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Transcript

2024 Presidential Candidate Policies · Project 2028

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Hello and welcome back to Project 2028.
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Today we're going to be discussing several different issues that are very important to
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the election and each candidate's stance on them.
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So without further ado, let's dive right in.
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So just before we get started, at the time of recording this there is 23 days until the
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election and by the time you guys are seeing this there should be about 21 days left.
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This is a super crucial time and it is really important to make sure you understand where
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each candidate is, why they have these stances and also what they plan on doing about these
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topics while they are in office.
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It's super important to understand where each candidate stands because it can help you solidify
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your vote and make sure you like what the candidate you're voting for or that you're
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choosing to vote for is standing for.
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Okay, now let's actually dive right in.
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So Luchana, where do you want to start?
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What do you think, Elle?
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I will go wherever.
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Maybe let's start in the economy.
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Okay, great.
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Okay, so I'm going to start by explaining where for President Donald Trump stands on
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the topic and then Luchana is going to follow with where current Vice President Kamala Harris
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is standing.
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It's going to go in that order for the entire podcast just to make that really clear.
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Okay, so former President Donald Trump has his own economic record to continue and to
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make sure he is standing behind from his first term.
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So this was in his first term, he had a huge tax cut deregulation of industry and trade
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wars with economic competitors, most notably China.
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He is doubling down on his first time highlights, promising more of the same.
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He said he's favoring, he favors lowering the corporate income tax rate to 15% from
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what is currently 21%.
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He has advocated for a much broader across the board 10% tariff on imported goods and
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promised to reserve a lot of the green energy subsides and mandates that the Biden administration
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has championed.
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He has also promised to take care of inflation and lower interest rates, but has not said
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how he would do this.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has plans very similar to what President Biden has, but she
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has also started to mention some ideas of her own, such as an emphasis on family friendly
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topics like paid leave and childcare support.
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In general, she has shown support when she was in Senate for more progressive economic
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policies with that main emphasis on the family focused topics.
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Okay, we are now going to jump over to foreign policy.
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As you guys can kind of tell, we're keeping it very unbiased, no opinions, just this pure
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facts for what we have learned from the candidates about what they say is factual about what
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they will do.
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So Trump has sowed doubt about America's commitment to NATO.
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He promised to impose a 60% tariff on all Chinese imports, expressed pro-Russia learnings, and
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bragged that he could end the war in Ukraine in one day, all of which are at odds with
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Harris's professed positions.
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Both candidates have emphasized their support for Israel and its forward in Gaza.
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Vice President Harris is just starting to reveal her foreign policy agenda.
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Previously, she's kind of been sticking with what President Joe Biden said, surrounding
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herself with expertise and trying to uphold alliances and American engagement.
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The main similarity with her and former President Trump is that they both support Israel in
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the war with Gaza.
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If you're curious to hear more why both candidates and any presidential candidate will be supporting
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Israel and more on what has happened in the year that the war has started, because it
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has been a little over a year when we're recording this, there will be an episode coming out
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about that later this week, so please tune in.
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Okay, so we're going to move over to the climate and the environment and specifically a big
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focus in this category is going to be climate change.
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So former President Donald Trump has dismissed the science of climate change and says that
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it's a scam and a hoax, promising to lower energy prices by cutting government regulations
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on fossil fuels and incentivizing oil and gas production.
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Trump has promised to, quote, drill baby drill, a phrase coined in the 2008 Republican National
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Convention.
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Trump and the Republican Party calls for making the U.S. the number one producer of oil and
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gas in the world, which it already is, but they want to, I guess, increase the amount
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that we are number one by, by lifting regulations on American energy production.
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In addition to boosting fossil fuel production, he also wants to do away with new pollution
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standards for vehicles and power plants that would force utilities and manufacturers to
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drastically reduce their reliance on oil and gas.
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Similarly, Republicans have cast newly renewable energy incentives as government overreach.
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Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, has called climate change a global challenge
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and is running to protect and expand the government's role in tackling climate change by regulating
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fossil fuels and incentivizing the use of renewable energy.
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She often touts her role as the tie-breaking vote in passing the Inflation Reduction Act,
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one of the Democrats' signature legislative achievements under President Biden and the
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largest investment in climate mitigation in history.
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She promised to continue the tax breaks and other incentives Democrats say are building
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a clean energy economy, pointing to a slew of new electric vehicles, solar, and battery
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manufacturers.
