The 2024 Presidential election is one day away. Many Hoos on Grounds will be voting for the first time in what is proving to be a tight and contentious battle between former President Trump and Vice President Harris. Though many have already made their choice and cast a ballot, there are still many who will go to the polls tomorrow with feelings of indecision and dejection. For those of you still on the fence, here is one last pitch for both candidates provided by UVA students Tyler Lucas and Matthew Foley.
Editorial Board
Vote for Former President Trump
“A return to peace and prosperity.”
With the United States facing economic turmoil, an unstable world, and a wide-open border, new leadership is required to steer our nation back on course. This November, voters will be presented with a stark choice. On one side is Vice President Kamala Harris, not only one of the most unpopular vice presidents in American history, but a politician so incompetent that she was never considered presidential material until the Democratic Party could no longer hide President Biden’s debilitated mental state. Facing Harris is former President Donald Trump, an experienced leader who provided tangible results for our nation during his time in office. Those who wish for the United States to return to its former glory should cast their vote for Donald Trump for several reasons: President Trump will end the rampant inflation caused by the Biden-Harris Administration, he will seal our border, and he will protect our nation through his peace through strength foreign policy.
Since taking office in January of 2021, the consumer price index, which measures the overall change in prices, has risen 19.4% under the Biden-Harris administration. After passing irresponsible legislation such as the American Rescue Plan, which dumped trillions of dollars into the economy, the year-over-year inflation rate rose from 1.4% to 9.1% in just two years. What does this mean for the average American? It means that the typical American family lost $8,100 of their annual income under Harris’ watch. President Trump offers a way out of the mess caused by Kamala Harris and her reckless spending. He will lift the Biden Harris restrictions on American energy production, regulations that have helped cause gas prices to rise to levels 40%
higher than they were under the Trump administration. President Trump will also work with Congress to rein in wasteful government spending, enact tax cuts for the middle class, eliminate the tax on tips, and institute much-needed protective tariffs to end the offshoring of our once vibrant manufacturing sector. Finally, President Trump will establish an America First Trade Policy, which will stand up to countries that cheat American consumers, bring back critical supply chains such as the pharmaceutical drug industry and chip manufacturing, and prioritize American producers over foreign outsourcers.
Vice President Harris, tapped by President Biden as the so-called “Border Czar,” has made only one major visit to the border. As she shied away from her duties, over eight million illegal immigrants poured into our country. Many of those who entered were violent criminals such as Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien who murdered twenty-two-year-old nursing student Laken Riley. Sadly, the story of Laken Riley is all too familiar for dozens of American families, as 178 Americans have been murdered by illegal immigrants under Kamala Harris’ watch. Once in office, President Trump will restore our territorial integrity. He will resume construction of the southern border wall, as well as deploy the U.S. military to reinforce vastly overwhelmed border patrol agents. President Trump will also cut federal funding for sanctuary cities, increase funding for ICE, and strengthen penalties for illegal entry. The Republican Party realizes that immigration has always been a hallmark of our nation, however, it must be done legally, and most importantly, immigrants should never be put above the welfare of the American people.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the world has seen an explosion in violent conflict. Their weakness on the global stage enabled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel, and China’s increasingly hostile stance toward Taiwan. The most disgraceful disaster occurred on August 26, 2021, when 13 U.S. service members lost their lives during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. The evacuation was ill-planned from the start, and as a result, the Taliban were able to recover billions of dollars worth of American military equipment. This is all a stark difference from President Trump’s peace through strength foreign policy, which helped normalize relations with North Korea, established the Abraham Accords, and most importantly, allowed no major wars to break out. Under a second administration, President Trump plans to increase military spending to counter China’s growing threat and ensure our armed forces remain the strongest in the world. He will also strengthen our commitment to Israel, and implement measures that require members of NATO to pay their fair share. Most importantly, President Trump realizes that after Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, it is not America’s role to engage in endless conflicts. Instead, he will only send troops into harm’s way if the interests of America or her closest allies are directly violated, a foreign policy similar to that of President Theodore Roosevelt’s Big Stick Diplomacy.
The three and a half years that Vice President Harris has spent in office has shown that she is vastly unprepared to tackle the mounting problems that her administration has caused. Our nation should not reward a failed leader with another term in office, much less a promotion to the White House. For those yearning for a strong economy, the restoration of our borders, and peace on the world stage, President Trump is the best choice to Make America Great Again.
