The Battle Cry for Freedom

Defeating Trumpism

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On June 29 of this year, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn aligned with the Earth's moon, a rare planetary alignment. A month later, the Democrats are experiencing an equally rare alignment of facts, vibes, and feelings.

Trump is not known as a policy nerd. During his regular ranting rallies and so-called press conferences, he proclaims that the American economy has gone to hell with historically record inflation, that violent crime is at an all-time high and that the situation at the southern border is out of control with Democrats promoting an "open" border.

The facts are very different in these three major areas, and facts matter. The latest inflation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics[i] shows that inflation is currently at 2.89 %, the lowest it has ever been since its peak in June 2022 at 9.06% (which is far from the record ever recorded by the Bureau of 20.49% in 1917 and the post second world war record of 14.8% between March 1979 and March 1989).

The crime rate has also consistently decreased since its peak during COVID in 2020 (under Trump's presidency). The recent data shows a decline in 2023 of violent crime of 12.2% versus 20222, the most significant national decline on record and is near its lowest level in more than 50 years.[ii]

Last but not least, the numbers on illegal immigration crossings have been in sharp decline since the beginning of the year, contrary to Trump's assertions, currently standing at 84'000 migrants in June.[iii] A closer analysis of the immigration data shows a much more nuanced picture than the skewed Trump presentation. As a matter of verifiable fact, President Obama operated more deportations (ca. 2.1 million) over his term than President Trump (ca 1.5 million).[iv] A differentiation needs to be made between "enforcement returns", "administrative returns", and "removals (deportations)" that depend on where the action is carried out (i.e. at the border or within the US) and by which agency. While Obama earned the " deporter-in-chief " qualification, Biden is on track to be called the "returner-in-chief".

As per his old and tired playbook, Trump is focusing on immigration as a central theme of his program and never misses an opportunity to criticise the Democrats for their alleged lax policies. However, the same Democrats, going against their initial instincts, negotiated a bipartisan bill with the Republican Senators to tackle the crisis at the Southern border. The main sponsor of the bill was arch-conservative Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma. The resulting bill reflected everything the Republicans had ever asked for, as it was one of the strictest immigration bills ever passed by the Senate for four decades, according to Senator Lankford himself.[v] Mitch McConnell also indicated that [vi]

 "our nominee for president did not seem to want us to do anything at all."

This is a prime example of Trump putting politics before the country.

As mentioned earlier in this book, the Republican Platform for government has been short in details under Trump. In 2020, there wasn't a platform per se other than to reiterate the Party's complete support of President Trump and his "America First agenda". The excuse for not releasing a new detailed agenda was the COVID crisis and the fact that the Republican National Convention in Charlotte was reduced in size and scope. Instead, the 2016 Platform was also considered sufficient as a basis for the 2020 campaign.[vii] The Party's genuine and unique objective was supporting Donald Trump, and it went into the campaign with a recycled Platform and a recycled President.

The recent RNC adopted a new 2024 Platform, which clearly demonstrates that the Republican Party is now entirely devoted to Trumpism. The 20 main objectives are even capitalised in pure social-media Trumpian style as if to give more emphasis and power to the aforementioned points by virtue of "powerful" punctuation. The title says it all: "2024 GOP Platform Make America Great Again!"[viii]

The preamble of the Platform emphasises yet again an America in "SERIOUS DECLINE". It describes a crisis in the US with "raging inflation, open borders, rampant crime, attacks on our children, and global conflict, chaos, and instability."[ix] Using this alleged miserable state of affairs as a backdrop, the document praises Donald Trump as an "unapologetic Champion of the American People" and stating that he is the only person willing and capable of restoring America to greatness”.

