A Merion West contributing writer and editor respectively make the case for each candidate for President of the United States.
Editor’s note: Given the endless discussion about the upcoming presidential election in the United States and the fact that such coverage can be found at nearly every media outlet and that few undecided voters remain among those who typically read publications such as this one, Merion West has generally limited the amount of discussion about the election in its pages. With that said, before the election, we would be remiss not to publish the respective case for each candidate. The case for former President Donald Trump has been authored by Merion West contributing writer Tony D. Senatore, and the case for Vice President Kamala Harris has been written by Merion West international relations editor Michael D. Purzycki. The ordering of the pieces was determined by a coin flip.
The Case for former President Donald Trump
By Tony D. Senatore
The 2024 United States presidential election is less than two weeks away. Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are basically tied nationally, as well as in the swing states that will ultimately determine the election result. As such, whichever party makes the best case to independent voters will win the presidency and other key down-ballot races. As a (new) Republican who is anti-war and skeptical of foreign interventionism and as someone opposed to the leviathan surveillance state and the entrenched interests that run it and also profit from it, I would like to offer four critical reasons why former President Trump is the candidate worthy of independent voters’ support.
Prioritizing Americans
The first reason is that President Trump seeks to end the idea of exporting democracy as the guiding principle of American foreign policy, which has been in place since the end of the Cold War. He wants to replace it with his America First agenda. Of course, his detractors use the phrase America First as a pejorative. Still, his supporters understand it for what it is: a plan for the United States to rebuild its infrastructure, become energy independent, and end American tax dollars being used to finance war and nation-building. One of the many ways President Trump would accomplish this is by making European nations pay more for their North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) security, avoiding putting American troops on the ground abroad, and correcting our current trade imbalances with China (and shifting them in favor of the United States via tariffs). Although some economists claimed that tariffs would do more harm than good, the Biden administration left tariffs initiated by the Trump administration firmly in place, as President Trump pointed out in his debate with Vice President Harris. This speaks for itself.
In President Trump’s own words, America First means: “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families.” Despite hyperventilation about the perils of isolationism on the part of his critics, President Trump is not an isolationist and does not plan to ignore the world’s alliances and crises. He intends to engage with them, but do so with American interests foremost in mind. President Trump will have a foreign policy that is more sophisticated than categorizing other world leaders as “authoritarians” or “dictators.” President Trump will make new alliances and revitalize old ones. He will interact with leaders whose worldviews he vehemently disagrees with, as he has done in the past, to further American interests. America First is good for the United States and the rest of the world. Don’t forget that when you vote on November 5th.
Voters of All Kinds Appreciate a Healthy Economy
Despite a non-stop barrage of unrelenting attacks and slander from the mainstream media and unproven assertions from disgruntled former Trump administration members that the press and President Joe Biden have presented as fact, nearly 75 million people voted for him in 2020. They did this because his policies improved the economic interests of so many Americans, and not just the wealthy or politically connected. President Trump has support that cuts across lines of race, gender identity, education level, and socioeconomic status. He has championed cutting-edge legislation pertaining to criminal justice reform and copyright law that have helped many Americans thrive personally and economically; pushed sensible deregulation; prioritized reshoring manufacturing jobs; and overseen an administration that promoted record high standards of living for so many Americans. Despite constant barrages of attacks against President Trump and his supporters, millions of Americans of all backgrounds support him because his policies not only put Americans first but promote economic flourishing. Despite the claims of hysterical members of the media about how it would be armageddon if he returns to the Oval Office, it is okay to cast a ballot for President Trump. You were better off four years ago. Don’t forget that when you vote on November 5th.
Negotiation Ends Wars
The third reason independent voters should consider voting for President Trump is that he is our best hope to end both the Russo-Ukrainian War and the conflict between Israel and Hamas, while bringing peace and stability to the world. At the September 10th debate, co-moderator David Muir asked President Trump if he wanted Ukraine to prevail in the war against Russia. Muir set President Trump up to fail with this question. If President Trump answered “Yes,” then he is supporting a war with no foreseeable end, and, if elected President, he would have to continue the trend of American tax dollars flowing into Ukraine at unprecedented rates for a war that—I believe—would have never happened under his administration. If he responded that he wanted Russia to win, then he would be cast as a Putin apologist. Fortunately, President Trump reacted correctly and said what most rational people want to hear: He would speak with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy individually, then broker an agreement to a war “dying to be settled.”
President Trump would end the war, as all wars in history have ended, via negotiations. There was an incredible sincerity in President Trump’s voice as he spoke of the ever-growing number of wounded and dead that has resulted from the war and his desire to end it. When asked the same question, Vice President Harris adopted an entirely different position. She said nothing about negotiations to end the war and appeared to lack any sympathy for the hundreds of thousands that have perished. She merely expressed a desire to continue the Biden administration’s goal of deposing President Putin at all costs, even if it means risking nuclear war. The world was a safer place during the Trump presidency. Neither the war in Ukraine nor the one in the Middle East would have happened if he had been re-elected president in 2020, but he will be able to negotiate successfully a reasonable end to both. There were no wars when President Trump was President. Now, we have two—and another one brewing. Don’t forget that when you vote on November 5th.
