My Harris-Trump choice drained me. But I finally have determined which candidate I will vote AGAINST. My decision came in a flash, thanks to an unexpected epiphany that focused on factors I had not even considered earlier. An examination of those factors revealed which of these sorry candidates scares me more.
Like many of you, I’ve been obsessed with this election cycle, being worried about the direction of our country, and truly alarmed by what might lay ahead. (I’m still worried and alarmed, but at least I’ve made a decision.)
It has been a long process. Nearly a year ago I reported on this site my misgivings about the 2024 election as Biden and Trump prepared to slug it out (See here for that post). I saw no improvement after Biden was forced out and endorsed Harris. As I’ve followed these two candidates over the past few months, both seemed determined to dig themselves deeper into their self-made trenches.
Trump worries:
I initially worried less about Trump. The reason was simple. When I compared his term in office with the Biden-Harris term, Trump came out ahead. Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan still rankled me, as did the increase in inflation during his watch. (A CBS article earlier this month reported that groceries cost 26% more than than in January 2020.) And worst of all, Biden’s executive orders that opened the border and allowed millions of illegals to flood across our country (with Harris supposedly in charge of the border). All of these soured me on the present administration.
But Trump is Trump, and he appeared to have the larger shovel, throwing dirt on former associates, the mainstream media, and anyone else he came in contact with. He dug himself deeper and deeper as he ranted on and on. He made stupid comments and illogical allegations. At times he sounded deranged. He lied about practically everything. Not surprisingly, he kept sinking in my ranking.
Harris worries:
Harris too has had problems. After her post-convention bounce, and the resulting few percentage point lead over Trump, she’s bumped along with little momentum. Nonetheless, she gained a bit in my view, mainly I think by remaining well above Trump’s often uncouth level of behavior.
At other times I lowered her grade, partly because of the multiple times she seems to contradict herself. For instance, when asked if she would have done anything differently from Mr. Biden on any issue, she replied, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” That suggests that she would continue the Biden administration’s policies. But hold on! Her current campaign message focused on “a new way forward.” Is she trying to confuse voters? Or is she confused?
Buying votes:
Both candidates are guilty here, each presumably believing that promising some extra dough for voters (by reducing their taxes, or giving them government handouts), might sway them to punch their ticket. Both Trump and Harris have proposed tax cuts on tips, seemingly to appeal to working-class voters in key states like Nevada, where tipped workers in hospitality and service play a major role in the economy. But Harris may lead the charge here. She has proposed a number of financial incentives to appeal to voters, especially ones focused on housing affordability and family support. She has proposed to provide a $25,000 down payment grant to first-time home buyers. That should get some votes, but at the same time it certainly would increase home prices across the board, just as the government-provided money for student loans and Pell grants ignited the explosion of college tuition (See my take on that here). Harris has also touted a $6,000 tax credit for parents of newborns.
These are just some of the developments I’ve been watching intently over the past several weeks while juggling my view on which of these two mediocre (at best) candidates might cause the most damage if elected. It’s sad to have such negative thoughts, but I see what I see. I’ve never felt so down in all my years of voting. I yearn for the days when I happily voted FOR John F. Kennedy, and later FOR Ronald Reagan.
But yearning does not alter reality. Soon I will need to vote (and you too, if you haven’t already). It may have been that realization that led me to focus sharply on recent events and jam them into the pro-con mish-mash swirling in my head. During this process, suddenly and unexpectedly, I knew how I would vote. My Harris-Trump choice!
My epiphany:
It happened as I zeroed in on both candidates, searching for their pulse if you will. In Greensboro, NC, Trump showed up and yelled at length with his typical hyperbole. “I’m here today with a message of hope for all Americans,” he said. “With your vote this election. I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals into our country. And I will bring back, as your president, the American dream. We’re going to bring it back. Our country is being crippled and destroyed by Kamala Harris, but it does not have to be this way. It won’t be this way for long, hopefully what we’ve put up with, with the two of them. What we put up with the two of them with your support on November 5th, America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before.” He went on, as you might imagine, for nearly two hours. Blah, Blah, Blah.
At about the same time, Harris had a town hall meeting in Michigan that was hosted by Maria Shriver. A woman attending the event asked Shriver, “Are we going to be able to ask a question?” According to the Daily Mail, Shriver replied, “You’re not, unfortunately, we have some pre-determined questions. Hopefully I’ll be able to ask some of the questions that might be in your head,” She added.
