2024 Election
Candidate Summary & Positions
For easy comparison, the candidate summaries and their positions on key campaign issues are provided as a series of spreadsheets. Source details are stated at the top of each spreadsheet.
Information is provided for each candidate expected to participate in the November 2024 presidential election, including both major party candidates, both independent candidates, the Green Party candidate, and the Libertarian Party candidate. Note that Marianne Williamson is reported by the source site as running as Democrat; however, Williamson was defeated in the Democratic Party primaries. Therefore, her information is not included in the spreadsheets.
Since I originally created this post 2 significant changes occurred in the race to win the White House.
1. Joe Biden withdrew from the Presidential race on July 21, 2024 and was replaced by Kamala Harris.
2. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. withdrew from the Presidential race on August 23, 2024 and endorsed Donald Trump.
Sources for Candidate Summaries
https://www.usatoday.com/elections/voter-guide/2024-11-05
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_Oliver (Chase Oliver is the Libertarian Party candidate)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamala-Harris
The key campaign issues compared below are:
* Climate Change * Foreign Policy
* Crime & Policing * Health Care
* Education * Immigration
* Economy * Reproductive Rights
Sources for Candidate Positions on Key Issues:
https://www.usatoday.com/elections/voter-guide/2024-11-05/candidate/(firstname-lastname)
i.e. .../voter-guide/2024-11-05/candidate/Donald-Trump
https://www.lp.org/platform/ (LP.org is the Libertarian Party's official site)
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/08/politics/kamala-harris-key-issues-dg/
Donald Trump / 2024 Election
Should a citizen of the United States, even a former President, be eligible for election if said citizen committed acts which appear to conflict with the 14th Amendment's "Insurrection" clause?
Are the Congress and Judiciary branches of the United States government able to put aside partisan politics, thirst for power and scare tactics to ensure that the principals put forth by the Founding Fathers are adhered to?
Donald Trump and his allies are vowing to conduct revenge prosecutions against perceived enemies, including President Joe Biden (whose Administration Trump erroneously claims is unfairly prosecuting him for crimes he did not commit); Judge Juan Manuel Merchan (Colombian-born judge who presided over the "Hush Money" Payment Cover-Up Trial); and Alvin Bragg (DA for Southern District of New York who prosecuted for the "Hush Money" Payment Cover-Up Trial). Trump angrily projects his actions on others to deflect blame from himself and stoke his ardent followers and political allies.
Trump has proclaimed that he will turn the Department of Justice into Trump's personal prosecutorial service. This is the type of thing that autocrats, kings, and fascists do and anathema to the ideals proscribed by the Constitution.
The Deciders: Meet the ‘double haters’ who could decide the election
Many voters express resignation, dismay and anger over being asked to choose between Biden and Trump again in November. These double haters are likely to prove a critical voting bloc in November. They are a group that could help determine the outcome in a close election, especially in critical swing states like Wisconsin, and one that has become the focus of considerable attention and outreach from both campaigns.
Source:
The Washington Post online
By: Ashley Parker, June 23, 2024
Scott Clement, Emily Guskin and Dan Keating contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/23/double-haters-biden-trump-deciders/
POTUS Age at Inauguration
One of the most popular debates in this Presidential Election cycle whether Joe Biden has become too mentally slow to properly perform the responsibilities of the Office of President of the United States (POTUS). I decided to perform a Google search on the subject: "How old was each president at the time of their inauguration. I found a detailed list on POTUS.com. A PDF version of the search results is below. According to the schedule, the average at inauguration is 55 years old.
Whomever wins the White House in November 2024 will lead the list.
According to USA Today, Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946. He will be 78 years, 220 days old on January 20, 2025. President Biden was born on November 20, 1942 and will be 82 years, 61days old on January 20, 2025.
At some point, a Constitutional Amendment should be written and ratified regarding an incoming POTUS's age at inauguration. While this would be age discrimination, a limit should be devised due to the strenuous responsibilities of the Office of President of the United States.
Sources:
"Age at Inauguration"
POTUS.com
https://potus.com/presidential-facts/age-at-inauguration/
"First Presidential debate: How old are Joe Biden and Donald Trump?"
USA Today online
By: James Powel
Published June 27, 2024 5:02 pm ET; Updated June 28, 2024 1:18 am ET
Trump's Conquest of the Republican Party Matters to Every American
The Republican Party has become a vessel for the fulfillment of Mr. Trump’s ambitions, and he will almost certainly be its standard-bearer for a third time.