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She has also tried to cast herself as a business-friendly pragmatist, on the other hand, and she's boasted
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about the country achieving record levels of oil production during her tenure as vice
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president, casting the increase as a strategic decision to avoid over-relying on foreign
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oil.
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The United States has been a net energy exporter since 2019.
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So on to immigration and the candidates' opinions on the border.
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So Trump has said he plans to reinstate and expand the immigration policies of his first
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presidential term, including finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall, as well as reviving
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the remain in Mexico and asylum restrictions, as he promised to, quote, carry out the largest
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domestic deportation operation in American history.
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To carry out his threat to deport millions of migrants living in the U.S. without legal
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permission, he suggested he would use local law enforcement and the National Guard to
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possibly build detention camps on U.S. soil.
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Trump has also promised to sign an executive order to end birthright citizenship for, quote,
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illegal aliens on the first day of his new term, which would almost certainly face significant
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legal hurdles because birthright citizenship is enshrined and guaranteed in the 14th Amendment.
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In ramping up his anti-immigrant rhetoric, Trump claimed those crossing the border are
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overwhelmingly criminals from prisons or mental institutions.
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Trump focused heavily on immigration during his first presidential campaign, including
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building the border wall with what he claimed would be Mexican money, though his failure
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to do so has become an attack line from his primary rivals.
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Harris, on the other hand, has called for reforming what she says is a broken immigration
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system.
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She wants to create a pathway to citizenship while also defending what the Biden administration
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has done on the issue, specifically her role in aiming to address the root cause of migration
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from Central America.
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She said as president she would advocate for a bipartisan border bill that stalled in Congress
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due to Republican opposition.
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She said she would work to make sure the legislation lands on her desk as it is currently stalled
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in Congress and pledged to sign it.
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The bill would have increased immigration restrictions such as tightening asylum rules
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and allowed for partial border shutdowns if crossings rose above a certain threshold.
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It would have also beefed up resources for immigration review, including funding to hire
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more judges and to combat drug trafficking.
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So we've seen a big, big difference between the two candidates' stances, how they are
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choosing to not only address the US citizens, but also the group of people that these laws
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and bills they hope to pass would and how it would affect that.
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So we see Kamala taking a much more, I guess calmer stance on this.
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She is less eager to get rid of or deport the people that are illegally living here
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versus President Trump is very ready to take that step and to really make sure that we
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crack down.
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Kamala is trying to help them be able to legally enter our country in a much safer and more
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humane way.
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Now we're going to talk about the Supreme Court.
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So the next president will wrestle with the consequences of the Supreme Court teetering
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on the edge of relevance and will likely get to pick two new justices.
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As it stands, Justice Clarence Thomas, who is 75, and Samuel Alito, who is 73, are the
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oldest members of the court.
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They are also the most conservative.
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Most experts who focus on the Supreme Court have put out that they expect the next president
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to nominate their replacements.
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Trump handpicked three of the current justices, Neil Gorsuch, Brent Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney
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Barrett, all of whom are 55 years or younger, meaning that they will be able to stay in
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the court for roughly two more decades.
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And if Trump were to be elected again in 2024, experts predict that he'll continue the path
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he set as president.
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Before becoming vice president, Kamala Harris was a senator on the Judiciary Committee,
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where her prosecutorial dress-downs of the three judges nominated by then-president Donald
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Trump during their confirmation process garnered her national recognition.
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Harris has not yet shared the type of experiences she's looking for in a justice should a seat
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become open.
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But if she is elected and the two judges we mentioned earlier were to become unable to
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hold the position anymore, it's obvious that she would pick a democratic justice, which
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could help even the balance of the Supreme Court and make it more fair.
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Yeah, we've seen in a lot of the recent cases, the court has a very almost certain split
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of 6-3 in most cases that they have tried recently.
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So if the seats were to become available, depending on who is president, we would see
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either the same 6-3 split or we would see a more even court.
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I'm going to at the end talk a little more about why our checks and balances system might
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be a little messed up depending on who becomes our president, what happens with the Supreme
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Court, and also what happens in Congress.
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So now for the education aspect.
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So Trump favors abolishing the Education Department altogether and has boasted close ties to the
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conservative policymakers behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's 900-page transition
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playbook for Trump.
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Or they claim it's for their next Republican president, however, it's really for Trump,
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which includes proposals to expand private school choice programs, roll back the title
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IX protections for LGBTQ students and prosecute colleges that maintain affirmative action
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and DEI policies.