Tyler Lucas
UVA Young Americans for Freedom
Vote for Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris has spent her career fighting for the people she represents. As San Francisco’s district attorney and California’s attorney general, Harris worked to lower the price of housing, pursued criminal justice reform efforts, and protected students against predatory, for-profit universities. In the Senate, Harris stood up for her constituents, especially women. She gained a following after pressing Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, about his position on abortion rights and sexual misconduct allegations against him. Kamala Harris has been a fighter throughout her career; here are five policies showing how she’ll fight for college students as president.
- Affordable higher education
The Biden/Harris administration sought to cancel student loans for millions of Americans struggling with massive debt; the administration has partially or entirely canceled $170 billion in loans for up to 5 million Americans. Further, under Harris’s leadership, the maximum Pell Grant award increased by $900. A Harris administration promises to continue these initiatives.
Harris has pledged to invest in higher education, including community colleges. She views college as “a ticket for the middle class” and understands the importance of reducing barriers to higher education. A more affordable college experience will set college students on a higher track for future success.
- Protecting reproductive freedoms
Harris has pledged to make protecting reproductive freedoms a priority of her administration. She’s promised to sign into law a bill restoring Roe v. Wade’s protections, even if it means burning political capital to do so.
Her opponent, on the other hand, hasn’t offered a firm position on abortion. Donald Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices that revoked the rights of Roe, leaving millions of women without autonomy over their bodies. In Trump’s second term, he could sign into law a national abortion ban. Even if he fails to do that, he’s poised to restrict access to contraceptives and other birth control measures. A Trump win in 2024 would set women back to 1984.
- Lower prices and a sound economy
Kamala Harris has promised to build an opportunity economy for the middle class. Her policies are focused on cutting the cost of groceries, health care, and energy, among others, while encouraging wage growth and innovation among the working class.
Donald Trump’s policy, on the other hand, is to impose wide-ranging tariffs on friend and foe alike. Trump repeatedly says inflation will vanish under his presidency, yet any intermediate macroeconomics student could tell you how disastrously inflationary tariffs are. If your economics professor can’t sway you, this letter, signed by 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists, should do the job.
Experts say Harris’s economic policies will strengthen America’s economy more than Trump’s. A Harris presidency would bring lower prices to all Americans, alleviating some of the financial burden of college students.
- Reduced gun violence
For our generation, gun violence is just a fact of life. The threat of another school shooting constantly hangs in the back of our minds. Kamala Harris promises to mitigate this threat. Her platform of common sense gun restrictions promises to “ban assault weapons, require universal background checks, and support red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people”. This is not a threat on the Second Amendment – this is a proven way to save thousands of American lives and create safer learning environments for college students.
- Lower taxes on low-income individuals
As college students, most of us fall into the lower rungs of the tax bracket. A Harris/Walz administration will decrease the tax burden on low-income individuals; Harris has pledged not to raise taxes on any American earning more than $400,000. This means that college students and recent graduates will keep more of their paychecks in their wallets, easing their financial burden and reducing the cost of living.
Matthew Foley
University Democrats
The opinions expressed within this piece represent the views of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jefferson Independent.
I certainly hope the “young skulls full of mush” don’t get swept up in the leftist rhetoric that now seems to dominate UVa. I read through the talking point from Mr. Foley and just have to laugh. He certainly has swallowed the Harris pseudo agenda hook, line, and sinker. Yet Ms. Harris hasn’t had a press conference in many months and apparently is scared of the main stream media. Only platitudes from her rallies and vague concepts about “price controls”, handouts for “first time house buyers,” and “gun control”, and other such tripe. I live in a state that has been absolutely overrun by thousands and thousands (literally) of illegal aliens. Yet now Ms. Harris is going to “get tough” on the problem she helped create? Sure. I graduated from UVa several decades ago and have now had real world experience working all over the US, and have lived in small communities and larger cities/metro areas. Once you do the same you may realize the follies of the leftist rhetoric, especially when you go to pay your taxes, buy a house, try to support a family, put that family into schools, pay for medical care, and fund your future retirement. You’re all fired up, left-leaning libs until you go out in the “real world”. I doubt that leftist Virginia will move any further to the right, but at least you did elect a great Governor in Mr. Younkin in the last cycle. God save the country if Ms. Harris prevails. And I do hope you “young skulls full of mush” that voted for her do get educated in the real world one day.
Superb analysis by Tyler Lucas.