What is going on? I thought. Kamala Harris has served in the United States Senate. She has been vice president for nearly four years, and she can only take “pre-determined questions” in a town hall meeting? Why won’t she answer questions? As I factored that into my mish-mash, I related it to Harris’s reluctance to be interviewed by a number of legacy media outlets. Newsweek cited one significant example (See that here), quoting the owner of TIME who said, “Despite multiple requests, TIME has not been granted an interview with Kamala Harris—unlike every other Presidential candidate.
Eureka!
At that instant I saw what I had missed. Donald Trump is in many ways a despicable character, but he has a backbone. He is brash and declares himself in uncertain terms. Kamala Harris, on the other hand has been timorous on the campaign trail, often sounding as if she has a thin spine. I’ve wondered why she behaves that way. Does she shy away from certain interviews, and set up pre-determined questions so that she will avoid saying what she actually believes? Does she fear her honest beliefs will turn off voters? Or is she simply unable to organize and gather her thoughts? These possibilities are the most likely to me. And they worry me.
I prefer someone with a strong backbone in the Oval Office. Although Donald Trump has character flaws galore, he appears to me to be the lesser of two evils as a presidential candidate. For those reasons, I will vote against Kamala Harris by placing an X next to her opponent’s name. I will feel neither joy nor optimism as I vote, and I will continue to worry about our country’s future, but I will know I made a reasoned decision. My Harris-Trump choice!
The personality issue:
Numerous individuals have told me they will not vote for Trump for the simple reason that they could never vote for such an abhorrent individual. I understand that emotion, but it is worth remembering that this election is more than about Trump. This election will greatly influence the future of our country. Shouldn’t that fact be part of a voting decision? After all, 60% of us think our country is heading in the wrong direction.
Here’s a question. Is the Donald Trump of today much different from the one who earlier occupied the Oval Office? I think he is pretty much the same vain, vulgar, insulting, boorish guy he was when president. Yet, despite his character flaws, and despite the battering he took from the mainstream media, and our legal system (over the now-debunked Steele dossier that was funded by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign), he somehow managed to get things done while in office. Another question. Would Trump be effective if elected for a second term? I do not know. He certainly would again be the target of most national media. Nonetheless, I fear him less than I fear Kamala Harris.
Final note:
Okay. This is it. I’m laying off of politics for a while. I intend to be silent on all subjects here until at least after November 5th. Beyond that, unless the unthinkable happens, I will avoid political comment until at least the end of 2024. I plan to clear my head and focus on other topics. Thanks for listening. And stay tuned.
I also struggled but, like you, voted against Harris, as well, last week. I pray it was the right thing to do.
Right, Nancy. Poor candidates do make voting painful, as this election cycle has made crystal clear to many of us.
Once I read through Trump’s Project 2025 I knew that I could never support his view of how this country should be run. I truly believe he wants to be a dictator and end democracy as we know it. I voted Kamala.
I hear what you’re saying, and your vote for Kamala makes sense from your viewpoint. But you err when you refer to “Trump’s 2025 Project.” Project 2025 was written by the Heritage Foundation, not by Donald Trump. Trump has said that he has not even read that report. Whether he has or not, your calling Project 2025 a product of Trump is not only misleading, but demonstrably false. Much of our political turbulence today is generated by the flood of false information available almost everywhere. I’m not sure how do deal with the resultant quagmire, but fact checking may help.
It was kind of obvious at the time that Trump was lying and is coming to fruition now. I hope we are all wrong about this – the next two years are going to be interesting to say the least – https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/project-2025-its-on-predictably
The next two years (or four?) may be interesting in several ways, John. I suppose it is a naïve wish, but I think it is possible that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-heads of the upcoming Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency commission, also known as “DOGE”, may actually find ways to slash federal spending and thus reduce our federal debt. Few people realize that the U.S. will spend more this year to service our national debt (totally wasted taxpayer dollars) than it will spend on our national defense. (According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal spending on interest payments will reach $870 billion this year, which is more than the $822 billion that the country will spend on defense in 2024.) I blame our Washington politicians of all parties (past and present) for this ridiculous predicament.