Never (Ever) Listen to Vice President Cheney
The fourth and most crucial reason independent voters should vote for President Trump is that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, endorsed Vice President Harris. At first glance, it would appear that President Trump was such a lousy candidate that a former Republican Vice President is following the lead of some other members of the Republican establishment in endorsing the Democratic nominee. A closer look at the situation reveals an uncomfortable truth: Vice President Harris, like Vice President and Congresswoman Cheney, President George W. Bush, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, and former National Security Advisor John Bolton, is just another member of the ever-growing uniparty of the entrenched Washington establishment. This group talks about the sanctity of democracy but engages in regime change around the world. When it comes to shredding norms and destroying democracy, Vice President Cheney has forgotten more than President Trump will ever know. Unlike Vice President Harris, who was largely invisible and ineffectual during her tenure as Vice President, Vice President Cheney was, according to Joel Goldstein, “the most powerful vice president we’ve ever had.”
Vice President Cheney’s legacy includes the invasion of Iraq, a war based on false claims about weapons of mass destruction, the Patriot Act, which gave the government unprecedented power to surveil American citizens, as well as the human rights violations in places like Abu-Ghraib. Vice President Cheney built his foreign policy project on a disregard for international law, which left countless dead, and his hubris also paved the way for the rise of groups like the Islamic State. If Vice President Harris were a true progressive, she would have disavowed his support. This uniparty has a long history of starting wars it has profited from, wars financed with your tax dollars and the blood of your children. The shilling Vice President Harris did for the weapons manufacturers that want neither wars nor the profits they are deriving from them to end was chilling. A vote for Vice President Harris is a vote for death and destruction abroad. A vote for President Trump ensures that, for at least four years, the world will be safe from the misguided foreign policy establishment that has caused so much unnecessary bloodshed. Don’t forget that when you vote on November 5th.
Conclusion
With respect to the famous question, “Are you better off than four years ago?” (most Americans, by the way, say they were), I would like independent voters to ask a different question: What has Vice President Harris accomplished during her tenure in the current administration that qualifies her for the most important job in the world? Vice President Harris was foisted upon voters in a scenario with no historical precedent. The Democratic Party, with the help of the mainstream media, shielded a cognitively impaired President Biden from public scrutiny for much of his presidency. After Biden’s disastrous debate performance, she was selected to replace him, without a single vote cast. (So much for democracy…) Then-Senator Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign was equally as catastrophic as President Biden’s debate performance. As CNN asserted in 2019, her campaign “plummeted,” and she “failed to live up to the hype and was unable to raise money to keep her campaign going.” When asked about her plans to rebuild the United States, she continues to say that she is not Joe Biden, uttering meaningless pre-rehearsed phrases and providing an unprecedented lack of specifics. Her actual record makes clear that she is far more radical than President Biden. The Biden-Harris administration has brought us to the brink of World War III and saddled the American public with a border crisis, record inflation, and a gloomy outlook, in which a record number of Americans say we are on the wrong path. This administration did this all while shielding a cognitively impaired President and then installing a new candidate who bypassed a primary. This administration and the Democratic Party deceived you. President Biden and Vice President Harris have failed you. President Trump will turn things around.
The Case for Vice President Kamala Harris
By Michael D. Purzycki
One of the essentials of democracy is that losing candidates accept defeat. The losing candidate must put his or her fellow citizens’ votes above their own ambitions. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump violated this principle. Unable to accept defeat, he told lies about vote fraud in Arizona. He tried to stop ballot counting in Pennsylvania. He attempted to get Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” votes for him.
Finally, he incited a mob. On January 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President, President Trump urged thousands of supporters to storm the United States Capitol. Rioters smashed windows, attacked police officers, and chanted their desire to “hang Mike Pence,” the Vice President who refused to assist President Trump’s election theft attempt. The world saw American democracy brought to a halt by one man’s vengeful ego.
If that were the only strike against President Trump, that would make him unworthy of holding office again. No one who brazenly assaults democracy should be President. In truth, there are many reasons President Trump returning to power would be disastrous and why Vice President Kamala Harris should be elected instead.
National Service
For a man who talks about making America great, President Trump has a strange contempt for some of the greatest Americans: military veterans. He has, according to a 2020 Atlantic story, called dead and wounded servicemembers “losers” and “suckers.” He openly wondered about Americans who enlisted, “what was in it for them?” not comprehending the idea of patriotic sacrifice. Ominously, he has threatened the life of General Mark Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
This is one of many reasons Vice President Harris has been endorsed by hundreds of national security officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations. These individuals cite President Trump’s lies about voter fraud and his “impulsive and ill-informed” behavior. And, as renowned four-star General Stanley McChrystal said of Vice President Harris, “I have no doubt that she is working in our national interest, not her own.”
Trade
Tariffs are a major part of President Trump’s platform. He plans to slap them on all imports into the United States. He sees trade in stark, either/or terms, pitting the United States against the world. The reality is more complex, and President Trump’s mindset would harm American workers and consumers, as well as national security.
