convention to vote for her, although they were no obligated to do so. Harris declared her candidacy shortly thereafter. Because the campaign had previously been the Biden-Harris campaign, she was entitled to use the resources, including funds, on hand.
There was a groundswell of support for her candidacy. In the first 24 hours, her campaign raised $81 million. Within the first week, there was $200 million, 66% of it from first-time donors. Over 170,000 people had volunteered to help the campaign. Tens of thousands had registered to vote. Funds have also poured into political action committees to support her candidacy.
Meanwhile, Harris has gained endorsements from leading political figures, unions, and organizations. Importantly, the convention delegates have been meeting online to pursue a virtual role call for the nomination. This was the procedure they used last time due to the pandemic; they are using it this year because their convention isn’t until Aug. 19-22 due to the timing of the Republican convention and the Olympics. Some states have deadlines for ballot access earlier in August, so the nomination is being finalized online before the physical gathering in Chicago. In order to be placed into nomination, a candidate needed to have 300 delegates pledged to them. Harris is the only candidate to meet that threshold. She hasn’t yet chosen a running mate, but we expect that announcement soon.
While Harris has been joyfully and skillfully doing numerous speeches, fundraisers, and official appearances, such as greeting the American hostages returning from Russia, the Trump campaign has been confounded. They had apparently centered their strategy around attacking Joe Biden, which is now moot. The Trump campaign and Republicans have engaged in attacks on Harris that come across as misogynistic, racist, and anti-immigrant. They fault Harris for not having given birth, although she is an actively engaged stepmom to Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s two children. They mock her laugh. The daughter of a Jamaican immigrant father and Indian immigrant mother, Kamala Harris has always celebrated both her Black and Asian roots. Somehow, Trump can’t seem to wrap his head around that fact, which is bizarre to most of us who are or have family and friends who are multi-racial/ethnic. Trump has even tried to characterize Harris as anti-Semitic, although she is married to a Jewish man.
I appreciate Harris’s political savvy in being able to briefly address the lies about her but then carry on with her own skills, history, and policy provisions, defining herself for the public rather than letting her opponents put her in a box.
The contrasts between her and the Trump/Vance ticket are stark. Trump and Vance have 5 1/2 years of public service in elected office between them. Harris has held elected office since 2004 as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, United States senator, and vice president, giving her twenty years of experience across three branches of government. Harris is an experienced prosecutor who brought cases against fraud and sexual abuse while Trump is a convicted felon who has also been found libel for financial fraud and sexual abuse. If elected, Harris would make history as the first woman and the first person of South Asian descent to hold the US presidency. If Trump is elected, he would be the oldest president at the time of election and the first convicted criminal in the office. Harris is committed to the Constitution and the rule of law and wants to uphold democracy at home and among our allies. Trump has espoused authoritarian ideas, tried to stay in office after he lost the 2020 election, fomented an insurrection, stolen classified documents and other presidential papers, and admires autocrats.
Trump uses lies and manipulation to spread a message of fear and grievance. Harris uses her experience and intelligence to bring a message of hope and strength.
She has earned my support.
I urge all eligible Americans to make sure they are registered and look at the facts and the positions of the candidates for president, Congress, and any other elections and propositions that may be on their ballots in November.
Vote for democracy ’24!
Project 2025, the lengthy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to lay out plans for the “conservative president” they expect to be elected this year, calls for disbanding NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), the United States’ premier agency for weather, ocean, and climate data and research. (p. 664)
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Project 2025, the lengthy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to lay out plans for the “conservative president” they expect to be elected this year, would gut the civil service by reclassifying many policy and technical expert positions so that they could be fired without cause, giving the president the power to fire them at will, something that Trump did by executive order a few weeks before the 2020 election but which President Biden immediately rescinded when he took office, again protecting government employees from being fired for political reasons. (pp.43-44 and following)
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a mass shooting with a difference
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Yesterday evening, there was another mass shooting in the US.
As I have done in previous posts, I use the Gun Violence Archive’s definition of mass shooting, four or more victims injured or killed, not including the shooter.
The shooter used an AR-15-type semiautomatic weapon. He was 20 years old and was shot and killed.
One victim died immediately at the scene, two were critically injured, and one was injured but able to be treated and released from a nearby hospital.
The difference, of course, is that the one who was injured but not critically is former president and current candidate Donald Trump, making this mass shooting an assassination attempt. The shooter was shot and killed so quickly because the Secret Service had expert marksmen on hand overseeing the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter was on a rooftop, about 150 yards from the platform where Trump was making a speech. He was killed before he could exact a large death toll, like the largest mass killing to date in the US, the Las Vegas, Nevada, music festival shooting in 2017, where a gunman killed 58 and injured 546 shooting from the 32nd floor of a hotel.
At this point, the shooter’s motive and mental health status are not known. An investigation is underway and will probably take months to complete. The Secret Service did an admirable job getting Trump covered, off the stage, and into a vehicle to bring him to the hospital.
As I wrote about here, Trump has a long history of violent rhetoric. It’s ironic that he is now himself a victim of what is most likely political violence. He, along with many Republican lawmakers, also has long opposed most gun safety measures.
President Biden very quickly condemned the shooting and all political violence. He has repeatedly called for a ban on military-style assault weapons, such as the one used in this shooting, renewing a measure that he helped pass as a senator in 1994 and which was in effect for ten years before it expired.
When choosing for whom to vote, whether for president, Congress, or state and local officials, look at their positions on firearm policies, such as registration, background checks, magazine size, red-flag laws, and what weapons should be available for ownership by the general public.
Are they prioritizing protecting public health, as our current Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, has?
It’s sad that, if yesterday’s mass shooting had not been at a Trump rally, it would have been a local news story, with perhaps a short segment reaching national news broadcasts. One person shot dead is so sadly common that most people don’t notice. Most gun deaths in the US are self-inflicted, a fact that escapes most people’s notice.
I wish I could say that I thought this shooting would bring the country together against gun violence when so many other horrific shootings have not, but I can’t muster that hope.
Please, America, prove me wrong.
Joanne Corey 