It really pains me and I worry for the future of this country when clearly intelligent people struggle with a decision for a year and then come to an epiphany based on the amount of backbone that one candidate has over the other. This worries me especially since one can see that Trump is not the owner of that storied backbone. I just have to point out that Trump got his bell rung in his debate with Kamala (a fact that most reasoned observers have concluded) and will not stand on a debate stage with her again. I think a more hardened backbone will be required to deal with world leaders on more treacherous stages.
In answer to your question “Is the Donald Trump of today much different from the one who earlier occupied the Oval Office?” I would say yes (his mental decline is naturally more advanced than his first term) and no (his personality hasn’t change and should be reason enough to bar him from office).
The more important question is what will his staff be like this time around. Thankfully, during his first stint in office he was saved from ridicule and the country was saved from disastrous and sometimes illegal decisions because those under him either ignored his orders or persuaded him otherwise. This was documented throughout his term (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/no-one-listens-to-the-president/587557/) and thankfully ended with former Vice President Pence ignoring an illegal request from Trump on January 6th. The list of former cabinet members (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Republicans_who_oppose_the_Donald_Trump_2024_presidential_campaign) that will not endorse his second run for president should be alarming to any voter. This is my greatest fear – what loyalty test will be used and who will the yes people be? What illegal orders will they be willing to execute? Who will be deemed an enemy from within? Does writing this qualify me? It is clear that JD Vance has passed a loyalty test already and has indicated that he will go in a different direction to Pence in the future if it is required https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jd-vance-defends-trump-claims-invoking-jean-carroll/story?id=106925954 – it is clear Trump has learned this lesson from the first term – and that should be frightening. Kamala not so much.
This man is unfit for office and I believe future generations will look back on his first term and wonder how could so many norms and institutions fail and how could so many be fooled by such a third rate snake oil salesman. I only hope they don’t have to consider a second term of Trump because the outcomes are going to be even more catastrophic.
For a fair and sobering read I recommend https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54545843-where-law-ends
John, I much appreciate your detailed comments. You make some excellent points, and your fear of the future probably matches mine, although not for all the same reasons. You focus on Trump’s faults, shortcomings, and whatever, of which he has many. As I hope I made clear, I am not a fan of Trump. He just bothers me less than Harris (whom you’ve given few huzzahs to). I fear her for the same reasons that I am disappointed with (no disgusted by) the present administration, a few reasons for my disdain were mentioned in the post. As you’ve demonstrated, John, there are countless factors to consider in when making a choice in this election, and maybe we are in agreement on one vital point, that being that neither Trump nor Harris resembles a presidential candidate to be FOR with enthusiasm.
I happen to like Kamala and her policies but was addressing your epiphany and question about Trump. Seemingly others that have more knowledge than I do about the inner workings of Trump’s last time in office share my concern – https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1853218193998852267.html
To like Kamala and her policies, in my view, requires one to be considerably left of center politically, so I infer that’s where you stand, John. I have no beef with that, and I do appreciate your making the effort to comment here. I’m a different sort of animal. I consider myself a Jack Kennedy Democrat, but with Democrats having shifted considerably leftward over the years since Kennedy, I sit today a bit right of the political center. And I like neither Kamala nor Trump. As I see it both represent potential danger to our country, although for different reasons. Some of those reasons I mentioned in my last post, but the book of negatives on these two undesirables is thicker than I have energy to review in this space. Nevertheless, after considering this sorry duo for weeks, I finally judged Trump to be slightly less dangerous to our future than Harris. By Wednesday morning, I’ll know which future to worry about, as will all of us.
Oh dad, while not surprising this hits hard. For me and your granddaughters. Harris is the ONLY choice if you care about what leadership is in this country and women. But voting is an individual right. So vote your way and I will vote mine.
Thanks, Anne, as I just told someone else, politics are highly personal, and never should they disrupt family ties. You’ve just underlined this truism beautifully. You vote your way, and I’ll vote mine. Love, Dad.
Harris is undoubtedly hiding something! Leopards do not change their spots, and politicians do not change their ideals!
Thanks for your comment, John.
you vote on the issues not the personality!
You and I agree on that. The best we can do as individuals is to gauge what each candidate stands for, evaluate what he/she might be able to accomplish while in office, and then vote accordingly. As I’ve indicated, neither of our main candidates this year emerges as an attractive choice for me.