What Would The US Be Like If Kamala Harris Was President? – CleanTechnica

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In an interview on the UK’s prime weekend political show on the BBC, former US vice president Kamala Harris reminded us of the warnings she made on the campaign trail about Donald Trump: she saw his leadership as little more than fascist and authoritarian. The interview was one of the stops on her nearly sold-out international book tour to promote 107 Days, her point-of-view analysis of her 2024 US presidential run.

Both the book and the tour have offered eye-opening glimpses of what she’s termed the “shortest presidential campaign in modern history.” Emerging from the dark shadows of the role of loyal vice president, Harris’ succession to Democratic party presidential candidate was riddled with problems that resulted from Joe Biden’s ill-fated decision to run for a second term. She also revealed that Biden’s team undermined her both his presidency and her run for the highest office in the US.

What a difference a year makes. During her campaign, adviser David Plouffe told her, “People hate Joe Biden.” She admits her error in sticking to a position of uncompromising loyalty. “Why. Didn’t. I. Separate. Myself. From. Joe. Biden?” She acknowledges in her book how difficult it was for her as VP to reconcile politically risky tasks such as investigating border policy without Biden giving her authority to implement substantive change.

Harris presents more than a retrospective, though. During the UK interview, she stated that she was not done with politics — to the point that she intimated she was considering another bid for elected office. “I am not done,” she insisted. “I have lived my entire career as a life of service, and it’s in my bones.”

When prodded, Harris responded that she would “possibly” be the next US president.

Highlights from Harris’ Book and Book Tour

A dastardly dictator-in-chief: During the BBC interview, Harris discredited Trump as a “tyrant” with “thin skin” who is manipulating the justice system to suit his own selfish purposes. “He said he would weaponize the Department of Justice — and he has done exactly that,” she commented.

Corporate kowtowing: Harris condemned US corporate leaders and institutions who acquiesce to Trump’s threats. Too many have “capitulated since day one, who are bending the knee at the foot of a tyrant.” While the reasons why they do so are varied, she believes the majority of these sycophants “want to be next to power, because they want to, perhaps, have a merger approved or avoid an investigation.”

Protests against Trump’s policies: Harris was cautious in her book about ensuring the safety of anti-Trump administration protesters. “When we go to the streets, as we will, we must not give them the spectacle they are craving,” she guided. “We will go out of love of our country and belief in its promise. We cannot let them lie about that.”

Trump’s doubletalk about DEI: Errin Haines, a moderator during the book tour, set the tone as she introduced Harris, reports Politico’s Alex Bronzini-Vender. “We know that tonight’s conversation is not just about politics or power,” Haines began. “It’s about legacy, it’s about leadership, and it’s about the lived experience of breaking barriers in full view of the world. It’s about how history gets written, and who gets to write it.”

The high cost of living today: Harris described the state of the US economy under Trump. “Prices are up, inflation is up, unemployment is up. He made those promises,” she stated, “and he broke them.”

Policies that would be in Place if Harris Were President

As 107 Days concludes, Harris offers a succinct review of what life would be like for US residents if the policies she announced during her presidential campaign were in place.

First time home buyers: “By now, maybe, young people would be applying for their $25,000 housing down payment assistance,” she envisioned. Steve Hanley writes on CleanTechnica that, instead, “it should be intuitively obvious to the most casual observer that a focus on single-family housing is, de facto, (a Trump) embrace of suburban and rural living and a disparagement of cities.”

From a child’s eyes: Harris would have implemented “an increased child tax credit (that) would be lifting thousands of families out of poverty.” The Tax Policy Center at the Brookings Institute projected that more than 70% of households making about $113,000 or less (the lowest-income half) would have benefited from at least one of the Harris proposed three tax breaks.

Health insurance catastrophes: “Medicare would be helping thousands of families and people in the sandwich generation to provide home care for their elderly loved one,” Harris described. Her proposal for “at home Medicare” would have helped to ease the burden of the cost of elder care for many families. “Paying for a home health aide out of pocket is far out of reach for most families.“

International aid: “People in Africa would still have access to their AIDS medications,” she continued. In 2019 Harris introduced a bill in her role as US Senator to reduce the transmission of HIV by encouraging the use of PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis. It’s a drug that’s more than 92% effective in preventing new infections.

International status: “Our global friendships and our national reputation wouldn’t be in tatters,” she bemoaned. Trump’s misinformation campaigns have jeopardized US relations with long-term allies and prompted despots to band together. A White House spokesperson responded, “When Kamala Harris lost the election in a landslide, she should’ve taken the hint — the American people don’t care about her absurd lies.” Sure, that’s why Trump’s fraud and inefficiency is bringing out protesters in mass.

Final Thoughts

During the Haines interview, Harris acknowledged the need for the Democratic party to change direction. “There’s also work to be done about reconstructing in a way that we ask ourselves, ‘Were we being efficient? Were we being effective? Were we delivering for the people?’” she reflected.

Jeer Deet writes for The Nation that “the key is that the Democrats need to break not just with Joe Biden but with neoliberalism as a whole. Status-quo liberal politics has failed, and with 107 Days Kamala Harris has, surely not by design, written one of its obituaries.”

Bronzini-Vender observed during the book tour that “the Democratic Party of 2025 is, in many ways, not the party it was just a year ago. For one, Democratic voters are more willing to radically experiment.” Harris seems to agree, for she has intimated she may campaign for New York’s Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

Many of the problems that Harris faced pre-dated her run for US president. Robert Reich reminded us in his Substack today, “Even prior to Trump, American democracy was deeply flawed. The moneyed interests were drowning out everyone else. Inequality was reaching record levels. Corruption — legalized bribery through campaign contributions — was the norm. The bottom 90% were getting nowhere because the system was rigged against them.”

Reich does see a shift in progressives’ tenor and strength, however. “Many of you are now sowing the seeds of fundamental reform,” he praised.