Focused on Harris, Trump? Look at abortion, immigration, Michigan politics

Okay, folks, are you ready? The race for all the marbles is underway, candidates chosen for all federal and state offices, gobs of money being raised and spent, ads by the mega-gross assaulting the senses, volunteers knocking-calling-pleading for votes and commentators commenting continuously.

Let’s begin by simplifying the main race, the presidential election. That race alone could have a huge effect on Michigan’s critical U.S. Senate and U.S. House races, as well as the state House races, where Democrats now narrowly control the chamber.

Commentators love sports metaphors, so here goes: We’ve finished the sixth inning. The Democrats, having changed pitchers, have kept Republicans off the bases since the top of the fifth. The GOP pitcher continues to throw wild knuckleballs and fat layups — despite ongoing pleas from the other fielders — letting Democrats heavily tag him. The Dems are up a run over the GOPs. And there’s lots of game to go.

This reporter started paying attention to politics seriously at age 8 during the 1960 election, because both my dad and then Democratic nominee Sen. John F. Kennedy were from Massachusetts. Perfect logic for an 8-year-old.

This presidential election, my 17th of conscious memory, is the most fascinating. It could also be the most consequential in generations. We’ve gone from a race between the two oldest presidential candidates — both being or having been president — to potentially the oldest person elected president facing the first woman of color running for the office. Oh, and there’s already been an attempted assassination and a complete change in party nominees.

Expect a tight race, for the third consecutive time, which could well tighten all the down ticket races in Michigan. Especially in the bid to succeed retiring U.S. Sen Debbie Stabenow, between current U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic nominee, and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican.

The factors affecting the race? Well ...

Heaven or hell

Each side describes the other, and its policies, in almost Biblical terms. Former President Donald Trump, for the GOP, continually warns America has collapsed from the — well, he might call it perfection — it attained during his administration. If Democrats win, America will be beyond saving. He said so in his GOP convention acceptance speech, much of which was a rehash of his 2016 “I alone” can accomplish anything speech.

Harris, in her convention speech, called the upcoming election one of the most important in our history because Trump “is an unserious man,” but the consequences of sending him back to the White House “are extremely serious.” Trump is a fan of autocrats, she said, because “he wants to be an autocrat.”

Freedom, faith, families and Project 2025

Heritage Foundation head honcho Kevin Roberts has said in emails that the organization’s Project 2025 will protect America’s families. (Reading it — it’s one 900-page book that will keep you up at night — you might conclude otherwise.)

So which party made families, as well as freedom and faith, the mainstay of its convention? Republicans? Democrats? They both raised those issues, but unquestioningly Democrats made the concerns a matter of partisan belief, identity and commitment in a manner not seen … ummm … ever.

How the Democrats cast the issues was a total contrast to Republicans.

The Republicans were dark in tone and spirit, grim and focused on one individual, that of course being Trump, on protecting and restoring all three elements.

To this reporter, there was a disturbing sense of near menace to the GOP tone. Hulk Hogan’s bodice-ripping speech, with Trump’s adoring visage upon him, seemed uncomfortably close to the “Tomorrow Belongs To Me” scene in the classic film “Cabaret.”

Meanwhile, the Democrats’ sometimes equally dark tone — when talking about Trump and his plans — was still infused with a Micky Rooney boosterish “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” can-do-ism. The musical equivalent? Maybe Nelson Eddy singing “Stout-Hearted Men.”

Republicans treated Trump as a savior, who would restore a long-ago, not-necessarily great world, protecting them from change or progress or anything different from a 1950s "idealism" most of them don’t even remember.

Democrats offered a broad call to work and fight together, with Harris marching at the head. As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in her speech, Harris is already in this fight — growing up in lower middle-class circumstances and caring for her sick mother, she understands the needs and the need to reach out to all.

And Democrats, long the party questioning military spending and sometimes opposing military ventures, boomed their approval for a strong military and U.S. international leadership. Slotkin expressed it best when, to roaring cheers, she shouted, “We are the damn United States of America! WE LEAD!!”

Everyone's talking about Project 2025. Here's what they're missing.

Immigration is still a focus for Trump and Harris

Clearly an issue Trump leads on. Still, it is fascinating that he and Harris, both the issue of immigrants, differ so drastically on immigration. Trump’s father was born to German immigrants and his mother was a Scottish immigrant, yet his call to close the Mexican border and deport millions of people sound like the anti-Irish, anti-Italian, anti-Chinese, anti-anybody else calls of the past 200 years. Yet Trump also says we need more immigrants — but, you know, the right immigrants. Not those from, ahem, “sh--hole countries” perhaps.

Harris, her mother Indian and her father Jamaican, backs an ongoing Democratic call to rework the immigration system. She forcefully pledged to sign the Congressional immigration compromise Trump directed Senate Republicans to oppose. What is astonishing about her promise is that compromise was also opposed by some liberals because it didn’t include a path towards citizenship for many immigrants.

