CORE VALUES
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DEFENSE
• Harris has not announced any new positions. It is expected she will continue Biden/Harris policies
• She will ensure that our military has no peer
• Harris wants to increase foreign aid and closer partnerships with allies on security issues
• She will revitalize the power and purpose of American diplomacy to compete in a more contested world
• We will protect and enhance opportunities for anyone who can meet the standards to serve in combat roles, and we will fight the scourge of rape and sexual assault in our military, end retaliation and impunity, and take care of survivors.
• We will ensure pay and compensation keep pace with the current economy for military families and increase time between deployments
NO MORE RACISM
• We will root out systemic racism from our military justice system, where black service members are twice as likely as white ones to face court-martial. We will accelerate efforts to recruit and promote people of color in the officer corps.
VETS
• Supports boosting the Department of Veterans Affairs budget
• We will rebuild trust in, and accountability at, the VA, not privatize it
• We will invest in mental health and suicide prevention services
ISRAELI – PALESTINIAN
• Harris believes Israel has a right to defend themselves but vowed to “not be silent” about suffering in Gaza
• It’s time for a peace deal and bring the hostages home. “Get a Deal Done”
UKRAINIAN – RUSSIA WAR
• Harris is committed to supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression
NONPROLIFERATION
• We’ll work to maintain a strong, credible deterrent while reducing excessive expenditure on nuclear weapons.
TERRORISM
• Terrorist attacks have evolved dramatically. Our counterterrorism priorities, strategies, and tools should shift accordingly, including to respond to the growing threat from white supremacist and other right-wing terrorist groups
• We’ll sustain the global effort to defeat ISIS, al-Qaeda, and their affiliates.
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HARRIS PLAN “Defense”
DEFENSE
Harris has not announced any new positions on military defense spending or strategies.it is expected she will continue Biden/Harris policies with a stronger focus on diplomacy in a more contested world.
She will ensure that our military has no peer. We’ll spend our defense dollars more wisely and strategically—focused on building a force that can deter and win the conflicts of the 21st century. And we will use force only when necessary, always as a last resort, and with the informed consent of the American people.
Our military is—and must be—the most effective fighting force in the world. To keep it that way, we need to bring our forever wars to a responsible end and use those monies to rationalize our defense budget, invest in the forces and technologies of the 21st century.
Harris has staked out positions against increases in defense spending. But she has supported boosting the Department of Veterans Affairs‘ budget, her record shows.
The California Democrat has also called for increases in foreign aid, closer partnerships with allies on security issues, and an end to the military’s transgender ban.
Harris believe that the sole purpose of our nuclear arsenal should be to deter—and, if necessary, retaliate against—a nuclear attack. We will work to maintain a strong, credible deterrent while reducing our over excessive expenditure on nuclear weapons.
ISRAELI – PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
At a rally in Arizona Harris said,“Now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the hostage deal done. She and President are working around the clock, everyday, to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home.”
Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to “not be silent” about suffering in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war, saying she expressed her “serious concern” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday while telling him it is time to lock down a ceasefire deal. “Israel has a right to defend itself and how it does so matters. What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told reporters in remarks after her meeting with Netanyahu in Washington. “
The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time. We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” Harris said. Harris echoed Biden’s repeated comments about America’s “ironclad support” and “unwavering commitment” to Israel, but she conveyed a forcefulness on ending the war.
UKRAINIAN – RUSSIA WAR
Harris is committed to supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, having met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at least six times and announcing last month $1.5 billion for energy assistance, humanitarian needs and other aid for the war-torn country.
At the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, Harris said: “I will make clear President Joe Biden and I stand with Ukraine. In partnership with supportive, bipartisan majorities in both houses of the United States Congress, we will work to secure critical weapons and resources that Ukraine so badly needs. And let me be clear: The failure to do so would be a gift to Vladimir Putin.”
SOURCES
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NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE POLITICIANS THEMSELVES, BUT MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS FROM THE CANDIDATES THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
SOURCE: Military.com
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/08/12/bidens-vp-pick-opposes-boosting-defense-spending-supports-helping-vets-and-families.html
SOURCE: Speech: August 9, Fri Arizona Rally
SOURCE: CNN July 26, 2024
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/25/politics/harris-netanyahu-israel-hamas-ceasefire/index.html
SOURCE: CNN
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/08/politics/kamala-harris-key-issues-dg/
SOURCE: Axios.com
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/22/kamala-harris-policy-stances#
SOURCE: Democratic Platform – On their official website
COMBATING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND PURSUING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
AND
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2024 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM POSITION: Military Defense
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REVITALIZE THE POWER OF DIPLOMACY
OUR MILITARY WILL HAVE NO PEERS
OUR ALLIES OFFER US ENORMOUS STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES
STOP THE FOREVER WARS
DEFEAT ISIS AL-QAEDA AND THEIR AFFILIATES
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HOW THE DEMOCRATS WILL DO IT.
NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE OFFICIAL DEMOCRATIC WEBSITE WHICH MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
Revitalize American Diplomacy
We will revitalize the power and purpose of American diplomacy to compete in a more contested world. We will lead not just with the example of our power, but with the power of our example. We will place values at the center of our foreign policy. And we will reinvent alliances, partnerships, and international institutions to meet common challenges that no country can face on its own. The world today looks very different from the post-WWII period that gave birth to our alliance system. But these changes make our alliances more—not less—crucial to our success.
Our Military Will Have No Peers
We will ensure that our military has no peer. We owe it to our men and women in uniform and to the American public to spend our defense dollars more wisely and strategically—focused on building a force that can deter and win the conflicts of the 21st century. And we will use force only when necessary, always as a last resort, and with the informed consent of the American people.
Democrats believe our military is—and must be—the most effective fighting force in the world. To keep it that way, we need to bring our forever wars to a responsible end, rationalize our defense budget, invest in the forces and technologies of the future including everything from cyber to space, and artificial intelligence to unmanned systems.
Allies Offer Enormous Strategic Advantages
Democrats believe America’s alliances are an irreplaceable cornerstone of our national security that should be cultivated, not cast away. Our allies offer an enormous strategic advantage that our rivals can’t match. They multiply our influence, spread our reach, lighten our burden, and advance our shared interests and priorities much farther than we could ever do on our own.
Democrats will not only repair our alliances, but reinvent them to advance mutual priorities and deal with new challenges. We believe our alliances are strongest when they are rooted in shared democratic values. That’s why we need to signal clearly our profound concerns about democratic backsliding in a number of ally states, and why we need to work with allied democracies to end democracy’s global recession.
Stop the Forever wars
Democrats will not only end the wars that have cost so much American blood and treasure—we will apply their lessons. We will only use force when necessary to protect national security and when the objective is clear and achievable—with the informed consent of the American people, and where warranted, the approval of Congress. That is why we will work with Congress to repeal decades-old authorizations for the use of military force and replace them with a narrow and specific framework that will ensure we can protect Americans from terrorist threats while ending the forever wars.
Rather than occupy countries and overthrow regimes to prevent terrorist attacks, Democrats will prioritize more effective and less costly diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement tools. We will right-size our counterterrorism footprint, put it in service of broader regional and overarching foreign policy objectives, and ensure it never undermines the values we seek to uphold. And we will mobilize our partners to make sustained investments that can prevent conflict and help extinguish the flames on which extremists feed.
Nonproliferation
Democrats commit to strengthening the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, maintaining the moratorium on explosive nuclear weapons testing, pushing for the ratification of the UN Arms Trade Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and extending New START. Just as was the case during the height of the Cold War, it’s in our interest to work with Russia to verifiably limit and reduce our nuclear stockpiles. We will build on this foundation to negotiate arms control agreements that reflect the emergence of new players like China, capture new technologies, and move the world back from the nuclear precipice.
TERRORISM
Democrats recognize that the threat landscape has evolved dramatically since September 11. Our counterterrorism priorities, strategies, footprint, and tools should shift accordingly, including to respond to the growing threat from white supremacist and other right-wing terrorist groups
Democrats will sustain the global effort to defeat ISIS, al-Qaeda, and their affiliates. We will ensure that the world is equally committed to the difficult task that follows military success: dealing with the underlying conditions that allowed violent extremism to flourish in the first place. We will work with our partners to prioritize diplomatic, law enforcement, and intelligence tools, to reinforce our objectives instead of distorting them.
NOTE: To learn more and see the complete Democratic Platform, go to: https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform
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SOURCE: Democratic Platform – On their official website
CORE VALUES
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RUSSIAN/ UKRAINIAN WAR
• Our objective is to immediately have a total cessation of hostilities
• Restore peace in Europe and the Middle East
RUSSIAN/ UKRAINIAN WAR
• Our objective is t
POSSIBLE RUSSIAN/ UKRAINIAN PEACE PLAN
• Ukraine, come to the peace table or we will cut military support. Russia, come to the peace table or we will give Ukraine any weapons they want
NATO
• Russia do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense
BUILD UP THE MILITARY
• Trump will provide record funding for our military
• Build a great Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield over the entire country
RADICALS
• Deport Pro-Hamas radicals
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WHAT TRUMP SAYS – Video Transcripts
PREVENTING WORLD WAR III
We have never been closer to World War III than we are today under Joe Biden. A global conflict between nuclear-armed powers would mean death and destruction on a scale unmatched in human history. It would be nuclear Armageddon. NOTHING is more important than avoiding that nightmare. We will avoid it. But we need new leadership.
