This is a variation of a column you may have seen many times in which a lifelong Republican explains why he’s reluctantly supporting Kamala Harris.
For credentials, I’ve been a registered Republican for over twenty years. I have held very minor political office as a member of the Queens County Republican committee, getting a grand total of 16 votes to represent my very small electoral district in meetings every two years. I think John McCain was the best presidential candidate since Eisenhower, and I made a Facebook group backing a McCain/ Giuliani ticket in 2007. I think Republicans generally have the right instincts on spending and the judiciary. I’m looking forward to having better Republican candidates to vote for in the future.
Reasons for Supporting Kamala Harris
Most of my reasons for supporting Harris have to do with Trump, because of his poor character, disregard for the truth, numerous bigoted statements and focus on petty personal issues over what matters. He is the opposite of the axiom that you can get a lot done in Washington if you don’t care about the credit. In 2016, I voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. In 2020, I voted for Biden, because he seemed to be a relatively moderate candidate who at least liked Republicans. If it were Harris versus Glenn Youngkin, Nikki Haley, Jeb Bush, Brian Kemp or Ron DeSantis, I would be campaigning against her. But she’s running against the Donald.
I suspect if Harris wins, she’ll be a mediocre President, but mediocre within normal parameters. I disagree with her views on the judiciary as well as quite a few other topics, and some of the tactics she’s used in the past. She’s been too willing to please the far left (supporting bans on fracking and private health insurance while viewing immigration violations as criminal offenses and supporting fundraisers for bail money for jailed left-wing rioters), and I do have serious concerns about her staff turnover, as well as her willingness to change her positions without explaining why.
Obviously, I wouldn’t mind being wrong about her shortcomings. Maybe she’ll be a competent manager who can bring people together. She has a healthier approach to foreign policy where presidents have the most power. Also, I do not see her pushing efforts to punish her domestic critics or encouraging anyone to riot inside the capitol.
If Trump wins, one point I’ve heard is that the difference is that this time his people know where the doorknobs are. In 2017, the cabinet was full of normal Republicans (many of whom don’t want Trump back in the White House) but at this point, there are plenty of MAGA true believers to staff all sorts of administrative positions, who have spent years getting ready for it.
Concerns with Trump Winning
One serious concern that leads me to supporting Kamala Harris is that JD Vance might soon run the country. He seems to represent a Trump approach to identity politics for white people, which is not a healthy direction for the country.
A commentator had a theory, and I suspect he’s right, that Trump will basically be a part-time President, coming into the White House at 11 AM and responding to whatever he saw on Fox News. JD Vance would come into the office at 7 AM, and work on his priorities while buttering up Trump and keeping him happy.
This concerns me because Vance is very smart, and I disagree with him on the categories where he disagrees with most Republicans. He seems inexperienced and overconfident, a guy who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. He’s an author/ commentator with minor (in the context of his resume to get elected immediately to statewide office) military and business experience, who has been in the Senate for less than two years, exclusively in the opposition.
In the 1950s, one of the most powerful men in the country was Sherman Adams, a former Governor of New Hampshire because he was Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff (Ike was the first President to explicitly hire someone for the position, copying it from military practice.) There was a joke…Two Democrats were talking and one said “Wouldn’t it be terrible if Eisenhower died and Nixon became President?” The other replied, “Wouldn’t it be terrible if Sherman Adams died and Eisenhower became President!”
I think there’s a serious possibility that Vance would have that level of power, with the actual chief of staff being a pushover, someone with very similar views (Stephen Miller, Mark Meadows) and/ or someone whose experience is mainly in communications (Kellyanne Conway, Jason Miller- a senior advisor to the Trump Campaign who has a former staffer saying their child is a result of rape) which would leave a second year Senator with more power than Dick Cheney had in the Bush administration.
If Harris wins, it could lead to improvements for Republicans. They did pretty well in 2021 (Youngkin is now a popular Governor in Virginia, the New Jersey gubernatorial election was a close call) but then Trump came back.
I am supporting Kamala Harris because if Trump wins again, I suspect the likeliest outcome is that he screws up so badly that Democrats get big wins. However, there may be a lot of damage first, especially in national unity and relationships with authoritarian regimes.
Are you a Republican supporting Kamala Harris? Or do you disagree with our author? Let us know in the comments below. Also, check out his prior article, Balancing the Ledger: How the Left and Right Diverge on Costs, Prices and Subsidies