The 20 main points cover Trump's usual talking points, which are heavy in fearmongering but light in concrete policy solutions. A few examples demonstrate this tactic. Point number two declares, "SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION". The suggested path forward in this regard is to use the military to block the border both on land and on the sea and to "begin the largest deportation in American history." The actual number of illegal immigrants concerned varies from 10 million to 20 million depending on Trump's mood. Still, the Republican Party has made this promise a central part of their 2024 Platform. Notwithstanding the fact that there is no immigrant crime wave, the justification for such a massive deportation program lies in the belief that illegal immigrants are inherently bad for America and that their only contribution is in increasing violent crime. To use Trump's favourite talking points, they are coming in from prisons, from jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums.

Trump has not been specific in how he would implement this plan. The agency on the frontline for organising and implementing such a policy is the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which does not have the resources to manage such a massive deportation. Trump has indicated that regular law enforcement and National Guard Troops would be deputised to assist ICE and to set up "staging detention areas" near the Southern border.

In reality, any efforts to remove the ca. 11 million illegal immigrants from the US would face enormous legal and practical challenges. Moreover, such a policy would be highly prejudicial to the American economy, as these illegal immigrants pay more than 11.6 billion USD in taxes per year (both local and State taxes).[x] Last but not least, whole sectors of the American economy, such as the farm industry or the hospitality sector, would not be able to function anymore without illegal immigrants.

The call for "mass deportation now" looks good on national TV during the RNC and caters to the MAGA base, but it will be notoriously difficult to implement successfully and risks pitting Americans against one another whilst stigmatising illegal immigrants as the source of all problems. The implementation of "staging post detention centres" is dangerously similar to "relocation camps" set up during the Second World War in the US for Japanese Americans. If the dreadful policy of separating children from their families, a policy implemented during Trump's last presidency, is anything to go by, one can only be concerned about the human rights aspect of such a large deportation plan. [xi]

Another cornerstone of Trump's plans for a second term is to impose tariffs of at least 10% on all imports and another tariff of 60% upward on all Chinese imports. Such a move would align with the philosophy he implemented during his first presidency but would go much further in breadth and scope (up from 1% to 11% currently).

Trump likes to declare that tariffs are "a tax on a foreign country. A lot of people like to say it's a tax on us. No. It's a tax that doesn't affect our country."[xii] This is fundamentally wrong. A tariff is, in fact, a consumption tax that is regressive as it affects lower-earning consumers more than higher-earning consumers. The economics of a protectionist, tariff-based policy are indisputable.[xiii] The mechanism is simple. The importer of the goods in question pays the tariff to the US government. In turn, the importer passes on those costs to the consumer either partially or in total to protect its profit margin. In either case, the incidence of the tariff is felt in America: either by the consumer who needs to pay more for the same product or by the US importer who incurs higher costs and therefore has less money to spend on other business expenses, thus reducing private-sector output, worker incomes and private business incomes. It is estimated that such tariffs would cost the American household an average of 1'700 USD per year[xiv], explaining why Kamala Harris recently referred to the tariffs as a "Trump Tax".

The three main pillars of Trumponomics are tariffs, a crackdown on immigration and tax cuts. Trump intends to extend the tax cuts he made in 2015, which are due to expire at the end of 2025, and to further reduce the corporate tax rate by a further one per cent, down to 20% (or even down to 15% depending on some of his declarations). His tax plan would increase the budget deficit by a further 4.6 trillion USD over the next decade, according to the latest report by the non-partisan  Congressional Budget Office (CBO).[xv]

The so-called Trumponomics are likely to increase inflation ( and create “Trumpflation”), contrary to Trump's numerous declarations whereby he is the only person able to bring inflation down (even though it already is at 2.9% and edging closer to the Fed's 2% target). Tariffs act as a consumption tax, increasing the costs of goods imported into the US, price increases that are passed on to the consumer; the corporate tax cuts, whether modest or more radical, would act as a fiscal stimulus, and finally, the crackdown on immigration could reduce the labour base and force employers to pay higher wages to attract a shrinking number of employees.

