Kamala Harris for president | Endorsement

Voters face an easy but tectonic choice in the race for the White House.

Will they choose the first woman or the oldest man to be the next president?

Will they choose the prosecutor or the convict?

Will they choose the candidate who supports restoring Roe v. Wade, or the man who bragged about overturning it?

Will they choose the candidate with a tax plan to help the middle class or the one who wants to help the superrich?

Will they choose the candidate who backs a tough bipartisan immigration law or the guy who killed the measure?

Will they choose the candidate who wants to combat climate change or the one who thinks it is a hoax?

Will they choose the candidate who upholds the peaceful transfer of power or the one who summoned a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol?

Will they choose the candidate who stands up to Vladimir Putin or the one who said Russia could do “whatever the hell they want?”

Will they choose the candidate who champions education, health care for all, and sensible gun safety laws, or the person who wants to close the U.S. Department of Education, repeal Obamacare, and told supporters after a school shooting to “get over it?”

Will they choose the candidate who supports the working class or the one who is anti-union and opposed raising the minimum wage?

Will they choose a woman of color who wants to unite the country, or a man with a history of misogynistic, racist, and divisive comments and actions?

Will they choose the candidate who supports LGBTQ rights or the one who wants to roll back protections for the gay community?

Will they choose the candidate who will uphold the presidential oath, or the one who was impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanors, profited from the White House, dangled pardons to cronies, and was indicted four times?

This baker’s dozen list could go on, but the choice is clear and obvious. Vice President Kamala Harris wants to help all Americans.

Donald Trump wants to help himself.

That is why The Inquirer endorses Kamala Devi Harris to be the 47th president of the United States.

If elected, Harris, 60, would be the first Black, South Asian woman to hold the nation’s highest office. She rarely references her historic candidacy, and instead is laser-focused on earning votes through the substance of her vision, ideas, and temperament.

Harris, who grew up in a middle-class family and worked at McDonald’s one summer between college, broke other barriers as the first woman of color elected district attorney in San Francisco in 2004 and attorney general in California in 2010. Her record as a prosecutor doesn’t fit neatly in a box, as she was both tough on crime and progressive.

Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 and became the first female vice president in 2020. As President Joe Biden’s No. 2, she cast a record number of tie-breaking votes in a polarized Senate, including for the nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.

The American Rescue Plan contributed to inflation but also enabled the U.S. economy to bounce back faster and stronger from the pandemic than any other industrialized nation, while the Inflation Reduction Act added hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs and spurred infrastructure projects in every state.

By any fair measure, Biden deserves credit for leading the country back to normalcy following the economic collapse caused by the pandemic, Trump’s chaotic mismanagement, and complot to overturn the 2020 election.

Biden has been a calming and consequential president. His policies helped to create millions of jobs, record stock market gains, and higher wages. The Economist recently called the U.S. economy “the envy of the world.”

Yet, Biden, 81, reluctantly stepped aside following his poor debate performance. He deserves credit for putting the country ahead of his ambition — unlike Trump, 78, who has carried on in the face of growing questions about his advanced age and cognitive decline.

Biden’s departure in late July thrust Harris to the top of the ticket. With little notice or time, Harris has met the monumental moment.

She assembled a positive, focused, and forward-looking campaign that has inspired the Democratic Party faithful, and gained support from scores of influential Republicans, including several from Trump’s administration.

Her choice of running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, underscored her focus on building a humble and positive administration focused on helping middle-class and vulnerable Americans. It was yet another contrast to Trump’s selection of JD Vance, an unqualified and unpopular fraud who belittles women and once compared Trump to Hitler, but who is now willing to overturn an election for him.

If elected, Harris will likely maintain many of Biden’s positive policies, while charting her own path. In a wide range of interviews and speeches, Harris has demonstrated toughness and empathy — with a dash of cool aunt style.

She eviscerated Trump so thoroughly in their first debate that he backed out of a second meeting. During the debate, Harris did what no man has been able to do to Trump in his nearly 10 years on the political stage: She exposed his lies, frailties, and lack of vision for the country while laughing off his carnival-barking blather.

Harris’ dismantling of Trump served as a real-time reminder that he is unserious and unprepared for the world’s toughest job. Her ability to rattle Trump showed how foreign adversaries can easily steamroll and manipulate him.

Beyond unmasking the raging bully, Harris has substantive plans that will build on the Biden administration’s success. Her tax plan would lower taxes for 95% of Americans while those at the very top would pay more. Hence, the billionaire rebellion led by Elon Musk and others.

She wants to help small-business start-ups by increasing tax deductions from $5,000 to $50,000. She wants to restore the successful pandemic-era child tax credit that reduced childhood poverty by 30%.

