Just one day after presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden said, “I am not committed to naming any but the people I’ve named, and among them are four black women,” Politico reported that he’d already made up his mind. Yesterday Politico announced,
Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris to become his running mate for the 2020 election on Aug. 1, two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, after keeping his choice close to the chest for months.
In his announcement, Biden called Harris “a worthy opponent and a worthy running mate,” alluding to the pair’s rivalry during the earlier stages of the Democratic primary. She will bring her experience as a prosecutor, household name recognition, and skill as a debater to the ticket.
Almost immediately Politico replaced the story, noting, “Due to a technical error, an earlier version of this graphic mistakenly reported that Biden had made his VP selection. We regret the mistake.”
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But the cat is out of the bag. An Associated Press photographer caught Biden holding a card during a campaign event in Delaware on Tuesday showing Harris’ name at the top, along with his notes: “Do not hold grudges,” “Campaigned with me & Jill,” “Talented,” “Great help to campaign,” and “Great respect for her.”
Biden obviously outlined some of the requirements Harris had to meet to make the cut:
Almost all of the women I’m considering have had some exposure to foreign policy and national defense issues … [along with] the intellectual capacity as well as the temperament, as well as their leadership qualities that lend everyone to believe that they would be ready on day one to be president of the United States of America. (Emphasis added.)
This is exactly the phrase a “longtime Biden confidant” told The Hill just four days ago: “I think when all is said and done, he’ll [pick a] woman who is ready to be president on day one and will help fill some of the gaps that he has.” (Emphasis added.)
Speculation abounds about just how long Biden would remain president if he were elected in November given increasing evidence of his mental decline over the last few months. It’s possible that “on day one” of his presidency, following the advice of his wife and his doctors, he would resign from the presidency, thus promoting Harris to chief executive under the 25th Amendment.
The New American speculated on July 1 just what would happen next:
If Biden’s mental faculties continue to decline, then the 25th Amendment could be used to replace Biden with Harris. That amendment, adopted in 1967, reads: “In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.” As his mental faculties decline, Biden could resign under pressure from his doctors. His wife, Jill, could help him write his resignation letter.
Harris currently enjoys 100-percent ratings from the AFL-CIO, the pro-LGBTQ Human Rights Campaign, the NAACP, pro-choice NARAL, the NEA, and Planned Parenthood, and a 93-percent rating from the ACLU.
That would likely mean that the Second Amendment would be emasculated (Harris has an seven-percent rating from the National Rifle Association), that homeschooling would be under attack, that there would be unlimited immigration, and the flow of conservative “originalist” judges to the federal judiciary would stop and “living Constitution” advocates would be nominated instead.
Taxes would be raised as Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 would be reversed. The economy would suffer mightily, as would stocks on Wall Street. Much of AOC’s “green agenda” would begin to be adopted, and full funding of various UN agencies would be restored. Mail-in balloting would become the law of the land. Medicare for all would also become law.
Apologies would be offered to America’s enemies, the currency would continue to lose value, First Amendment protections of religion and speech would be severely curtailed, and Christians would be openly bashed and punished. Fossil-fuel companies would face federal lawsuits charging them with deliberately and intentionally polluting the air and not admitting it.
Doubters would only need to check online sources to learn of Harris’s political positions. She has consistently supported gun control, arguing with San Francisco’s district attorney in the Heller case that D.C.’s gun law didn’t violate the Second Amendment. She joined Bernie Sanders in 2019 in introducing the Background Check Expansion Act.
Earlier this year, Harris introduced the VoteSafe Act, which would establish rules under which all registered voters would be able to use mail-in absentee voting.
In 2017, Harris co-sponsored Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” bill, or “single-payer” (i.e., government) healthcare, which used to be called socialized medicine.
In her opposition to Trump’s tax cuts, she proposed increasing taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. Harris joined 16 other attorneys general in 2016 in working to file criminal fraud charges against fossil-fuel companies for failing to explicitly declare that greenhouse gases associated with human activity are primarily responsible for “climate change.” That same year, Harris’s Senate campaign website vowed that Harris, if elected, would “stand up to the climate-change deniers and fight to pass national climate-change legislation that promotes innovation like establishing a carbon tax or creating a cap-and-trade market for carbon pollution.”
If such a scenario plays out, the Harris presidency would be Hillary Clinton’s on steroids.
Image of Kamala Harris: Screenshot of senate.gov
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
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