Why Harris / Walz?

     Yes, I made the font bigger. Get over it.

     It is easy Easy EASY to go off on how dangerously insane Trump is -- I do this on a regular basis. But today, let's talk about a happier topic: the good things about the Harris/Walz ticket.

Experience: Harris has been a prosecutor; a District Attorney for San Francisco (2004-); the Attorney General of California (2010-); a US Senator ( 2017 to 2021, serving on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees); and US Vice-President. These positions -- DA, AG, Senator, Veep -- are elected positions. VP Harris has campaigned,  won elections, and been accountable to her constituents. 

Record:  President Biden and VP Harris expanded postpartum care through Medicare.

The United States continues to have the highest rate of maternal deaths of any high-income nation, despite a decline since the COVID-19 pandemic. And within the U.S., the rate is by far the highest for Black women. Most of these deaths — over 80 percent — are likely preventable.  

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/jun/insights-us-maternal-mortality-crisis-international-comparison#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20continues%20to,80%20percent%20%E2%80%94%20are%20likely%20preventable.

They capped the cost of insulin for seniors.

They invested in fighting climate change.

They shepherded through Congress a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. It will fund repairing bridges and removing lead pipes, along with improving access to high-speed internet, in projects all over the county. These projects will benefit everyone who drives...who drinks water...who uses the interweb.... 

Plans for the Future:  VP Harris will continue the basic approach of the Biden presidency in some respects: protect women's rights; grow the middle class; protect unions; eliminating "junk fees"; ban including medical debt in credit reports. As her campaign is so new -- it's been kind of a whirlwind, y'all -- more specifics will be forthcoming. Some likely policies: support for Ukraine; support for Israel, which "has a right to defend itself, [Harris has] said, while noting, 'how it does so, matters'"; honoring the Paris climate accords. (all this info is from a CNN article at https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/08/politics/kamala-harris-key-issues-dg/)

And Tim Walz? We can assume that he will back up Harris' positions. But what about his past?

Experience:  National Guard for 24 years; high school teacher, football coach, faculty advisor to hs gay-straight alliance; twelve years in Congress (with a mixed left-right voting record); governor of Minnesota since 2018.

Minnesota?  Has the lowest child poverty rate in the country. Abortion rights are protected. Kids get free meals at school. Workers have paid sick leave and family leave. MN will have 100% clean electricity by 2040 (if all goes well).

Oh, no, what if they turn the US into Minnesota? Well ....  THROW ME IN THAT BRIAR PATCH.

"Weird" may be true, but it's not enough

 The Republican universe seems intent on both denying and illustrating the "weird" description which has been winning the meme war for several days. In photos like these, the weird is indeed strong.

And, most tragically, here:

YES, this behavior is...weird. Inexplicable. Heartbreaking. And the King of Weird is the orange man-baby. Friendless. Soulless. Intellect- and character-free.

The "weird" taunt works because it's dismissive. When people accuse Trump and Trumpsters of being racist / xenophobic / transphobic / and so forth, those terms can be worn as a badge of perverse honor: "I'm not ___ , I'm just a real American!" They just want to return to the Founders' America, or at least a more stable time when kids weren't mixed-race (ha! lookin' at you, Founding Fathers!) and gender wasn't fluid. But they're not racist -- you're racist for making that accusation!

The W word works,  but it's not enough. We have to remember, and keep pointing out, that the policies advocated by Trump and his VP pick are profoundly racist, misogynist, xenophobic. You can read the text of Project 2025 online; this is from the intro on their website. (It does  not yet reflect the resignation of Paul Dans).

     The [2025 Presidential Transition Project] will build on four pillars that will, 

collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration: a policy 

agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook.

     The project is the effort of a broad coalition of conservative organizations that 

have come together to ensure a successful administration begins in January 2025. 

With the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and 

trained personnel to implement them, we will take back our government.

     The 2025 Presidential Transition Project is being organized by The Heritage

Foundation and builds off Heritage’s longstanding “Mandate for Leadership,” 

which  has been highly influential  for presidential administrations since the 

Reagan era.  Most recently, the Trump administration relied heavily on 

Heritage’s “Mandate” for policy guidance, embracing nearly two-thirds of 

Heritage’s proposals within just one year in office.

The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 IS, in essence, the Trump plan, the "47 Agenda." It would gut the EPA; ban abortion (and eventually contraception); prioritize "traditional families" by denying resources to nontraditional families; decrease the country's readiness to deal with the next pandemic; institute "abortion surveillance"; end fetal tissue research; end time- and occupation-based student loan forgiveness; end most competitive education grants; end PLUS loans.   - - - - - And this is just a quick skim.

Trump himself HAS NO POLICIES; he cares only about himself, as evidenced by his recent answer to a question about his VP pick. "Is JD Vance 'ready on Day 1?'" This phrase has long been used as a reminder that in the event that a President becomes incapacitated, a VP must be ready to step up. Trump acted as if he didn't even know what the phrase meant. "The VP pick doesn't make that much difference, it's the top spot that people are voting for," he replied. Since Trump cares only about himself, he doesn't care what happens to America if he's incapacitated; he probably never considered Vance's true fitness for the position. 

But, although the orange one has no policies, he has latched onto (or been co-opted by?) the most extreme rightwing nationalists among us. He, and they, would enforce and delight in the most draconian, punitive, and unAmerican policies in our nation's history.

They're not just weird. They're dangerous.