To recap

To the editor:

The 2024 presidential campaign was an eye opener. On the one hand, it had former President Donald Trump make endless rants echoing 1930s fascists such as Hitler, Mussolini and especially Franco. 

One example was a campaign ad that talked about creating a “unified reich” and called political opponents “vermin.” The second example was when Trump on Fox News said, “The worst people are the enemies from within … more dangerous than Russia and China…. These people should be put into jail, the way they talk about our judges and our justice system.”

On the other hand, Vice President Harris rejected previous progressive positions such as the Green New Deal, Medicare For All, transferring police department funds to social services and decriminalizing border crossings.  

She and her advisers shifted to the right to attract moderates, dissatisfied Republicans and the undecided.  This shift did not help to mobilize the party’s left base in battleground states, and raised questions about what political principles she has.

Harris said we need to work “with the private sector to … to create tax incentives so that we can create more housing supplies and bring down the price.” That strategy has enriched developers and rarely produced sufficient affordable housing.  Harris barely mentioned climate change and made a dubious claim that “we can invest in a clean energy economy…and not ban fracking.”  She repeatedly reminded audiences that more than 400 members of former Republican administrations had endorsed her candidacy. 

Harris also said, “I never intended nor will I ever allow America to have a border that’s not secure,” as if the southern border is not already over-militarized and asylum seekers are not already dehumanized.

Howard Elterman