Every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war. We must be absolutely clear that our objective is to IMMEDIATELY have a total cessation of hostilities. All shooting has to stop. This is the central issue. We need PEACE without delay.
In addition, there must also be a complete commitment to dismantling the entire globalist neo-con establishment that is perpetually dragging us into endless wars, pretending to fight for freedom and democracy abroad, while they turn us into a third-world country and a third-world dictatorship right here at home. The State Department, the defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services, and all the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted to fire the Deep Staters and put America First. We have to put America First.
Finally, we have to finish the process we began under my Administration of fundamentally reevaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission. Our foreign policy establishment keeps trying to pull the world into conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia based on the lie that Russia represents our greatest threat. But the greatest threat to Western Civilization today is not Russia. It’s probably, more than anything else, ourselves and some of the horrible, U.S.A. hating people that represent us. It’s the abolition of our national borders. It’s the failure to police our own cities. It’s the destruction of the rule of law from within. It’s the collapse of the nuclear family and fertility rates, like nobody can believe is happening. It’s the Marxists who would have us become a Godless nation worshipping at the altar of race, and gender, and environment. And it’s the globalist class that has made us totally dependent on China and other foreign countries that basically hate us.
These globalists want to squander all of America’s strength, blood and treasure, chasing monsters and phantoms overseas—while keeping us distracted from the havoc they’re creating right here at home. These forces are doing more damage to America than Russia and China could ever have dreamed. Evicting the sick and corrupt establishment is the monumental task for the next president. And I’m the only one who can do it. I’m the only one that can get the job done. I know exactly what has to be done.
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SOURCE: Official Donald Trump Website -Video transcript
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-preventing-world-war-iii
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BUILD UP THE MILITARY
In a period of less than one week, Joe Biden accidentally admitted that we’re sending cluster bombs to Ukraine because the United States is running out of ammunition. I don’t know how that works, but that’s what he said. Then he called up reserve forces to ship them to Europe, proving that we are running out of troops. And that’s also a fact.
We have very few people signing up to join our military. These actions reveal just what an insanely dangerous situation Biden, and the demented war mongers have led us into. Less than three years ago, I’d fully rebuilt the United States military and steered America into such a strong global position. That peace was breaking out all over the world, we had peace through strength.
Twenty-nine months later, the arsenals are empty, the stockpiles are bare, the Treasury is drained, the ranks are being hollowed out, our country has been totally humiliated, and we have a corrupt, compromised President crooked Joe Biden, who is dragging us into World War III. And that’s what’s happening on behalf of a nation that paid his family, millions and millions of dollars in obvious bribes.
All you have to do is take a look at how much China, how much Ukraine have paid the Biden family. It’s a total disgrace and a very dangerous one. Under these circumstances, the notion that we would even consider admitting Ukraine into NATO at this time is completely unhinged. Joe Biden can’t even walk up a flight of stairs on Air Force One and he can’t put two sentences together. The last thing that this incompetent administration should be doing is risking war with a nuclear armed Russia or China or other countries. We have somebody that doesn’t have a clue representing us.
When I’m back in the White House, on Day One, we are returning to a foreign policy that puts America’s interests first. America’s chief interest in Eastern Europe is peace and stability. We want people to stop dying. This war should never have happened, but it is long past time to end the senseless death and destruction. The numbers are much worse than you’re reading about or hearing about or than they’re telling you.
Many more people are dying than you have any idea and certainly many more than they’re willing to say. Then, as I work to again rebuild America’s military strength and deterrence that Joe Biden so foolishly squandered, we need to take a long, hard look at defense procurement and our defense industrial base, because it’s been withered down to nothing. Given all the money we spend on the Pentagon, it’s unacceptable that we would ever run out of ammunition or be unable to quickly produce the weapons needed.
I will provide record funding for our military just as I did four great years, if you think about what we were able to do, four great years of rebuilding our military, and we rebuilt it bigger and better and stronger than ever before. And now look at what’s happened. And we have no ammunition as told stupidly by our president to the world so that everybody could know it. But I will also insist that we get more for every dollar spent, because we’re spending too much money foolishly and our prices are too high.
In addition, I will ask Europe to reimburse us for the cost of rebuilding the stockpiles sent to Ukraine, which they should be doing now but Joe Biden is too weak and too disrespected to even ask. The fact is that we’ve spent almost $200 billion in helping Ukraine and Europe has spent just a tiny fraction of that amount.
As Biden’s call up of reserve troops show, we also clearly need to address the embarrassing recruitment situation in the USA. Joe Biden’s woke policies and political purges have repulsed many great patriots from serving. They don’t want to serve in our military, frankly, they disrespect our president. That’s a big factor. I will restore the proud culture and honor traditions of America’s armed forces. And there will be no Marxism allowed, no communism allowed, and we’ll get rid of the fascists.