To compete with China, the United States needs trading partners. Trade with other countries threatened by China helps keep prices down for Americans and makes it easier to decouple from China, for both the United States and other nations. It creates markets for products built by American workers. Alienating other countries with tariffs is a way to drive them closer to China, as well as to retaliate with tariffs of their own.
The Biden-Harris administration has a wise trade policy. It has kept tariffs on China while eliminating tariffs President Trump placed on America’s Asian and European allies. President Biden also brought 14 countries together in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity to counter Chinese economic power. This is much better than one-size-fits-all protectionism.
China, Russia, and Iran
President Biden and Vice President Harris have also given the United States a leading role in countering China’s military aggression. AUKUS brings Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States together to build nuclear submarines for all three countries’ navies, creating tens of thousands of American blue-collar jobs. President Biden negotiated agreements with the Philippines to allow basing of American forces there. And he brought Japan and South Korea closer together in their defense planning. A Harris presidency would build on this foundation.
Some supporters of President Trump offer a false choice between confronting China in the Pacific and Russia in Europe. They say the United States should abandon Europe to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since he accepted Russian election interference in 2016, it is not surprising that President Trump is in this camp, even praising Russia’s military.
The United States is strong enough to confront both China and Russia. Abandoning Europe would undermine the revival of European defenses the Biden-Harris administration has enabled. As the United States arms Ukrainians beating back President Putin’s invasion, allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have vastly increased their defense spending. While President Putin expected Western resolve to crumble, NATO instead rallied as Finland and Sweden joined the alliance. As Vice President Harris herself warned, “when America has isolated herself, threats have only grown.”
Maintaining the United States’ commitment to NATO enables this boosting of allies’ military strength. Abandoning NATO, as President Trump has repeatedly threatened, would pull the rug out from under Europe. It would bring President Putin closer to his dream of undoing the fall of the Soviet Union.
It would also empower Iran. Since 2015, Russian troops in Syria have propped up dictator Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran and Hezbollah. In 2018, Russian mercenaries attacked American troops in Syria tasked with battling the Islamic State. Russia has repeatedly used Iranian drones in Ukraine. And while the Biden-Harris administration has armed Israel throughout its campaigns against Hamas and Hezbollah since October 7, 2023, President Putin has hosted Hamas and Hezbollah delegations. This is the company President Trump would put himself in.
Investing in America
When President Trump was in office, his signature economic policy was a tax cut that went overwhelmingly to rich people and corporations. He now promises to extend top-rate cuts and lower the corporate tax even further. Vice President Harris, meanwhile, would raise taxes on the rich and big business, while expanding the child tax credit for middle- and working-class families. The contrast is stark.
President Trump talked a good game on infrastructure, but it was President Biden who got a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill through Congress. He signed the CHIPS Act, spearheading a revival of American semiconductor manufacturing. The Inflation Reduction Act brings a range of benefits, from caps on insulin prices for seniors to rewards for automakers building electric cars in American factories with American-made parts.
Vice President Harris would expand on these accomplishments, placing further caps on prescription costs and making further investments in American manufacturing. She has also pledged to eliminate college degree requirements for many federal jobs. It is no surprise that Vice President Harris has received overwhelming labor union support, from autoworkers and steelworkers to nurses and carpenters.
When Vice President Harris was attorney general of California, she won $18 billion in debt relief for homeowners illegally foreclosed on by banks. She forced corrupt financiers to compensate those they swindled. She now seeks to help first-time homebuyers with $25,000 in assistance. President Trump’s sympathies, by contrast, lie with the financial sector. As President, he loosened oversight rules on banks, leading to several bank failures down the line. Another stark contrast.
Immigration
President Trump talks more about immigration than any other subject. This is a complex issue that leaders in the United States must approach carefully. Securing the border while allowing America to benefit from legal immigration requires tact and patience. It requires the skills of someone like Vice President Harris, who as Attorney General of California led a crackdown on transnational gangs.
By contrast, President Trump would deploy the American military in a mass deportation campaign. He would use a sword when the situation requires a scalpel. To succeed, deportation efforts need help from communities of legal immigrants, who outnumber illegal immigrants more than three to one. Fear will not work. President Trump is sabotaging all hope of cooperation by denigrating immigrants left and right—accusing them of eating dogs and cats, saying that some come from “s—hole countries.”
On immigration, President Trump unsurprisingly places his own interests before the public good. According to reporting by The New York Times, the Trump Organization has a history of employing illegal immigrants at its clubs in Florida and New Jersey. (The Trump Organization has denied this.) And, in 2024, as Congress worked on legislation to strengthen border security, he wanted congressional Republicans to kill the bill because getting it passed would benefit the Biden-Harris administration. President Trump only wants to secure the border when he gets credit for doing so.
Conclusion
Democracy is about more than elections. It is about the character of elected officials and their respect for majority rule. Once a country’s leaders only respect elections they win, that country is on a dangerous road away from democracy.
Four years ago, America turned away from that road when it denied President Trump a second term. Now, he is perilously close to returning. Thuggery, hostile foreign powers, rich Americans, and fear will triumph if he does. To prevent this, Americans must elect Vice President Harris.