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So he is also super supportive of the states that have made state-based legislation trying
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to implement religious studies, specifically Christian religion studies into public schools,
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including putting these 10 commandments in the classrooms, trying to create a theology
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class in public schools, and trying to kind of put the Christian religion onto the students.
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If you want to hear more about that type of legislation, we have already covered it in
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a earlier episode of Project 2028.
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I believe it is in our episode where we cover Project 2025, which would be our third ever
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episode.
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So if you are interested, I would start looking there.
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Harris on the other hand, advocates for injecting more funding into K-12 schools, especially
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increasing teacher pay and breaking down segregated school systems.
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She also supports universal preschool on the higher education front.
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We can expect her to build on the Biden administration's pursuit of the student loan debt cancellation
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and boost funding for historically black colleges and universities.
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This is one of the topics where her and President Trump's ideas and plans or concepts of plans
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clash most severely.
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So it's going to be very interesting to see how this turns out, especially when we're
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talking about the funding of HBCs.
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When Trump became president, he took away a lot of the funding that President Obama had
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provided HBCs.
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And we saw one of the lowest amounts of dollars going to HBCs that we have seen from any presidential
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term.
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Okay, so the next topic that we have written down is guns.
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So we just did an entire episode about our kind of, not necessarily stances, but it was
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pretty much a Democratic liberal view versus a conservative Republican view on guns.
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So if you want to hear that debate, it was our most recent episode before this one.
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Go check that out.
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But just to kind of really shorthand it, Trump is very pro your second amendment.
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He doesn't plan on putting any restrictions or regulations or bans on any type of gun,
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and it would not really have that much of a change.
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Well, Kamala said in one of her most recent debates that she does own a gun, which was
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very interesting.
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I think this could be a very unifying thing for a lot of undecided voters who don't want
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to give up gun rights but agree with some of her other policies.
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This could really make them think like, oh, wait, she's not going to take away my gun
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because she has said herself, if someone comes into my house, they're getting shot like an
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intruder, not like a guest.
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But if someone comes into my house, they're getting shot and she's not going to take away
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people's guns.
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So this was a really interesting stance.
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I think something that's interesting that the candidates hear is that their views on
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guns are not super contrasting.
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Obviously, there's a bit of a difference, but they're not opposite ends of the spectrum.
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But with their voters, the voters' beliefs tend to be further on the end of the spectrum
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than the candidates.
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Also, please make sure you go and watch our gun debate episode.
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I didn't get screamed at for an hour by Ryan for nothing.
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You have to listen.
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Yeah.
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So we see this false dilemma fallacy really imposed by the Republican and Democratic parties
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that are presenting the issue of guns as a strictly pro or strictly anti-gun policies.
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Well, this is not the case.
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There is so much middle ground.
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There are more than two opinions and sides to this issue, and it's much more complex.
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So that's one of the biggest things that we are seeing, like one of the major fallacies
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that we are hearing very consistently from not only candidates, but also the parties
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themselves.
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So the last policy topic we are going to be talking about is abortion.
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So this is going to be our first presidential election since Roe v. Wade was overturned
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in 2022.
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The two candidates are running campaigns with widely divergent strategies on the issue.
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Trump has mostly avoided definite statements on his potential future policies while repeatedly
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taking credit for states' efforts to limit access to abortion.
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In the past, he's been inconsistent on the subject.
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In 1999, before his political career took off, he said that he was very pro-choice,
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but more recently has described himself as the, quote, most pro-life president in U.S.
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history, though he has also stated that he would not sign a national abortion ban if
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it passed Congress.
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His wife, Melania, released a statement recently saying that she believes that women have the
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right to choose.
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We are not really sure what prompted her to come out and say this or if or how Donald
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Trump feels about this.
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There are people speculating that she might be trying to show that she is not the same
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mind as him.
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She also was going to do an interview with CNN but said she wanted a certain sum of money.
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I think it was around $200,000.
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And people are speculating that she might be trying to build up her own source of income
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and her own money, especially with her book coming out, so she could possibly not rely
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on Donald Trump.
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This is all speculation and not much to do, but it's very interesting to see how within
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their house they even have pretty vastly different opinions.
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On the other side, Harris has been unwavering in her support of abortion rights.
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As a senator and presidential candidate in 2019, she put forward an extensive plan to
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protect abortion access, in which states would be required to get preclearance from the Justice
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Department before changing abortion laws.