Trump was elected in 2016 because he promised to bring back manufacturing jobs to America – a central part of his program – hence notably his tariff policies. However, Trump lost 200'000 manufacturing jobs during his presidency, and even taking into consideration the negative impact of the COVID pandemic, the number of manufacturing jobs during his term reached a plateau at best. The Biden-Harris administration, on the other hand, has already created an extra 775'000 jobs exceeding the jobs lost during the pandemic and is on course to create a further 336'000 manufacturing jobs per year, all thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and the Science Act. Trump failed to deliver on his 2016 promise because of his trade wars, and there is no reason to believe that what failed during his first presidency would work any better if he were to become president again.

The one promise that he did keep was to radically change the composition of the Supreme Court to ensure a super-conservative majority to reverse the 50-year-old Roe vs. Wade, securing the right for women to have an abortion at the federal level under some conditions. This major decision and reversal of rights is the epitome of what fighting for freedom is all about, a core belief and cornerstone of Harris's program.

Immediately after Roe vs. Wade was overturned, the red States implemented full or partial abortion bans, in effect withdrawing a generational right that women had acquired. The impact of this reversal was profound and continues to affect numerous women all across the country and has had severe consequences for women's healthcare. Similar to what happened in Poland, innumerable women have suffered significant health issues or died because they have not been able to be treated by doctors whenever necessary.

Whilst, indeed, the people in the red States where very restrictive abortion bans or laws have been implemented have been able to reverse these bans by organising initiative ballots, such procedures take time. The staunch Republicans in these States who enjoy large majorities in the State Houses and legislatures are doing everything they can not only to thwart such initiatives but also attempting to move on to adjacent areas such as fertility treatments, access to contraception drugs and access to contraception. In the meantime, the bans have been implemented and have everyday drastic consequences for the women in those States. The situation in the State of Arkansas demonstrates this all too clearly[xvi]. The State has one of the most draconian abortion laws in the nation, and the partisan local officials are fighting tooth and nail to prevent an initiative from appearing on the November ballot to amend the State constitution allowing abortion up to 20 weeks and creating exceptions after that. Despite the majority of State voters in favour of more liberal legislation, according to opinion polls, ideologically motivated jurists have been successful in keeping the initiative off the ballot, thus denying women of that State access to abortion without letting the people decide.

Understanding the negative impact the abortion issue had on the 2022 midterms, Trump has attempted a course correction by declaring that he is not (or no longer) in favour of a federal abortion ban and that all he is trying to do is to let the States make their own decisions (which is already the case since Roe vs. Wade was overturned). This is a disingenuous argument as the current state of affairs for women is far worse than what it was before the Supreme Court's decision.

One also has to question Trump's sincerity and credibility when, in the same statement of April 8 2024, where he redefines his position on abortion and reproductive rights, he claims: "It must be remembered that the Democrats are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month. The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth. And that's exactly what it is. The baby is born, the baby is executed after birth is unacceptable. And almost everyone agrees with that".[xvii] Such an outrageously and patently false statement disqualifies Donald Trump from ever being taken seriously on such an important matter and demonstrates that everything he says on this topic cannot be trusted. His "newfound" self-proclaimed moderate position is as credible as his insistence that bleach could kill COVID or that the 2020 election was stolen.

Arguing that abortion is a matter of State rights as per Trump’s new position is like saying that the Civil War was not about slavery at all, but rather it was likewise about State rights, a position that has been rightfully debunked and which causes many recriminations whenever it is advocated.

In this case, not only do facts matter, but actions speak for themselves. By engineering the reversal of Roe vs Wade, Trump has set the country back 50 years and has done irreparable damage to women's rights in the US. The actual policy advocated by the Trumpian Republican Party has been set out in black and white in Project 2025 [xviii], which has been referenced before in this book. It notably states that the Department of Health and Human Services Department should "return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care." It also recommends that the Federal Drug and Foods Administration reverse its approval of one of the drugs used for medical abortion procedures, mifepristone. It further advocates using the 1873 Comstock Act, which bands mailing of "obscene" items to ban mailing not only the medically required drugs for abortion but also the surgical tools. Senator JD Vance wrote to the Department of Justice in January 2023 to enforce the Comstock Act and to reduce access to abortion pills.[xix]

