Special counsel Jack Smith has recently filed a revised indictment against Donald Trump regarding his actions following the 2020 presidential election. This new indictment maintains the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against Trump, removing a section that accused him of attempting to use the Justice Department’s law enforcement powers to overturn his election loss. This update comes after a Supreme Court ruling granted broad immunity to former presidents.
Vice President Kamala Harris has launched her fall campaign for the White House, hoping for better luck than previous vice presidents who have attempted the same. Since 1836, only one sitting vice president, George H.W. Bush in 1988, has successfully been elected to the presidency.
In an effort to link former President Donald Trump to the conservative “Project 2025,” Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is rolling out a new ad campaign. The ad aims to associate Trump with the project, which he has distanced himself from, showcasing his quotes alongside screenshots of the plan. This is part of Harris’s significant investment of $370 million in digital and television ads from Labor Day to Election Day, set to air in battleground states and in the TV market covering Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
Project 2025, led by the Heritage Foundation, outlines strategies for governance under the next Republican administration, including replacing civil servants with Trump loyalists and reversing FDA approvals for certain medications. Despite attempts to distance himself from the project, Trump stated on social media that he had no involvement in it.
The issue of family expenses has been brought into focus by both Harris and Trump during the presidential campaign. While both candidates have expressed support for an expanded child tax credit at various points, their respective approaches to easing family costs diverge. Harris aims to build on President Joe Biden’s efforts to make childcare and home care more affordable with taxpayer funding, although she has yet to formalize these plans. On the other hand, Trump has been evasive about addressing affordable childcare, despite having addressed the issue during his administration.
With only one sitting vice president successfully moving on to the presidency since 1836, Kamala Harris faces a challenging historical precedent as she enters the race for the White House. Previous vice presidents like Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and Al Gore have tried and failed to secure the presidency, with various factors such as public opinion of the incumbent president and the relationship between the president and vice president playing key roles in their electoral outcomes.
