If I were an American, I’d be pretty happy about the guy, unless I have a problem with mass murder of foreigners.
On the good side:
- signed a bill giving free breakfast lunch to all students;
- 20 weeks of paid family & medical leave, for America, excellent;
- right to repair bill;
- free college tuition for students whose families make less than 80K;
- banned non-competes;
- and so on.
So, domestically, excellent. But he’s pro-Israel:
Israel is our truest and closest ally in the region, with a commitment to values of personal freedoms and liberties, surrounded by a pretty tough neighborhood.
“The values of personal freedoms of liberties” about an apartheid state is pretty rich.
To the Jewish Community Relationship Council, June 2, 2024 (aka, while the genocide was ongoing):
I see people debating something I don’t feel is debatable here. The ability of Jewish people to self-determine is foundational to everything […] and the failure to recognize the State of Israel taking away that self-determination. So it is anti-semitic, and that is a statement of fact.
If what you’re going to do with your “self determination” is commit a genocide, then you shouldn’t have self-determination. Note also the conflation of Israel with being Jewish, which if I were Jewish, I’d object to on the strongest terms, not wanting to be associated with mass murder.
Of course he’s the VP pick, Harris is healthy and he’s unlikely to matter a great deal. That said, he’s about as good as Harris was likely to pick. I’d say that the Harris/Walz ticket is better for more Americans than Trump/Vance, as long as you can get past the whole genocide thing.
Consider that damning with faint praise.