Hello Fellow Netizens!
As the title suggests, this article is dedicated to the second presidential debate that took place last week between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Many of you may have seen, heard, or read about the widely televised event, so I won’t delve into the key talking points as I did in the previous post. Instead, I’d like to share my personal take on what each candidate said during the debate for certain issues, and who came out ahead. Without further ado, lets dive right in!
Housing
Winner: Vice President Kamala Harris
Much of the discussion around housing was addressed by the Vice President (and notably less so by the former President). According to the Harris-Walz campaign website and an ABC News article focused on housing policy for both candidates, if elected, Vice President Harris plans to address this issue by:
- Providing first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 to assist with down payments, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners.
- Initiating the construction of 3 million new housing units to address the supply shortage by proposing a tax incentive for companies that build units to be sold to first-time homebuyers.
- Providing a $40 billion fund to support local governments in implementing ‘innovative methods’ for building affordable housing that have proven successful.
I previously wrote an article on housing as a public health issue (read here) and noted that the problem of unaffordable housing is a mix of low supply and high demand. Vice President Harris and her campaign are targeting the root causes of America’s housing crisis through a combination of tax incentives and government aid that, in my opinion, would greatly benefit first-time homeowners and families. However, it remains to be seen whether her proposals will significantly impact an issue that has persisted for a long time and may not be easily influenced through federal regulation.
Abortion
Winner: Vice President Kamala Harris
On the issue of abortion, Vice President Harris excelled, while Trump clearly missed the mark. Trump made several highly inaccurate and false statements regarding abortion, with the most egregious being the claim of ‘execution after birth.’ Here is Trump’s direct quote on the matter, courtesy of ABC (who hosted the debates):
Well, the reason I’m doing that vote is because the plan is, as you know, the vote is, they have abortion in the ninth month. They even have, and you can look at the governor of West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor, who’s doing an excellent job, but the governor before. He said the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words, we’ll execute the baby.
And that’s why I did that, because that predominates. Because they’re radical. The Democrats are radical in that. And her vice presidential pick, which I think was a horrible pick, by the way for our country, because he is really out of it. But her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay. And that’s not okay with me. Hence the vote. But what I did is something for 52 years they’ve been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states.
Trump’s statements require a lot of unpacking. First, as one of the moderators rightly pointed out, nowhere in the United States is it legal to kill a baby once it is born. A report from KFF emphasized that abortions at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy account for only 1 percent of all abortion cases and occur due to significant medical complications or serious barriers to obtaining abortion care.
Second, the conservative playbook, Project 2025 (see here for an article I wrote on Project 2025), outlines significant federal interventions involving abortion and reproductive rights that would supposedly be enacted by a Republican president if the party wins the White House. Trump’s claim that the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision returned all reproductive health decision-making to the states seems disingenuous, given how thoroughly Project 2025 explains what a president like him could do to further limit access to abortion and other forms of reproductive healthcare.
Vice President Harris made a strong commitment to safeguarding abortion rights in the United States; her platform as president would be to sign into law the protections that were guaranteed under Roe v. Wade. Per her campaign website:
As President, [Vice President Harris] will never allow a national abortion ban to become law. And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, she will sign it.
Crime, Immigration and LGBTQ issues
Winner: Vice President Kamala Harris
Crime and immigration are two subjects I would not normally discuss, as there is minimal overlap with the health policy topics currently being addressed in both campaigns. However, one notable quote from Trump made me rewind my television:
[Vice President Harris] went out — she went out in Minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people, that burned down Minneapolis, she went out and raised money to get them out of jail. She did things that nobody would ever think of. Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison. This is a radical left liberal that would do this.
This outlandish statement from Trump appears to reference a 2019 questionnaire by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that Vice President Harris completed during her presidential bid for the White House in 2020. One of the questions asked of her was the following:
As President will you use your executive authority to ensure that transgender and non-binary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care? If yes, how will you do so?
To which she responded with the following:
YES – It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition. That’s why, as Attorney General, I pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates. I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained. Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment.
If Vice President Harris continues to uphold her previous statements regarding trans healthcare for detained immigrants and incarcerated individuals, she would certainly advance a pro-LGBTQ+ stance that is progressive, given the historic lack of attention to healthcare for these populations (click here to read a KFF article on the state of healthcare for individuals involved with the criminal justice system). According to a report from ABC, however, a representative of the Harris-Walz campaign has denied that Vice President Harris’ prior comments are part of the official campaign platform, and it remains to be seen how this specific issue will be integrated (if at all) with their current list of policies.
Final Thoughts
The health policy discourse throughout the debate was rather predictable, in my opinion, with much of the discussion focused on big-ticket issues that most Americans are familiar with. I didn’t touch on Medicare, drug prices, or the Affordable Care Act, as they’ve been covered in other articles within Docnetizen (check them out!). Plus, this piece would take forever to finish if I did (and I highly respect your time and attention, fellow Netizens!).
Two topics left out of the conversation, which I was personally disappointed about, were:
- Gun violence in America – This is a public health issue that continues to make headlines and needs to be addressed by our political leaders. Most recently, two 14-year-old students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia earlier this month. Trump was also involved in a second assassination attempt while golfing in West Palm Beach this week; fortunately, he was unharmed, and the suspect was apprehended thanks to the efforts of the Secret Service and local law enforcement.
- Trans care, especially for youth – LGBTQ+ issues (aside from one comment by Trump) were noticeably absent from the debates. Ignoring this issue continues to overlook the many trans children who are being denied life-saving care due to conservative policies in at least 25 states across the country.
It remains to be seen whether we will have another presidential debate. Trump has expressed that he does not want to have another debate, while Vice President Harris has been open to more. Only time will tell if we get a rematch, but I hope to hear more from both candidates on public health policies if it happens. See the full debate below and judge for yourself if you agree with my analysis!
Thank you for reading and until next time, fellow Netizens!
Featured Image: ***Merger of the official portraits for both Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the author’s own opinions and statements. They do not reflect the opinions or stances of any organization affiliated with the author
One Comment
Comments are closed.