In a historic turn of events, President Joe Biden stepped down from the 2024 re-election race, becoming the first to do so since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. This came after the disarray caused by his debate against former President Donald J. Trump where voters and politicians publicly urged Biden to put the country before himself and leave the race.
On July 21, 2024, he did just that.
Since then, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, have officially been confirmed as the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees. These nominations have put more Democratic voters at ease, with many thanking President Biden for giving another candidate, in this case, Harris, a chance.
The Republican party, on the other hand, certified former president Trump as its presidential nominee, and his running mate, JD Vance, as the vice presidential candidate. At just 40 years old, Vance has become the first millennial to be featured on a major party ticket, causing the GOP to make history in its own way.
With both parties’ affairs now in order, voters are looking to see what each candidate has in store if given the chance to govern the country. Here is an overview of what they are promising:
Immigration
A border security bill, a product of bipartisan work, was introduced to Congress and set to add 1,500 more agents to the U.S. border. However, it did not pass. The vice president blamed Trump for this.
“And because he believes that it would not have helped him politically, he told his folks in Congress, ‘Don’t put it forward,’ He killed the bill: a border security bill that would’ve put 1,500 more agents on the border,” Harris said in an interview with CNN News.
Harris says she plans to have that bill reach her desk as president so that she can sign it into law, making the country’s border more secure. Harris also believes that there should be consequences for immigrants who enter the country illegally, but she has not specified what those sanctions will look like.
“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally. And there should be consequence. And let’s be clear, in this race, I’m the only person who has prosecuted transnational cirminal organizations who traffic in guns, drugs, and human beings. I’m the only person in this race who actually served a border state as attorney general to enforce our laws. And I would enforce our laws as president going forward. I recognize the problem,” Harris said in the interview.
Trump, on the other hand, has been vocal about his distaste for the lack of “sufficient” protection around the border. During his nomination speech at the Republican National Convention, the former president said he would resume the construction of the border wall to effectively seal it off.
He incorrectly called the recent influx of immigration through the border a “migrant invasion” that is “killing hundreds of people in the country.” But, there is no data linking these immigrants to the deaths of U.S. nationals. In addition to this, Trump plans to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history as he believes that will have a positive effect on American society and economy. Economists, on the other hand, disagree. Immigrants make up a large part of the country’s workforce and played a huge role in helping the country’s economy bounce back after the devastating effects of the pandemic. Trump’s plan would remove more than 11 million people, leading to a higher unemployment rate, creating an increase in prices, and slowing the growth of the economy. The Washington Post interviewed Alan Hoffmann, president of Hoffmann Homes, who explained that these changes would arise because companies would begin to compete to fill the spaces of the workers they lost. He predicted that home prices would also rise, making it even harder for the average American to afford living comfortably.
Economy
Making the middle class and small-business owners happy is one of the vice president’s main priorities in her presidential campaign. Harris told CNN her first priority would be to “Strengthen the middle class.”
She plans to create an opportunity economy where all people in America have a fair chance to compete and succeed. To do this, Harris will implement plans to bring down the cost of everyday goods — effectively dealing with the issue of price gouging — invest in American housing to create more affordable homes, and pass a middle-class tax cut that would help struggling working-class members save some of the money they would usually give to the government.
Where small businesses are concerned, Harris has promised to create federal tax incentives for them, including increasing the deductions for start-ups from $5,000 to $50,000. This would help offset the preliminary concerns aspiring entrepreneurs have about starting their businesses. In addition, she would help push interest-free loans for small companies since the interest rates are a big concern for a lot of small business owners.
Some, however, are more worried about what will happen once the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 signed into law by Trump expires next year. The law provided “lower tax brackets, a higher standard deduction, and a boost to the child tax credit.” Since Congress has shown no interest in renewing the law, entrepreneurs worry that Harris’ deductions plan will not make up for the amount they’ll lose once the provision expires.
Trump, on the other hand, has vowed to end inflation and make America affordable again, a play on his MAGA slogan. If elected, he wants to start “digging operations” around the country, to source oil and fossil fuels, making it the dominant energy producer in the world, surpassing China. During his speech at the RNC, he inaccurately stated that America has the largest oil reserves of any country. This is why he wants to start operations to distribute drilling permits and boost oil production on federal land. He believes that America has enough resources to stop outsourcing, and says he would make the nation a “manufacturing superpower.”
Where benefiting the people of the country is concerned, he has shared two goals: implementing large tax cuts for workers and ending the tax on tips. His corporate tax cut would lessen the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%. Though this plan could boost incomes for corporate business owners, economists argue it could also “reduce federal revenue by $673 billion.”
Experts argue that both Harris’ and Trump’s tax cut plans have the potential to put the country in trillions of dollars in debt, Trump’s more than Harris’.
National and International Security
A hot topic voters have been listening for is the candidates’ remarks regarding the Hamas-Israel war and the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Harris has claimed that she and President Biden are currently working on encouraging a ceasefire deal between Gaza and Israel as she believes the war must come to an end. When asked if she would continue to supply Israel with weapons if elected, she referred to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
“Let me be very clear. I’m unequivocal and – and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself. And that’s not gonna change. But let’s take a step back. October 7, 1,200 people are massacred, many young people who are simply attending a music festival. Women were horribly raped. As I said then, I say today, Israel had a right– has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. And we have got to get a deal done,” Harris said.
In regard to America’s security, Harris plans to enforce stricter gun violence policies and make the country the “strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” So far in her campaign, she has not shared how she plans on doing so or addressed the fact that the country already has the strongest military.
If elected, the Trump administration would “deport pro-Hamas radicals and make…college campuses safe and patriotic again.” Here, Trump seems to be referencing the peaceful protests that students across the nation held in support of Palestine, but his insinuation that campuses were not safe or patriotic is a gross exaggeration. He also plans to strengthen and modernize the military, stop the “migrant crime epidemic,” diminish drug cartels and gang violence, and restore peace in Europe and the Middle East. However, he has not laid out how exactly he plans on doing so, and his claim that there is a migrant crime epidemic is false and not supported by any data or reputable source.
The former President shared that he also wants to build a defense missile shield over the country with materials sourced only from America.
Other
To address other social, economic, and environmental issues, both candidates have laid out just a few plans in the campaigns they have done so far.
Vice President Harris wants to increase a budget to help stop human trafficking, having seen the extent of the damage they have done in her time as a prosecutor. She also wants to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to end voter suppression, gerrymandering, and election subversion.
She is advocating for lower healthcare costs and investments in new technology to block fentanyl and protect the American public.
As for former president Trump, his public policy plans include rebuilding cities to make them cleaner and safer.
He wants to cut federal funding for any school “pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on…children” – a censorship move to limit student knowledge on topics he considers too liberal. Outside of his claims, there has not been any evidence of schools teaching these theories or ideologies in this context to students.
As for voting rights, he wants to make election days more secure by mandating same-day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship. However, at present, Trump is the only political candidate claiming that the U.S. voting system is not already secure. In his campaign speech, he falsely stated that the Biden-Harris administration used COVID-19 to cheat in the previous election, a claim that caused the January 6, 2022 riot and led to his impeachment. However, a detailed investigation found no sign of voter fraud or weakness in the security of the voting system.