Notably, since Project 2025 has received much attention from the press, Donald Trump and his campaign managers have attempted to distance themselves from the document. Trump goes so far as to say, "I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. (…) but I have nothing to do with them."[xx] However, more than 20 people who worked in the Trump administration are part of Project 2025 and the main author of the project, Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation since October 2021, told the press that "Most of all, there's overlap", about Trump's policies and Project 2025 and most people involved with the project believe that Trump's recent declarations distancing himself from Project 2025 are meaningless. "The general sense is this is a PR gesture for him to provide himself maximum room to manoeuvre and avoid making any commitments at this point. Most people I know who are involved with it don't seem overly worried that this actually constitutes a repudiation and is going to mean anything on January 20."[xxi]

Defeating Trumpism means, first and foremost, beating Trump at the polls in November 2024. This requires a clinical dismantling of his policies, exposing the lies behind them and methodically explaining why they are doomed to fail.

President Biden was correct in saying that Trump is a threat to democracy and that this is not a normal election. However, his age and the image he projected did not allow his message to get across to a doubting electorate who could not get past his appearance and faltering performance. The concept of democracy is somewhat challenging to grasp, so for such a message to resonate, the messenger cannot distract from the message.

The advent of Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket changes the game altogether. As a messenger, she has the appeal, credibility, and energy to deliver the unwelcome truths about Donald Trump. Moreover, in rapid succession, Harris has been able to reframe the argument and the election by projecting herself into the future and refusing to look backwards. Hope and confidence in an American future are relatable ideas that transcend political divisions and can galvanise a reluctant electorate to come to the polls.

After a successful Democratic National Convention overflowing with positive energy, it all looks so simple. A new face for the ticket, a new path forward for the country. Yet what Harris has already achieved cannot be underestimated – she is, after all, closely associated with Biden's administration as his current vice president. However, her unique messaging has reset the campaign, and with her running mate, Tim Walz, she has managed to capture the minds and hearts of a large swath of the electorate, people who would most likely not have supported Biden, thus enlarging the pro-democracy coalition.

She has successfully repositioned the election as one of sanity vs. insanity, of normality vs. abnormality. Given the reaction of Trump against her nomination, it is safe to say that there is no longer method in his madness as he resorts to personal invectives and other such old and used tactics that demonstrate he is losing his grip and with the real possibility of losing – god forbid to a black women of all people – his only remaining strategy is to attack Harris’s person. “Eight years of insults, incitement and affronts to the rule of law have proved that Donald Trump won’t be tamed”[xxii].

During her acceptance speech, she, like all the other speakers, made the point that the path ahead would be difficult and that victory should not be taken for granted. This prudent approach does not disguise the fact that if she can continue on her path, truly transcend American politics, and bring the country to a happier place where hope and joy once again claim their rightful place, her victory will become unstoppable.

[i] “US Inflation Rate”, Ycharts, August 15 2024, https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_inflation_rate#:~:text=US%20Inflation%20Rate%20(I%3AUSIR)&text=US%20Inflation%20Rate%20is%20at,in%20price%20over%20a%20year and “Economic News Release, and “Economic News Release”, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 14 2024, “www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm”

[ii] German Lopez, “Crime on the Decline”, The New York Times, January 11 2024, “https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/briefing/us-crime-rate.html”

[iii] Camilo Montoya-Galvez: “Illegal crossings at U.S.-Mexico border fall to 3-year low, the lowest level under Biden”, CBS News, July 1, 2024, “https://www.cbsnews.com/news/border-crossings-us-mexico-border-june-2024/”

[iv] Muzaffar Chishti and Kathleen Bush-Joseph: “The Biden Administration Is on Pace to Match Trump Deportation Numbers—Focusing on the Border, Not the U.S. Interior”, Jube 27 2024, MPI Migration Policy Institute, “https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-deportation-record”

[v] Sahil Kapur: “White House seizes on Mitch McConnell's remarks that Trump stalled action on border security”, NBC News, April 25, 2024, “www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/white-house-mitch-mcconnell-trump-stalled-action-border-rcna149331”

[vi] See footnote number 198.