Harris has a slew of proposals to make housing more affordable, including tax breaks for builders on homes aimed at first-time buyers, and offering $25,000 in down payment assistance for buyers who paid their rent on time for two years.

She supports U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s (D., Pa.) bill to crack down on companies for price gouging, and wants to continue Biden’s efforts to lower prescription drug costs.

Harris also backs the bipartisan border deal Trump pressured GOP lawmakers to kill. If Democrats win control of Congress, she supports a federal law to restore the abortion rights that existed under Roe v. Wade.

Harris has many other commonsense proposals for education, gun safety, defense, climate change, and more spelled out on her website.

Meanwhile, Trump is mainly running to escape a mountain of legal troubles, stemming from his coup attempt, stolen classified documents, and conviction for paying off an adult film star to influence the 2016 election.

He is also out for retribution. More than 100 times, he has threatened to jail perceived enemies. He also has targeted media companies and journalists.

Trump has spent the campaign tearing down the country. He rails about the enemy within, but claims his armed mob of supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, took part in a “day of love.” He likens America to a failing, “third-world” nation.

Trump has nothing to offer but fear itself.

His campaign has careened from one reckless lie to another, claiming Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating cats and dogs, and telling hurricane victims that disaster relief funds were spent on migrants.

Campaign stops have turned into Kabuki theater. In Pennsylvania, Trump aimlessly bobbed on stage to music for 39 minutes, served McDonald’s fries at a staged event, and told crude jokes about late golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitalia.

During a campaign rally in Michigan, Trump told women to “get your fat husband off the couch” and “tell him to go and vote for Trump.”

Sadly, many supporters laughed and cheered, though some have left his rallies out of boredom and exhaustion. Like Trump, his act is old.

There is no vision to lift or unite the country. Instead, Trump pits neighbor against neighbor. He has made it safe for white supremacists, antisemites, and neo-Nazis to come out from the shadows and attend his events waving swastikas and shouting, “Make America white again.”

Trump claims immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” echoing the rhetoric used by Adolf Hitler.

John F. Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff and a retired Marine general, said Trump met the definition of a “fascist” and would rule like a dictator.

Retired Gen. Mark Milley, who served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, warned that the former president is “the most dangerous person to this country” and a “fascist to the core.”

Those warnings should not be ignored.

Beyond the anger, lies, and hate, Trump’s half-baked policy proposals would spell disaster for the economy, democracy, and his supporters, save a few billionaires.

Trump plans to impose tariffs on imported products from China and other countries. The tariffs amount to a national sales tax that would increase the prices of goods from clothes to computers to cars, and cost the typical family $2,600 a year.

Economists agree the tariffs would reignite inflation, lead to layoffs, reduce stock prices, and trigger a trade war.

Trump’s proposals to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits would drain the Social Security Trust Fund in six years and lead to a 23% reduction in benefits.

Trump also plans to use local police and the National Guard to round up and deport millions of immigrants. Besides the cruelty and legal hurdles, it would take years and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Plus the economic impact. Mass deportations would shock the labor supply, boost the cost of fruits and vegetables, and increase inflation. America’s immigration system has been broken for decades, but this is not how to fix it.

Then there is Project 2025, a detailed plan to install Trump loyalists throughout the federal government and do away with civil liberties, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. The Education Department would be eliminated, and the National Weather Service dismantled. Trump has tried to distance himself from the plan, but his fingerprints are all over it.

Many supporters have learned to tolerate Trump’s crudeness, corruption, and incompetence. Some sadly revel in it. But many fail to understand that he doesn’t care about them. Trump made that clear at a recent rally: “I don’t care about you. I just want your vote.”

Trump will not leave the country better off. Just ask the hundreds of thousands of families who needlessly lost loved ones because he mismanaged, lied, and downplayed the pandemic. His plan to end the war in Ukraine mostly sounds like surrender, which would leave NATO teetering, and American moral authority diminished.

There has never been a more important presidential election in our lifetime. The road to the White House may well run through Pennsylvania. Attention must be paid. Every vote matters.

Beyond the candidates’ personality and policy differences, voters must decide what kind of country they want for themselves and future generations. This election is about us, and not only who we are as Americans, but as people.

Do we still believe in the founders’ goal to form a more perfect union? Do voters still support the Constitution, the rule of law, and the peaceful transfer of power?

Can we really be proud of a president who is a convicted criminal, insurrectionist, tax dodger, sexual harasser, serial liar, and Russian sympathizer?

Can we tell our children we voted for a president who, when the angry mob stormed the Capitol looking to hang the vice president, said, “So what?”

America deserves much more than an aspiring autocrat who ignores the law, is running to stay out of prison, and doesn’t care about anyone but himself.

The better angels of our nature demand it.

There is only one candidate — Kamala Harris — who will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States from foreign and domestic enemies.

So help us, God.