With a little more than two months to go until Election Day, it’s fair to ask if Donald Trump can win in November. The presidential race is virtually tied in all the major swing states. Last month’s Democratic National Convention was both a hate fest directed squarely at our former president and also a fawning coronation of Vice President Kamala Harris, the nominee who didn’t win a single primary in 2020 or 2024. Every day that the candidates trade insults is a good day for her because it’s one less day that she has to defend the failures of the Biden-Harris administration.
Far more worthwhile for Mr. Trump is his record of success. The road to the White House runs through a vigorous policy debate, not an exchange of barbs.
First, consider Ms. Harris’s and President Biden’s dismal record: According to a recent Harvard-Harris poll, 60 percent of voters view the economy as weak. What’s one of Ms. Harris’s big proposals? Government-led price control measures. During her time as vice president, Americans endured crushing 5 percent annualized inflation, cemented by two partisan spending bills costing trillions. She cast the tiebreaking votes on both — the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said they wouldn’t have happened without her. Ms. Harris may try to pass the blame, but she and Mr. Biden own the high prices at grocery stores and utility meters.
From the beginning, immigration was the cornerstone of Ms. Harris’s vice-presidential portfolio, yet the situation at the southern border has severely deteriorated since she took office. As The New York Times reported last year, illegal border crossings surged in 2021 and hit records in 2022 and 2023. Fentanyl and other drugs are flowing across our borders. In 2020, Ms. Harris wrote, “Trump’s border wall is a complete waste of taxpayer money and won’t make us any safer.” Now she supports a bill that includes funds to build the wall. Three and a half years ago, where was she?
Today Ms. Harris claims she won’t oppose fracking, but as a senator she cosponsored the Green New Deal — a declaration of war on fossil fuels that would deliver a deadly blow to Pennsylvania’s economy if it ever came to fruition. Her campaign says she doesn’t support single-payer health insurance, but as a senator she cosponsored a Medicare for All bill written by Bernie Sanders, the most left-wing member of the Senate. Ms. Harris has talked about being the last person in the room when Mr. Biden made the disastrous decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan, a botched withdrawal leading to the death of 13 of our brave service members and emboldening terrorists throughout the world.
Our staunch ally Israel was brutally attacked by the Iran-funded organization Hamas on Oct. 7, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. After the attack, antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric reared their ugly heads on the political left. Yet last month, in one of her first acts as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Ms. Harris, who as the vice president is the president of the Senate, chose to skip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress — a shot in the arm to terrorist states and networks throughout the Middle East.
Now, consider Mr. Trump’s record: He left office as one of the strongest supporters of Israel since its founding. Iran was boxed in and his brokering of the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab nations held out the promise of lasting peace in the region.
When it came to our allies and adversaries, Mr. Trump led from a position of strength and bad actors took note. Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un had a crystal-clear understanding of where he stood and knew what lines they could not cross. He hosted Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago but wasn’t afraid to be tough on China when he had to be.
From Day 1, Mr. Trump was laser-focused on finding every means to fight illegal immigration, including using Title 42 authority to turn migrants away at the U.S.-Mexico border and enforcing strict asylum claim standards. His administration directed border enforcement agencies to halt catch-and-release policies. He secured funding for the border wall. Mr. Trump has pledged that when he returns to office, he will deport migrants who have broken the law and are here illegally. He will support our border enforcement officers, apply the laws already on the books and finish building the wall.
Making good on his campaign promise, Mr. Trump appointed three exceptionally qualified, constitutionally sound, conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
And last, there’s the economy. In an August New York Times/Siena College poll of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, by nine points registered voters said they trusted him to do a better job on the economy than Ms. Harris. In the CNBC All-America Economic Survey released last month, by 19 points registered voters said they would be better off financially if Mr. Trump wins. This is no accident.
When he left office, mortgage interest rates were below 3 percent. He cut taxes and slashed red tape, unleashing American productivity. He has promised to end federal taxes on tips — an idea so good that Ms. Harris copied it.
When Ms. Harris and Democrats say, “We are not going back,” that isn’t the winning slogan they think it is. If anything, it shows just how out of touch they are. Of course, Americans want to go back to affordable groceries, a secure border and a world that respects both the United States and its commander in chief.
It’s inconceivable that the most liberal Democratic nominee in history — one who has been part of the problem — has the solutions. According to Gallup, only 25 percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in this country. Those of us who believe our country is going in the wrong direction are right and will vote accordingly.
Like sports, politics has a lot to do with momentum, and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of Mr. Trump brings momentum in a race where every percentage point matters. Equally important is Gov. Brian Kemp and Mr. Trump working together in Georgia — an essential pickup for Mr. Trump on his march to 270 electoral votes. Mr. Kemp’s enthusiastic support and the activation of his ground operation on behalf of Mr. Trump will seal the deal in Georgia.
Mr. Trump has a long record of accomplishments on behalf of the American people. The more he compares his successes with Ms. Harris’s failures, the more likely it is that he wins.
Lindsey Graham has served in the Senate since 2003. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
