Kamala Harris, although imperfect, was the most qualified candidate in the 2024 presidential election. She has legal experience, including over 20 years working as a district attorney across California and six years as California’s attorney general. She has legislative experience, serving in the U.S. Senate from 2017 to 2021. She even has White House experience, becoming the first woman Vice President of the United States in 2021. Despite all her credentials and past accomplishments, Harris lost the 2024 presidential election, leaving many voters distraught and frustrated.
Yet, it is not Harris’ loss that is so devastating; it is Donald Trump’s victory. The ability of a man found liable for sexual assault and convicted of 34 felonies to even be nominated for president is laughable, but his dominant performance in the polls is beyond disheartening.
Trump is, and always has been, sexist, racist, homophobic and transphobic. He is a threat to democracy. Trump incited the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the Capitol after refusing to accept his loss to President Joe Biden and has discussed pardoning the rioters for their actions. He encourages hate and the belief that our country is no longer “great.” He does not have empathy and is not fit to lead our nation.
Over 75 million people decided Trump’s use of openly hateful rhetoric and his history of sexual assault were not egregious enough offenses to vote against him. The American people passed over Harris, the most qualified candidate for the job, in favor of Trump, a twice-impeached habitual liar who “fell in love” with Kim Jong-un.
Harris’ loss to Trump reflects the constant need for women to work twice as hard to achieve the same accomplishments as their male peers. With a victory from Harris, young girls across the U.S. would have known a world in which, if they worked hard, they could have a job as prestigious as president of the United States. Instead, Trump’s victory reveals a harsh reality: American society is more confident in a 34-felony-count rapist’s ability to be president than a woman of color with decades of political experience.