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She's also believed to be the first sitting US Vice President to ever visit an abortion
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clinic.
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A Harris presidency could see more risk taking on the subject of abortion than the current
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administration, says Mary Ziegler, an abortion law expert at UC Davis School of Law.
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But Biden, a practicing Catholic, doesn't always mention the word abortion when talking
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about Roe v. Wade, and has sometimes been described as uneasy talking about the issue.
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I think that this is something that will be—I think Kamala's opinion on this will be good
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for her because Trump hasn't really given a solid stance.
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He's kind of been changing his mind, and then now with Melania, people aren't really
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sure what he believes, but majority of Americans are pro-choice, so this could be something
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that works out well in the long run for Kamala.
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Especially with the kind of wave of red state women coming out in support of her, I think
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a lot of the women that maybe have voted Republican in the past and were planning to do so after
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hearing—this is a big topic for women.
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Abortion is something that a lot of women are really passionate about.
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They care a lot about it, and it's something that affects not only them, if they have daughters,
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their daughters, but also their friends, their friends' kids, everyone around them.
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And it affects men too in the same way, except it's not a personal effect because they may
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not have had to make that choice.
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So this is one of the biggest issues we're seeing, and it is definitely helping boost
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that women for Kamala, or Republican women, or red state women for Kamala kind of wave
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that we are seeing within obviously social media, but also we are seeing rallies about
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it and that type of thing.
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And just to kind of go back to Trump for a minute here, his kind of choice to not state
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his exact opinions and to not give a super specific plan or policy that he wants to carry
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out is a very smart decision on his choice.
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It is definitely keeping some of the on-defense voters on his side, especially when it comes
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to if abortion is one of their main deciding deal-breaking factors.
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It is definitely a topic that kind of he is very strategic about not giving his exact
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stance on.
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So as I mentioned earlier, we are now going to really be talking about the issues that
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we could see within the checks and balances system of the US government.
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So just to kind of briefly share or sum up what the checks and balances system is, I'm
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going to let Lutrona take that one because I think she can do a better job explaining
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than I can.
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Okay, so the checks and balances is basically each branch of the government, so judicial,
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legislative, and executive, has certain things they can do and certain things that they can't
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do but other groups can, which stops any branch from having too much power.
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So there's things like that the presidential branch can't do, like enforce the laws that
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the judicial branch can do, and the judicial branch can't write the laws, but the legislative
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branch can.
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So that's kind of how checks and balances is working, is supposed to work, but right
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now and if things continue going forward, there's a chance that it couldn't work as
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it was designed to.
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Yeah, so basically how we are seeing this system being thrown off balance is by currently,
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even though our justices aren't supposed to have political affiliation, there is a six
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to three split of how they were voted in by six of them being voted in by Republican president
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and three of them being voted in by Democratic president.
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So that is the judicial branch and that is leaning more on the conservative Republican
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side.
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So now we move over to the Congress, so basically since the Senate is an equal representative
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for each state, the Congress kind of the way that they are leaning is based solely on the
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House.
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So we've seen a lot of flip-flopping, but in the 2020 elections, Republicans took control
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of the House by a slim winning majority.
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So let's do a tiny little recap here.
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Our judicial branch is Republican, our legislative branch is also Republican, and our current
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president is a Democrat.
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So our executive branch is kind of the odd man out here.
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So if we see Kamala Harris get elected, we will continue that slightly off balance, but
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still being checked, checks and balance system.
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However, if we have a Republican president before either the judicial or the legislative
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branch becomes, it flips and becomes less conservative or it becomes more liberal leaning,
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we will basically see a very, very tiny amount of checks and balances.
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Obviously, there are a lot of Republicans who don't believe in what Trump says and are
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not supporters of him, but a vast majority are solely based on his party affiliation.
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So the checks and balances system will be completely wrecked.
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And it's really important that we kind of keep that system because it was made and created
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for a reason and it was very strategically planned out.
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So we need to make sure that we keep that system going.
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However, you think that would best be done, whether it be with the Congress, with the
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president or with for soon to be a Supreme Court justices.
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That is obviously up to you as a voter, but just to kind of put that issue out on the
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table as well.
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Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Project 2028.
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If you liked this episode, please go follow us on Instagram at at project2028.podcast.
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We would also like to mention that Ryan is out.
25:54
He's busy with swimming, but he says hello and he will be with us for an episode shortly.
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Have a great day and thank you for listening.