Why I’m Voting for Harris Walz and I Hope You Do Too

There’s so much to say and such little time. I should have written this earlier. Alas, please consider my plea here considering these three main points.

1. Trump is a Historically Dangerous and Unfit Presidential Candidate: Trump has tarnished the moral fabric of this country and has fanned the flames of divisiveness in a uniquely damning way. The way he talks about political opponents and anyone he disagrees with is not representative of someone that should be president of the diverse population that is the United States. Considering he would be president of a people with diverse spiritual, religious, ethnic, racial, and political backgrounds, he ought to model civility and respect in the way he talks about folks. Instead he’s known for a history of racist¹ and fascist²³ and violent⁴ language. Respect, kindness, and civility should not become a thing of the past. Unfortunately, since Trump started running for office I think we’ve seen a side of politics that we haven’t seen in a long time in this country, and I believe it is increasingly dangerous to the survival of our country as a democratic republic. This isn’t the same political landscape like that of McCain vs Obama. During that race McCain voiced his disagreement of Obama’s policies while still defending him as a “decent family man”.⁵ McCain even later invited Obama to speak at his funeral in 2018.⁶ Long gone are those days, but I think we can go back to that, and I think that would be healthier as a nation for it. Some examples that come to mind when I think of the unique rhetoric that makes Trump unfit for presidency:

In March earlier this year Trump warned that if he isn’t reelected, “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it.”⁷ If the opposing political side said this, it would not be received well by Republicans and it would be seen as a threat. Neither side should be saying things like this.
Trump described January 6th as “A day of love“.⁸ Trump’s own staff has admitted that he knew about the violence that was taking place, that he knew it wasn’t a peaceful protest, and yet he did nothing to stop it. Moreover, he has continued to insist that he won the last election despite the falsehood of this.⁹¹⁰ Despite having over 60 cases around the country, no merit was found in support of mass election fraud.¹¹
Trump stated that former Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley (who Trump himself selected) should be executed. Trump stated this because of a call the now retired general had with Chinese officials where, in doing his job, had to dial down Trump’s rhetoric’s impact on foreign relations.¹² Milley’s public disapproval of Trump’s tactics go back to 2020, but he states now that Trump is, “the most dangerous person to this country” and “a total fascist”. Milley seems to have been first especially struck by the dangers of Trump after Trump wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act to use active duty military to police U.S. cities. On a day that should have made it clear to the public that he is unfit for office Trump deployed the use of tear gas and batons to clear protestors and journalists out of his way for a photo op on Lafayette square (the irony). Milley publicly apologized for his involvement in that event. He wasn’t the only one to show shame for partaking in the events that took place that day. Trump’s secretary of defense Mark Ester and Trump’s prior prior secretary of defense James Mattis also condemned this at the time.¹³

Staff member after staff member have refused to endorse Trump or have endorsed and voted for Harris Walz altogether for the 2024 election.¹⁴¹⁵ I don’t think there’s been that level of disapproval from staff members of a president in modern history. This should tell us something. It’s a clear warning that under emotional dysregulation this man will fan the flames of violence and will invoke police and military against persons in the United States to use physical means against others.

2. A Trump Administration’s Danger to Women’s Health and Family Planning, Fertility Treatments, and Reproductive Health: Starting with anti-abortion policy – Trump had a direct role in, and has proudly touted his support for, overturning Roe v Wade and this has led to ramifications that this country was not ready for. Making abortion a state by state issue where states can create as many restrictions against abortion as they please has been dangerous to women’s health. According to the Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan foundation that funds research and programs to improve health care, “In states that have banned or restricted abortion access, rates of maternal and infant deaths are much higher than in states that have preserved access”¹⁶. There should not be barriers to healthcare based on the resources or money you have or the state you reside in, but this is the current landscape and I think there is more of this to come if Trump and Vance win. Both have expressed support for a national abortion bans along with other policies to restrict family planning / fertility treatments / reproductive health. Even if at times they have walked things back and have teetered on the subjects, at the end of the day I believe Trump will do what he needs to do to maintain power, and Vance will participate politically in line with the values he’s always had as someone who is anti-reproductive-rights, anti-fertility-treatments, and anti-abortion. Restrictions to family planning, fertility-treatments like IVF, and medically necessary abortions is not small government and it’s unjust. It is a blatant example of government overreach. You can read some of the stories of women who have died or who have had their lives endangered as a result of abortion restrictions at the following sites:

Abortion is sometimes medically necessary and restricting healthcare because of draconian policies enacted by some states is not pro-life.

3. On the Economy: Inflation started rising in 2020 around the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been steadily declining since June of 2022. Economics are a complex matter that don’t necessarily perfectly correlate with presidencies – to claim that the economy is worse under Biden is an oversimplification of economics. All of this being said I argue that, 1.) It makes sense that our economy would take some time to make a comeback since a pandemic and 2.) The Harris Walz economic plan

I didn’t have enough time to touch on climate change and sustainability and why this is all important too, but I want to say a few things that are important to keep in mind that climate change is real, we are speeding up the change of

References:

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/dec/us-maternal-health-divide-limited-services-worse-outcomes

Alexandra Writes Sometimes

Why I’m Voting for Harris Walz and I Hope You Do Too

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