In America’s two-party democracy, Republicans and Democrats have regularly traded places in the White House and shared power in Congress in a system that has been stable for more than a century. The Republican Party is forsaking all of those responsibilities and instead has become an organization whose goal is the election of one person at the expense of anything else, including integrity, principle, policy and patriotism.
There are few remaining leaders in the Republican Party who seem willing to stand up for an alternative vision of the party’s future. Those who continue to openly oppose him are, overwhelmingly, those who have left office. Some have said they feared speaking out because they faced threats of violence and retribution.
Source:
The New York Times / Opinion
The Editorial Board
03/06/2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/opinion/trump-republican-party.html
The G.O.P. Push for Post-Verdict Payback: ‘Fight Fire with Fire’
Within hours of a jury finding Mr. Trump guilty last week ["Hush Money" Payment Cover-Up trial ended May 31, 2024] , the anger congealed into demands for action. Since then, prominent G.O.P. leaders in and out of government have demanded that elected Republicans use every available instrument of power against Democrats, including targeted investigations and prosecutions.
The intensity of anger and open desire for using the criminal justice system against Democrats after the verdict surpasses anything seen before in Mr. Trump’s tumultuous years in national politics. What is different now is the range of Republicans who are saying retaliation is necessary and who are no longer cloaking their intent with euphemisms.
A central tenet of their argument is that the four criminal cases in four different jurisdictions against Mr. Trump are illegitimate and nothing more than political weaponization of the justice system. They continue to put forward the theory, without evidence, that all four cases are the result of a conspiracy by Mr. Biden — implicitly or explicitly rejecting the notion that Mr. Trump has been charged with crimes based on evidence.
The New York Times online
By Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Charlie Savage
June 5, 2024
Ex-GOP Lawmaker Has Urgent 2024 Message
for Former Trump Loyalists
Ex-Trump Advisor Offers Mea Culpa
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) says it’s time for more of Donald Trump’s former allies to throw their weight behind President Joe Biden.
On MSNBC Sunday, Riggleman said it’s “absolutely” important for those who no longer support Trump to publicly back Biden. As examples, he pointed to former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), both of whom have said they would vote for Biden in his likely rematch with Trump this year.
Source:
Huff(ington) Post (via) Yahoo!News
Josephine Harvey
Mon, February 5, 2024 at 6:02 AM EST
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-gop-lawmaker-urgent-2024-110201727.html
The President and the Gangster
The article uses Time magazine interviews to compare Joe Biden's and Donald Trump's understanding of foreign policy, world history, the necessity of NATO, and the United States's place in each.
Source:
The Bulwark / The Triad
Biden versus Trump in Time magazine.
By: Jonathan V. Last
Jun 04, 2024; From item 1 of 3 (NATO)
Chicken Littles are Ruining America
The personality of America is changing again...and not for the better.
Prior to the 1970s, Americans defined themselves by their social roles: I'm a farmer, teacher, housewife, etc.
During the 1970s, this social mindset became "personal or individualistic". The right-wing version of this individualism (which emphasized economic freedom) and the left-wing version (which emphasized lifestyle freedom) were different, but it was individual freedom all the way down.
Twenty-first-century communalism is ...very socially conscious and political. Whether you’re on the MAGA right or the social-justice left, you define your identity by how you stand against what you perceive to be the dominant structures of society.
Today’s communal culture is based on a shared belief that society is broken, systems are rotten, the game is rigged, injustice prevails, the venal elites are out to get us; we find solidarity and meaning in resisting their oppression together. Again, there is a right-wing version (Donald Trump’s “I am your retribution”) and a left-wing version (the intersectional community of oppressed groups), but what they share is an us-versus-them Manichaeism (1). The culture war gives life shape and meaning.
(1) Manichaeism is defined as "religious or philosophical dualism."
In this way, pessimism becomes a membership badge. If your analysis is not apocalyptic, you’re naive, lacking in moral urgency, complicit with the status quo. But there is a giant gap between many of these negative perceptions and actual reality.
Source:
The Atlantic / Ideas
By David Brooks; January 31, 2024, 6 AM ET
Trump Is a Danger to U.S. Security
His isolationist views and erratic thinking and style would pose even greater risks in a second term.
"When I became President Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, I assumed the gravity of his responsibilities would discipline even him. I was wrong. His erratic approach to governance and his dangerous ideas gravely threaten American security. Republican primary voters should take note."
"Mr. Trump’s only consistent focus is on himself. He invariably equated good personal relations with foreign leaders to good relations between countries. Personal relations are important, but the notion that they sway Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and their ilk is perilously wrong."
Source:
Wall Street Journal / Opinion
By: John Bolton; Updated Jan. 31, 2024 4:06 pm ET