There are many reasons Americans should be concerned about another four years of Joe Biden at the helm, but none so perilous as the very likely potential for Kamala Harris to become president.
The Kamala Challenge
According to polling, only 26% of voters believe the country is headed in the right direction. It’s hard to imagine things going further south than they already are, but as any realist will tell you, as bad as things are, they can always get worse.
Kamala Harris has many times had a higher unfavorable rating than her boss, a difficult feat to accomplish.
Yet with her constant pedantic word salads about space, time, or electricity, she often sounds as incoherent as the President, without the excuse of age.
While I strongly disagree with almost all of Harris’s policies, I respect her as a woman of great accomplishment. In 2010, she became the first woman to hold the seat of California attorney general. In 2016, Harris won a U.S. Senate seat for California. Regardless of how one may feel about her politics, those are not achievements to be dismissed.
However, in a culture that increasingly places a priority on identity over merit or qualifications, it is clear Biden chose Kamala Harris as a token. She checked all the boxes progressives care most about – color of skin, gender, and geographic desirability. Harris hails from California, a gold mine of Democratic donors. Despite her prior successes, she has proven time and time again that she is not a strong leader.
While Kamala Harris falters in many areas, she is weakest on one of the country’s most pressing issues right now – foreign policy.
Kamala Harris Is Weak On Foreign Policy
One of the main roles of the vice president is to represent the United States abroad and serve as an emissary of US foreign policy.
With the country’s increasingly weak position on the world stage, the threat of China looming large, and a military that is woefully unprepared for combat, the need for a candidate with a strong understanding of geopolitical strategy and global culture is imperative.
This is not Kamala Harris.
When it comes to foreign policy, Harris consistently focuses on social issues such as climate change and gender equity rather than the crucial historical and geo-political elements necessary to understand the agendas and motivations of different countries, cultures, and their leaders.
There seems to be a fundamental lack of understanding that there are more pressing issues for most nations than ensuring people have access to gender-neutral bathrooms. Not to mention many do not subscribe to America’s most recent liberal stances on social issues, including gender, sexuality, and abortion.
Africa
Nowhere is Kamala Harris more tone-deaf than in Africa during a recent trip.
Including Africa in future foreign policy tactics is crucial.
Aside from economic potential and access to key defense ports, along with India, Africa has the highest growing population of working age adults in the world. It’s population is expected to double to 2 billion by 2050.
With significant instability in many regions, China has steamrolled the continent via its Belt and Road initiatives, its aid to Africa untethered to demands of cultural and social alterations. This could put Africa in dangerous debt to the imperialist nation, as China has lent African nations hundreds of billions of dollars that they may never be unable to pay back. And waning enthusiasm from China has left many high cost projects uncompleted.
Russian influence has also increased in the region with the deployment of troops from the private military contractor, Wagner Group, which has been a suspected player in the Sudan conflict.
Kamala Harris is not the epitome of strength needed to counter such threats. Her recent nine-day journey to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia was high on emotion, and low on substantive strategy.
Seeking to prioritize U.S.-Africa relations, a crucial initiative for the U.S., Harris’s tone seemed to be more reflective of DEI initiatives than true economic and developmental tactics to empower independence in the countries. Her speeches included her usual circular rhetoric and words such as “exciting,” “equality,” “liberty.” On her agenda included a visit to a local music studio and skate rink.
While these are nice optics, they are just that. Like many progressive agendas, Harris’s rhetoric sounds lovely, but lacks cohesive strategy and potentially carries nefarious intentions. Africa is a wellspring of natural resources, such as lithium and cobalt, required to power the Left’s “Green New Deal.” Minerals that are often mined by child labor. Harris made more than one reference to a “private public partnership” between the U.S. and Africa.
The Future
If Biden’s record in the foreign policy space can be characterized by chaos and weakness, one can only imagine the damage Harris could cause for the United States. Strong adversaries such as China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei already have been taking advantage of Biden’s ineptitude. Imagine their elation at the possibility of Kamala Harris filling his shoes.
Trust me, as an entrepreneurial woman; there is nothing more I’d love to see than a female occupying the highest office in the country.
However, as an American, I am not willing to risk the demise of this country for adherence to an ideal.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor for 19Fortyfive. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics, and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
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