Were this the only issue before voters, Trump’s retributive stance would give him a major advantage in the race. That, right now, is a simple fact. Some recent polls show that even a majority of Hispanic voters support draconian immigration enforcement.

The economy, and inflation

The stock market is soaring, far higher than it was during the Trump Administration. Job growth has been electrifying, again, far more so than during the Trump Administration.

But for many the economy is summed up by: inflation. Now falling, inflation, over the past few years, has run at a higher level than it has in several decades. But the recent spike — reaching a high of 8% in 2022 — was lower than what the U.S. struggled with in the 1970s and early 1980s, when inflation peaked at 13%. People yowl about 7% mortgages today, but in 1980, a new mortgage on the first house I and my soon-to-be wife Cindy wanted to buy could be had at 17%. We were lucky to assume a 10% mortgage.

Inflation, rivaled only by immigration, is the current hallmark of Republican campaigns. Trump supporters flood social media with memes on inflation. Michigan’s Mike Rogers, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, focuses almost exclusively on inflation in his Senate campaign, and his speech to the GOP convention.

Trump told his convention there was no inflation during his administration — untrue, it was just much lower — and he would immediately end inflation when he took office — which is simply impossible under any circumstance.

President Joe Biden gets the blame for the current inflation spike, but if Trump had won re-election in 2020, the inflation discredit would go to him. Trump would have been hit just as hard, as a detailed paper issued in 2022 by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed, since the boost was caused by a variety of issues related to the Covid pandemic and outside any individual control.

Harris, for her part, called for a ban on price gouging, positioned just vaguely enough for her detractors to call them price controls, which might, at best, be a stopgap. Former President Richard Nixon set price controls in the early 1970s, and that held prices steady for a time, but once the controls ended, prices exploded.

Sadly, the only deliberate method to reverse high inflation is engineering a massive recession. That’s what happened in the early 1980s. For millions, the cure was worse than the disease.

Trump says he will boost U.S. oil production to achieve lower prices. The U.S. is now the largest oil producer on earth, pumping more oil than ever – look it up – to meet increasing demand. It’s interesting Trump wants to boost demand now, when in April 2020 – when crude oil prices hit $0 – Trump cut a deal with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the Saudi Arabians to slash oil production to drive up the cost of fuel.

Michigan has civil rights. Texas has affordable housing. What if we could have both?

Abortion, i.e., women’s rights

Democrats own this issue, Republicans know it and can find no way around it. Not yet anyway. Even many anti-abortion supporters oppose the patchwork chaos ensuing since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade. States such as Idaho and Tennessee have already imposed laws blocking minors from traveling to other states for abortions (which even this Supreme Court should acknowledge is unconstitutional as burning hell), and there is legitimate fear that those states will expand the laws to affect all women. Oh, and Project 2025 essentially calls for a blanket ban on abortion.

But the issue goes beyond just abortion, to essential issues of bodily integrity for women and, well, men too. In his concurrence to Dobbs, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested previous rulings that blocked states from outlawing birth control or same-sex marriage or even relationships could be struck down. This “suggestion” could effectively end personal autonomy for millions of people, along with boosting sales of chastity belts and driving gay bars back to the underground. It could, equally, dramatically impair the economy, forcing millions of women out of the workforce.

Plus, if decisions banning birth control are permitted, what would stop the court from ruling a state could ban, ummm, vasectomies? Nothing, nothing at all.

The hunter, and gun control

Kamala Harris’ Vice-Presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is a hunter, going out in the fall to bag him some birds. He also signed gun safety legislation, providing for background checks and red-flag laws.

His presence on the Democratic ticket could change the argument on gun safety legislation. Studies show most gun owners do support reasonable gun safety laws (hey, they got kids in school, too). Even the Supreme Court is beginning to recognize how moronic is its 2022 decision that found no gun regulation that wasn’t in effect in the 1780s is constitutional.

Yes, the Second Amendment guarantees reasonable, regulated ownership and use of firearms. Gun safety laws recognize that (and for the record, every cop I’ve asked what gun is best for home protection has told me the same: a shotgun). Sadly, gun safety laws won’t completely stop gun violence. Much more is needed for that, including expanded, improved mental health care. But they will help, and Walz’s presence, should the Harris-Walz ticket win, can help propel their passage, both nationally and in individual states.

And in conclusion

These are among the key issues now affecting Michigan and the nation’s election. Which one will decide the election? Might not be any of these. Could be something else.

Truly, no single issue or set of issues will decide the election. You, the voter, will. Stay informed, consider all points, decide rationally — and make sure you damn vote.

Free Press contributing columnist John Lindstrom has covered Michigan politics for 50 years. He retired as publisher of Gongwer, a Lansing news service, in 2019. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online or in print.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Focused on Harris, Trump? Look at abortion, immigration, MI politics