This week, presidential polls are moving again, in the opposite direction. After the Biden campaign made the determination there was no path to victory, the President announced on July 21 that he would not accept the Democratic nomination and he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
The negligible momentum gained by the Trump/Vance campaign after the Republican convention vanished nearly overnight as voters contemplated a candidate not eligible for Social Security (whether Social Security is still solvent when Harris reaches 65 is another matter entirely).
It's too early for polls to be accurate, but this statistic cannot be ignored: Harris pulled in $81 million in fundraising in the first 24 hours after President Biden withdrew from the campaign, a new record. Within 48 hours, it appeared that Harris had the delegates needed for nomination.
This is a bit of a shame. An open convention would be more work for the Democratic National Committee but would give Americans a view into more candidates and ideas. It would also show a major party more fully committed to the process of democracy and less to nomination by proclamation. It would draw more voters to the eventual nominee.
However, at this point, the Not-Biden-and-Not-Trump candidate brand alone could be enough to win by a healthy margin, particularly with the right running mate.
The number one campaign issue is currently playing out like a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Elmer Fudd throws a stick of dynamite down Bugs' rabbit hole. The age dynamite was flung at the Biden campaign by Trump many months back. Now, with the flame well down the fuse, that same dynamite has been thrown back into Trump's lap. Harris gets to watch the detonation with the rest of us.
This election should be about more than personalities, and for me, it is. I encourage everyone to read the 2024 Republican platform. It's utter trash. It's tripe, it's a screed, it's badly written, it's full of contradictions, misinformation, and blatant untruths.
After I read it last week, I went online and changed my registration to independent. Although there is notionally an RNC platform committee, the 2024 platform is a cut-and-paste job of Trump's Truth Social posts and campaign rally speeches. As such, the platform does not demonstrate a vetting of ideas and issues amongst Republican Party members. It is a convoluted, confusing and misleading manifesto from Donald Trump.
I have written time and time again in this space that the greatest threat to the United States is our federal debt. There is no mention of it in the 2024 platform. From an economic perspective, there is a singularly progressive, left-wing theme: "Republicans will support baseline Tariffs on Foreign-made goods, pass the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act, and respond to unfair Trading practices."
Tariffs are right out of Elizabeth Warren's economic playbook, and Trump's proposed 10% tariff on all Chinese imports will raise prices on just about everything we buy from Walmart and Amazon. This, dear reader, will cause inflation.
To counter this, I suppose, the platform committee dropped in references to "Reducing Inflation" throughout the platform. And they are going to Reduce Inflation by cutting taxes. Problem: cutting taxes does not reduce inflation. Giving consumers more buying power by creating more disposable income increases demand, which raises prices.
I guess no one on the platform committee wanted to bring Econ 101 up. Or the debt. Because We will Preserve Medicare and Social Security!
I'm also concerned about national defense (President Trump has referred to veterans like me as "suckers and losers"). The 2024 Republican platform calls for "Peace through Strength." It maintains the United States will "stand with Israel," and "restore peace in Europe." Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance has been one of the most outspoken opponents of support for Ukraine in the Senate. One wonders what a Trump/Vance vision of European peace will be.
Most concerning is the declaration that the United States will build an "Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield." This shows the depth of Trump's ignorance about the Department of Defense, and Republicans' willingness to go along with anything he says.
The Iron Dome missile defense system is an Israeli system, partially built in the U.S., intended for defense against short-range rockets. An Iron Dome in the U.S. would only be effective if we went to war against Canada or Mexico. Our country is 448 times larger than Israel and our enemies are oceans away; global missile defense coverage is the strategic imperative.
We have American missile defense systems around the world and are continuously working on placing more and better ones. There's THAAD, Terminal High-Altitude Aerial Defense, designed to intercept missiles in the upper atmosphere. There's the Army Patriot system and the Navy's Aegis system for shorter range missiles. We created an entirely new branch of the military, the Space Force, to address threats from and in space.
In his speeches, President Trump compares the Iron Dome to the long-defunct Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or "Star Wars" as it was derisively dubbed in the 1980s). Trump asserts that Israel's Iron Dome is an example of what SDI could have been if successful. This is hooey. The Iron Dome is intended to counter short-range rockets from neighboring countries. SDI was intended to intercept long range ballistic missiles from the Soviet Union.
Here's the thing. Missile defense is important. Making missile defense a military priority is reasonable position. But apparently not one person on the platform committee dared to suggest writing the "Peace through Strength" section of the platform in a way that was technically credible.
There are the multiple references to making America the number one oil producer "again." The United States has produced more crude oil than any other nation, ever, since 2018. This market dominance did not stop with the Biden administration. In 2023, the U.S. produced 22% of the world's oil. Russia produced 11%. Saudi Arabia produced 11% (source: Department of Energy). This lie that we are not the top global oil producer is repeated over and over and too many Americans believe it.
But I guess no one on the platform committee was bothered by perpetuating a lie in the national platform.
So there's an inflationary economic policy that doesn't address the federal debt that grows by $1 trillion every three months. A defense policy centered on a missile defense system completely unsuitable for the United States. And an energy policy centered around a lie.
The founders of our nation put their fortunes, families and lives at risk to prevent the United States from being ruled by the caprices of a single man. Oh, well.
I am not expecting to find much to agree with in the 2024 Democratic platform. The DNC, however, at least is showing itself to be a functioning party, as opposed to a bully's tool.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and two of cat. She can be reached at
