Despite the lack of specific policy proposals, voters should know where the two candidates stand.
It would help if Trump reminded them.
In today’s Washington Post, Ramesh Ponnuru argues that neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump is taking meaningful policy positions in this election. “Where,” he asks, “are the specific policy proposals from either candidate?”
Harris, he notes, “has been so light on detail that even her supporters can’t agree on whether she is proposing price controls.” Her campaign website doesn’t even have a policy page.
In Ponnuru’s view, Trump isn’t doing any more than Harris on the policy front:
Donald Trump’s own campaign website touts the newly stripped-down Republican platform as his agenda. Most of it consists of promises such as “Republicans will immediately stabilize the Economy by slashing wasteful Government spending and promoting Economic Growth,” with no further explanation. “Republicans will end the global chaos and restore Peace through Strength, reducing geopolitical risks and lowering commodity prices.” So, that’s that, I guess.
Ponnuru is right about both candidates. But though it’s true that neither one is talking policy specifics, the electorate has, or should have, a good idea what many key policies of the two candidates will be. Those interested in basing their vote on policy, as opposed to personality or “vibes,” should have no trouble making an informed decision.
Political platforms and policy pages on websites are fine. They give bright pundits something substantive to write about.
But they don’t tell us very much about what a candidate will do if elected. The policies the candidates have implemented, advocated, or been associated with in the past are a more reliable indicator.
It happens that we have more of this information about Trump and Harris than we ordinarily get about presidential candidates. That’s because both candidates have run for president before; one of them has been president before; and the other is the sitting vice president.
Maybe I’m wrong, but you might have to go back to the second square-off between Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison to have a race in which the past — that reliable indicator of the future — tells us more than this one does about what the candidates genuinely stand for.
What policies will Kamala Harris likely implement? Policies similar to Joe Biden’s and similar to the ones she advocated as a presidential candidate in 2020.
Harris might say she has changed her mind about some of them — especially the most leftward ones. If she does, she will have taken policy positions by doing so.
However, voters should be skeptical of alleged changes of heart, just as they should be skeptical about any policy positions that might eventually appear on Harris’ website. Actions speak louder than words. Harris’ only significant action since she became the presumptive nominee has been to pick a far-left governor as her running mate.
Indeed, there’s every reason to believe that in addition to the left-wing policies she’s endorsed in the past as a candidate and as vice president, she will be on board with the left’s forward-looking agenda — for example, packing the Supreme Court, ending the Senate filibuster, adding a new “state” or two to the Union (D.C and Puerto Rico).
Trump’s likely policies aren’t hard to discern, either. They will probably be along the same lines as the ones he implemented, or tried to implement, as president.
For example, Trump almost certainly will try aggressively to stop the influx of illegal immigrants and to deport a large number (though very far from a majority) of the illegal immigrants now in America. He will probably will impose tariffs on many foreign goods.
Trump almost certainly will back Israel more strongly than Harris would. He almost certainly will get back to work on loosening regulations on American businesses. He almost certainly will appoint conservative judges.
He’s unlikely to show fiscal restraint, but probably will show more than Harris.
Trump may continue to back laws that enable federal felons to serve shorter sentences. But Harris has also supported “jailbreak” legislation of this nature.
Finally, most voters will remember Trump’s efforts to overturn the reported result of the 2020 election. This isn’t exactly a policy position, but it’s relevant.
I think the policy positions we can glean from what Trump did as president are clearly more popular than the ones we can glean from Harris’ 2020 campaign and her service as vice president. That’s not surprising. Trump’s presidency is viewed more favorably than Biden’s.
Thus, Harris has a strong interest in trying both to hide her policy views and to make the election about something other than policy. By the same token, Trump needs to make this election more about policy than about personality, and to keep the focus on Harris’ demonstrated leftism.
So far, Trump has done a poor job of this. It’s not clear to me that he even wants this election to be mainly about policy. He probably wants it to be mainly about him.
Ponnuru believes Harris is winning the policy non-debate. I think he’s right.
Trump definitely has to up his game. I hope we see a lot of ads exposing the positions Harris took in 2019 and 2020, when she was seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Jim Dueholm
In 1988, Michael Dukakis tried to pretend he wasn't a standard 80s style liberal Democrat. The disciplined Bush campaign did not allow him to do so. Kamala Harris is trying to pretend she isn't a 21s century San Francisco left wing Democrat. Most likely Donald Trump lacks the discipline to not let her get away with it. She almost certainly will get away with it.