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SOURCE: Official Donald Trump Website -Video transcript
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-rebuilding-americas-depleted-military
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POSSIBLE RUSSIAN/ UKRAINIAN PEACE PLAN
Two key advisers to Donald Trump have presented him with a plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine – if he wins the Nov. 5 presidential election – that involves telling Ukraine it will only get more U.S. weapons if it enters peace talks.
The United States would at the same time warn Moscow that any refusal to negotiate would result in increased U.S. support for Ukraine, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, one of Trump’s national security advisers, said in an interview.
Under the plan drawn up by Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s National Security Council during his 2017-2021 presidency, there would be a ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines during peace talks, Fleitz said.
They have presented their strategy to Trump, and the Republican presidential candidate responded favorably, Fleitz added. “I’m not claiming he agreed with it or agreed with every word of it, but we were pleased to get the feedback we did,” he said.
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SOURCE: Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reviews-plan-halt-us-military-aid-ukraine-unless-it-negotiates-peace-with-2024-06-25/
NATO
Donald Trump on Saturday, February 10, said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense in a stunning admission he would not abide by the collective-defense clause at the heart of the alliance if reelected.
“NATO was busted until I came along,” Trump said at a rally in Conway, South Carolina. “I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.’ They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer.”
Trump said “one of the presidents of a big country” at one point asked him whether the US would still defend the country if they were invaded by Russia even if they “don’t pay.”
“No, I would not protect you,” Trump recalled telling that president. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”
President Joe Biden said Sunday that Trump “is making it clear that he will abandon our NATO allies” and outlined the potential consequences of Trump’s comments.
“Trump’s admission that he intends to give Putin a greenlight for more war and violence, to continue his brutal assault against a free Ukraine, and to expand his aggression to the people of Poland and the Baltic States are appalling and dangerous,” Biden said in a statement via his campaign.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, meanwhile, said Sunday that Trump’s comments about the alliance put European and American soldiers at risk.
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SOURCE: c-span.org
https://www.c-span.org/video/?533460-1/president-trump-campaigns-conway-south-carolina
SOURCE: CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/10/politics/trump-russia-nato/index.html
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2024 GOP PLATFORM POSITION: Military Defense
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PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY — ALL MADE IN AMERICA
DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN
STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD
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HOW THE REPUBLICANS WILL DO IT.
NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE DONALD TRUMP WEBSITE WHICH MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS FROM THE CANDIDATE THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
Our Commitment:
Keeping the American People safe requires a strong America. The Biden administration’s weak Foreign Policy has made us less safe and a laughingstock all over the World. The Republican Plan is to return Peace through Strength, rebuilding our Military and Alliances, countering China, defeating terrorism, building an Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield, promoting American Values, securing our Homeland and Borders, and reviving our Defense Industrial Base. We will build a Military bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. Our full commitment is to protecting America and ensuring a safe and prosperous future for all.
The National Interest
Republicans will promote a Foreign Policy centered on the most essential American Interests, starting with protecting the American Homeland, our People, our Borders, our Great American Flag, and our Rights under God.
Modernize the Military
Republicans will ensure our Military is the most modern, lethal and powerful Force in the World. We will invest in cutting-edge research and advanced technologies, including an Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield, support our Troops with higher pay, and get woke Leftwing Democrats fired as soon as possible.
Strengthen Alliances
Republicans will strengthen Alliances by ensuring that our Allies must meet their obligations to invest in our Common Defense and by restoring Peace to Europe. We will stand with Israel, and seek peace in the Middle East. We will rebuild our Alliance Network in the Region to ensure a future of Peace, Stability, and Prosperity. Likewise, we will champion Strong, Sovereign, and Independent Nations in the Indo-Pacific, thriving in Peace and Commerce with others.
Strengthen Economic, Military, and Diplomatic Capabilities
Republicans will strengthen Economic, Military, and Diplomatic capabilities to protect the American way of life from the malign influences of Countries that stand against us around the World.
NOTE: By failing to fill numerous senior positions across the State Department, promulgating often incoherent policies, and systematically shutting out career foreign service officers from decision-making, the Trump administration is undercutting U.S. diplomacy and jeopardizing America’s leadership role in the world, according to more than three dozen current and former diplomats interviewed by Foreign Policy.com July 31,2017. SOURCE: https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/31/how-the-trump-administration-broke-the-state-department/
Protect Critical Infrastructure
Republicans will use all tools of National Power to protect our Nation’s Critical Infrastructure and Industrial Base from malicious cyber actors. This will be a National Priority, and we will both raise the Security Standards for our Critical Systems and Networks and defend them against bad actors.
SOURCES:
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NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE OFFICIAL TRUMP WEBSITE, BUT MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS FROM THE CANDIDATE OR GOP THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
Sources: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform