27 August—Here are the 20 salient points (if not quite planks) set out simply and IN ALL CAPS in red in the 2024 Republican platform, each followed by the Democrat platform’s equivalent in caps and lower case in blue—as close as we could find, anyway. The fairly concise and readable Republican platform naturally disses the Democrats, sometimes unfairly. The long-winded Democrat platform, which as far as we could determine has not been updated since Joe Biden punted the big nomination to Kamala Harris, is as much an overt, sometimes unreasonable and undeserved attack on the Trump administration as an unreasonable and undeserved tribute to the incumbent Biden administration.

Here goes:

1. SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION

We’re seizing record amounts of fentanyl and securing our border in the face of Republican inaction.

2. CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY

And, [Trump] says he will withhold federal funding from local police departments that don’t adopt policies like stop-and-frisk or assist in mass deportations.

3. END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN

While too many families still feel the pain of inflation at the grocery store, or around the kitchen table when they sit down to pay their bills, we’re making progress. Wages are rising faster than prices, and inflation today is down nearly two-thirds from its peak. We have to finish the job. Democrats will keep fighting to prevent the kind of supply chain shocks and corporate greed that have done so much to raise prices.

And as the climate crisis makes the shift to clean energy more urgent, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, making the world’s biggest investment ever in building renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other green technologies here at home.

[Inflation Reduction Act, my ass! And that’s just for starters. Ed.]

4. MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!

We’re fighting climate change, reducing pollution, and fueling a clean energy boom.

To tackle the climate crisis, lower energy costs, and secure energy independence.

[Both sentences are demonstrable bullshit. Ed.]

5. STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER

Democrats are also taking historic steps to bring home critical supply chains, and to reaffirm our nation’s leadership in cutting-edge industries that America in fact often pioneered.

[Like for instance? Ed.]

6. LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!

Democrats will protect everyone earning less than $400,000 a year from any tax increase; and we will fight to protect and expand other tax benefits for working people and families with children.

7. DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

We will keep super PACs wholly independent of campaigns and parties and pass a constitutional amendment that will ban all private financing from federal elections . . . while protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free speech.

8. PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY—ALL MADE IN AMERICA

Together, we will continue uniting and rallying Americans across the political spectrum in defense of our democracy. . . . We will defend our freedoms, restore essential trust in our institutions, and preserve America’s vital role as a beacon of democracy across the world.

Under President Biden’s leadership, NATO is stronger and more united than ever and has bolstered its ranks by adding two highly capable allies: Sweden and Finland.

9. END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

We know how Trump will weaken our democracy if he gets another term. He has promised to be a dictator on “Day One” – and we’ve already seen how he fawns over other dictators. He has vowed to weaponize our government to go after his enemies and benefit his allies. He has plans to fire dedicated, nonpolitical civil servants and replace them with loyalists who will do his bidding; and he has promised to exert presidential authority over what have long been independent agencies. And to silence his critics, he suggested the “termination” of our Constitution. The stakes in this election for the soul of our nation are profound.

[Totally legitimate concern. Ed.]

10. STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDERS

Since our founding, immigrants have traveled to America to pursue freedom and opportunity, to flee oppression, and to reunite with family members, and in turn have made our country stronger. President Biden has led with the conviction that we must secure our border and fix a broken immigration system decades in the making. Through it all, the United States must continue to be a beacon of hope and opportunity.

11. REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL AGAIN

Democrats passed and President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, with the largest-ever federal investment in fighting and preventing crime, reducing violence, and investing in public safety.

[Coulda fooled me. Ed.]

12. STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD

The United States has the finest fighting force in the history of the world. And while our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and guardians remain the envy of the globe, President Biden understands that maintaining our military advantages in the future means making strategic investments now. That is why the Administration has invested in cutting-edge capabilities across all services and domains and maintained a commitment to modernize and recapitalize the nuclear triad as the bedrock of deterrence.

President Biden has never and will never turn his back on our military. In his second term, he will continue to invest in upgrading to next-generation weapon systems, cutting-edge training opportunities, and deterrence capabilities such as our submarine force and the nuclear triad.

13. KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY

Not addressed in Democrat platform.

14. FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE

[Republicans will] cut the Social Security benefits that folks have paid into for their whole lives; and gut Medicare, Medicaid, health care, and prescription drug coverage. They are eroding our democracy with lies and threats, have refused to denounce political violence, and are making it harder to vote.

Democrats have a different view. We don’t believe we should add $5 trillion to the national debt to give more tax breaks skewed to the wealthy and big corporations. We’re fighting to reward work, not wealth – to cut costs and make the tax code fairer for the middle class, while making the wealthy and big corporations finally pay their fair share. Under President Biden’s plan, no American earning less than $400,000 a year will pay one single penny more in federal taxes, period. We’re working to end special interest giveaways, and to make sure all Americans play by the same rules. And instead of exploding the national deficit, our plan cuts it by $3 trillion over the next decade, delivering real results for the American people in a fiscally responsible way.

15. CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS

And as the climate crisis makes the shift to clean energy more urgent, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, making the world’s biggest investment ever in building renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other green technologies here at home.

Democrats are also offering rebates on new, energy-efficient appliances; and people can save up to $7,500 when they buy a new plug-in hybrid or fully electric car, or $4,000 if they buy a used one.

With tax credits, Democrats helped quadruple sales of electric vehicles, with the goal that 50 percent of all new passenger cars sold in the U.S. by 2030 be electric.

[Nothing to be proud of—for any reason. Ed.]

16. CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDREN

While President Biden has worked to support women in the workplace, Trump weakened protections for them. He moved to block an Obama-era rule that required companies to report pay by race and gender, an important tool in the fight for pay equity.

President Biden is committed to leading the most pro-equality Administration in history. On Day One of his presidency, he signed a historic executive order extending federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQI+ people, and he signed executive orders strengthening civil rights protections in housing, employment, health care, education, and the justice system.

17. KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS

He signed an executive order recommitting the federal government to guarantee educational environments free from sex discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

18. DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN

President Biden continues to take bold action to combat antisemitism on college campuses.

[Really? Ed.]

19. SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS, AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP

They are eroding our democracy with lies and threats, have refused to denounce political violence, and are making it harder to vote. And given the chance, they’ll keep stacking our courts, locking in their extreme agenda for decades. We cannot let that happen.

The right to vote and to have your vote counted is the threshold of American democracy and liberty. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, anything is.

Since their first days in office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken action to protect the sacred right to vote in free, fair, and secure elections, especially for communities of color who have been historically disenfranchised.

Within the first 100 days of his presidency, President Biden signed an executive order directing an all-of-government effort to promote access to voting.

Trump has a dark and different view, with a long history of supporting rollbacks to voting rights.

[Rollbacks of excessive, abuse-prone efforts to entice people to vote who shouldn’t vote for any number of reasons, to be accurate. Ed.]

20. UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS

[They all have to say that—or at least imply it. But what has one thing to do with the other? In all events, rotsa ruck . . . Ed.]