Now that President Joe Biden is out and Vice President Kamala Harris is in the US presidential race come November, the line is clearly drawn and the die is cast. The entry of the first woman vice president of the US and the first Asian-American to occupy the second-highest position of the land has brought so much excitement, hope, and revival of positive expectations among Democrats.
Many young voters who hated both Trump and Biden are now back in the mainstream of American politics. Before Harris’ entry, the young voters had already decided not to cast their votes. But now the youth, women, blacks, Asians, and LGBTQIA++ are coming back into the fray. Harris is bringing back the heightened enthusiasm and passion among the American electorate. Instead of boycotting the polls, the youth, women, and minorities are coming back. Campaign fund contributors are pouring in like Niagara Falls, and there’s much joy and excitement in the Democratic Party.
Now, Trump is meeting youth against age, pro-women against anti-women slurs, anti-crime against a candidate with a hundred or so criminal indictments. This is a fight that revives the raging issue of Roe vs. Wade, pro-choice against pro-life. The contrast is very clear and voters have a clear choice. Kamala Devi Harris, the 49th vice president of the US was born on October 20, 1964. She’s only 59 years old and will be 60 when she takes her oath come January 2025. Donald Trump, the 45th president and hoping to become 47th, was born on June 14, 1946 and is 78. This is a fight between the old age of 78 and the right age of 59. The demographics of American voters favor Harris. Trump now faces the danger of losing.
Harris was born in the western and immigrant haven state of California, specifically in Oakland, a very decent and peaceful community of many immigrants from Mexico and Asia. There is a big Fil-Am community there. The Pinoys love Kamala as she is a well-educated lawyer, having graduated from Harvard and the University of California. Her career is characterized by one central theme: a passionate crusade for the rule of law through a relentless fight against crime. Harris was a former district attorney and prosecutor who sent many criminals to state and federal prisons. She started as a district attorney of California's Alameda County, then to San Francisco and then elected California attorney general in 2010. She was a junior senator when President Joe Biden selected her as running mate in 2020.
In contrast, Trump is the first American former president who has been indicted for multiple criminal charges in New York, Florida, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. Trump doesn’t respect women in his speeches, recklessly mouths out anti-women slurs, and is decidedly anti-immigrant. He promised to undertake the biggest deportation in all American history. During his term, many babies were separated from their parents and his policies against immigrants bordered on outrageous cruelty and inhumane treatment. He claimed to be the architect of the reversal by the Supreme Court of the landmark Roe vs. Wade on the issue of pro-choice and abortion.
The Republicans packed the Supreme Court with ultra-conservative justices who insisted the government and not the individual women should decide on issues affecting women's reproductive health. Thus, the lines are drawn now. Voters have a clear choice between respect for individual rights or state inference on many private issues and matters that pertain to personal lives. Also, Trump is for the rich billionaires like Elon Musk while Kamala and the Democrats are for the working class, unions, immigrants, and minorities. Harris’ coming spells the end of Trump's dream to be president again and says no to Trump's hidden goal to erase his criminal indictments.
I would love to see the first woman US president to take her oath as the 47th president of the great nation of America. Her presidency will be very good news for the Philippines and Asia. There are no less than five million Filipinos in America, six of my siblings are US citizens and permanent residents.
We have so much at stake. I am flying to the US to cover the presidential polls on my own account and for The FREEMAN to be updated on all issues in and out, up and down, left and right, from the coast of Hawaii to the Atlantic City skylines. You will all hear from me first-hand. That's a promise.