Back in February 2020, The Dominion Post took a bold stance that garnered international attention by publicly stating no matter who the final candidates were in that year’s presidential election, we would never endorse Trump. Our decision was based on the rampant criminality and lack of reasonable legislation during his presidency to that point: from the Muslim ban and the “infrastructure week” that never materialized to the overt attempts to destroy federal agencies like the EPA and Departments of Energy and Education.
As our former publisher David Raese said in the BBC interview in 2020, “it may not be popular but sometimes you just want to be on the right side of history.”
Trump’s subsequent refusal to acknowledge his loss and the attempts to remain in power — e.g., the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol and the fake elector plot — convinced The Dominion Post and our editorial staff that we made the right call.
Joe Biden’s dedication working across party lines got us not just through the initial crises we faced — from the lingering pandemic to both foreign and domestic national security threats — but delivered positive action from which we will continue to benefit. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (aka, bipartisan infrastructure deal) is finally rectifying decades’ worth of deferred maintenance and improvements to our roads and bridges. The Inflation Reduction Act has not only lived up to its name — the U.S. saw less inflation than the rest of the world — but also helped move more manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. That said, Biden’s administration has not been perfect and deserves its fair share of criticism. But this is no longer Biden’s race.
Four years since we made our bold declaration, we are once again sizing up Donald Trump against his opponent — this time, Kamala Harris.
In that time, Trump has added to his baggage: 34 criminal convictions, liability for sexual assault and charges of absconding with highly sensitive official documents to his golf club in Florida, among other charges, including for his own role in disrupting the election certification on Jan. 6, 2021.
Harris, in comparison to Trump, has significantly less baggage and is in-touch with Americans’ practical needs, not just their grievances. And unlike Biden, Harris has proven herself exciting and savvy.
Harris has embraced her legacy as a member of the Biden administration, but she brings her own policies as well. Her plans include creating more affordable housing by regulating corporate landlord absentee ownership and incentivizing the building of at least 3 million homes to meet existing demands and to lower costs. She also has plans to address high costs of food by championing legislation that more firmly ties grocery stores’ ability to increase prices to the product’s actual cost. This would prevent the type of price gouging that has characterized the post-pandemic economy.
Furthermore, Harris plans to address the deficit and continued cost of governing by increasing the tax rate for corporations back up to 28% — still lower than it was under President George W. Bush. More importantly, her economic plans focus on uplifting the middle class and supporting families: 95% of Americans would see lower taxes, and the top 0.1% (an income over $14 million) would only see a tax increase of less than 1% of their income, and families could receive a child tax credit of up to $6,000.
She previously waffled on fracking, but she’s inheriting Biden’s legacy, which has walked a fine line between increasing domestic energy production, including fossil fuels, and environmental protections. As such, we don’t see her turning her back on this region.
Trump’s politics have always centered on rhetoric that stokes his base’s grievances and policies that benefit his fellow millionaires. Harris’ politics are the opposite: Her rhetoric encourages instead of inflames, and her policies are focused on supporting ordinary Americans over millionaires.
So, it is with joy that The Dominion Post endorses Kamala Harris and her positive vision for the future.