[vii] “The Republican Party Platform”, Ballotpedia, August 22 2020, “https://ballotpedia.org/The_Republican_Party_Platform,_2020”

[viii] “The official 2024 Republican Party Platform”, www.donaldjtrump.com, August 2024, “https://rncplatform.donaldjtrump.com/?_gl=1*1obgoai*_gcl_au*MTM4ODY1Nzg4NC4xNzIzODkzMzQw&_ga=2.245951431.2107981841.1723893341-786527412.1723893341”

[ix] See footnote number 198 above.

[x] “Undocumented Immigrants Pay $11.6 Billion in Taxes Every Year, Study Shows”, Pozo Goldstein, LLP, June 15 2024, “https://pozogoldstein.com/undocumented-immigrants-pay-11-6-billion-taxes-every-year-study-shows-2/”

[xi] Sam Goldfarb: “Wall Street’s Big Question: How Far Would Trump Go on Tariffs?”, The Wall Street Journal, August 14 2024, “https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/donald-trump-tariff-trade-policy-election-2024-80907f85”

[xii] “FULL SPEECH: Trump rallies in battleground state of Pennsylvania”, Youtube.com, August 17 2024, “https://youtu.be/XfGIyuiNx2c?si=1pMl7KCYbgo64g6t”

[xiii] Clark Packard, Scott Lincicome and  Alfredo Carrillo Obregon: “Americans Paid for the Trump Tariffs—and Would Do So Again”, Cato Institute, August 19 2024, “https://www.cato.org/blog/americans-paid-trump-tariffs-would-do-so-again”.

[xiv] Kimberly Clausing and Mary E. Lovely: “Why Trump's tariff proposals would harm working Americans”, The Peterson Institute for International Economics, May 2024, “https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/2024/why-trumps-tariff-proposals-would-harm-working-americans”.

[xv] “Extending Trump Tax Cuts Would Add $4.6 Trillion to the Deficit, CBO Finds”, United States Senate Committee on the Budget,  August 5 2024, “www.budget.senate.gov/chairman/newsroom/press/extending-trump-tax-cuts-would-add-46-trillion-to-the-deficit-cbo-finds”

[xvi] Ruth Marcus: “What ‘leave it to the states’ really means for abortion”, The Washington Post, August 27, 2024, “https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/27/abortion-arkansas-states-trump/?utm_source=pocket_saves”

[xvii] “President Donald J. Trump releases statement on life”, donaldjtrump.com, April 8 2024, “https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/bec0091d-188f-41b9-aab0-653b62da332c”

[xviii] “Mandate for Leadership. The Conservative Promise 2025”, project2025.org. August 2024, “https://www.project2025.org/playbook/”

[xix] Dan Diamond and Meryl Kornfield: “Vance urged DOJ to enforce Comstock Act, crack down on abortion pills”. The Washington Post, July 17 2024, “https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/07/17/jd-vance-abortion-comstock-vice-presidential-nominee/”

[xx] Maya Yang, “Donald Trump claims to ‘know nothing’ about Project 2025”, The Guardian, July 6 2024, “https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/05/donald-trump-project-2025”

[xxi] Allan Smith, “Project 2025 insiders see Trump's disavowal as 'two siblings in a fight' — not a rejection”, NBC News, July 16 2024, “www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/project-2025-insiders-see-trumps-disavowal-two-siblings-fight-not-reje-rcna161722”

[xxii] Stephen Collison: “Trump’s personal attacks aren’t just who he is. They’re his strategy”, CNN, August 26, 2024, “https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/26/politics/trump-personal-attacks-policy-harris-analysis/index.html”

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