Aussies Prefer Harris 3-1 Over Trump, Who Is an Untrustworthy Ally

As Australians look at the US election, with its November 5, 2024, decision day less than a week away, they show overwhelming support for Kamala Harris to serve as the next US president.

It is not surprising, as the arguments below will explain, and it sends a strong signal to American voters from one of America's most important allies.

Since World War II, the US has been Australia's most important strategic partner and Australia's older generation remembers how in May, 1942, the US Navy halted the Japanese advance on Port Morseby, New Guinea, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, and denied them a base from which to launch an invasion of Australia.

Just as projection of US power into the Pacific was important for Australians more than eighty years ago, so it is important today, as China gathers strength as a regional power.

A strong, strategic partnership with the US is the foundation for Australia's security. A nation of 25 million and a $1.7 trillion economy cannot alone take on China with its population of 1.4 billion and an $18.5 trillion economy.

Not only does democracy and a broad commonality of values make the US and Australia well matched allies, but a 330 million US population with a $29 trillion economy attests to the scale of the security umbrella the US can deploy in the Pacific.

Australia has benefited from living in a world where the protection and development of democracies around the world has been American bedrock policy since World War II.

The unprecedented post-war investment by the US in rebuilding both Germany and Japan transformed both countries into successful modern industrial democracies and reshaped them as modern-day allies.

In the Atlantic region, the creation and expansion of NATO countered the expansionist moves by the USSR, and remains vital today in opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the Pacific region, in recent years, the importance of US support for AUKUS and the QUAD has been central to Australia's security.

But all that could change under a Trump presidency.

Trump's lack of support for NATO, and for Ukraine in its battle against a Russian invasion, sends a clear signal to all Australians that he cannot be trusted to maintain and strengthen the US alliance with Australia, nor come to Australia's aid in times of need.

There is no doubt that a Harris presidency would continue the tradition of support which has been the hallmark of Australian-US relations for so long.

That is a huge difference between the US presidential candidates. No wonder Aussies are 3-1 for Harris.

Australians also see clearly the threat which Trump presents on almost every other front as well.

He obviously wants to transform the US into an authoritarian state and has no problem with saying that out loud in so many ways. He has transformed in the last four years into a dark, threatening, vengeful presence in the US political arena, the likes of which has not been seen before.

As Trump made that malignant transition, Kamala Harris transformed in the opposite direction in her time as US Vice President. There is no question that she has the skills, competence and experience to be an outstanding president. She promises optimistic, positive progress which embraces all Americans, compared to punishment, vengeance, and a continued shift of wealth to the richest US elites.

Australians are also especially aware of Australia’s dramatically different COVID response compared to the US under the Trump presidency in 2020.

When COVID hit, Trump disparaged many of the basic health measures which would have mitigated the outcomes for Americans, and undermined public confidence in the effectiveness of vaccines. That stands in stark contrast to the Australian response which dramatically suppressed the spread of COVID, with quarantine, lockdowns, masking, testing and contact tracing, as it was running wild in the US.

In the US truth went out the window, with Trump as a major source of misinformation.

That was a huge Trump failure, and the resulting 1.2 million US dead in a population of 330 million, compared to less than 10,000 Australian dead in a population of 25 million attest to that. If the US COVID response had matched the quality of the Australian response, only 130,000 US residents would have died. I published a more detailed criticism of Trump’s response just as Trump ended his term as President:

Mind-Numbing Pandemic Toll Could Have Been Averted

Australians are also aware of the fact that the US economy has had the strongest post-pandemic recovery compared to all other comparable economies, under the guidance of the Biden/Harris administration. In the last four years, a remarkable succession of legislative successes boosted the US economy, including The Inflation Reduction Act, The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Post-pandemic inflation was a worldwide phenomenon, yet it is now 1.8% in the US compared to 2.8% in Australia. Further US GDP growth is running at 2.8%, compared to 1.5% in Australia.

Viewed from Australia, the US economy is in very good shape, and since it is in such good shape and has a very large influence on other economies around the world, why would anyone shift from the successful Biden/Harris approach to the dystopian tariff heavy Trump approach, which would throw a recovering set of world economies into turmoil?

The final set of comments relates to the driving force behind all of Trump's actions, and that is the unusual and extreme nature of his character. This has special relevance as by almost every measure he is completely out of step with basic Australian values, including:

1. Blunt honesty: It is well established that Trump is a world class serial liar
2. Fair play: Trump constantly breaks rules and norms to gain advantage
3. ‘Mateship’ (equality, loyalty, friendship): Trump has no idea what this means. He uses people to achieve his ends, and then discards them.
4. Respect for the fallen: When in 2018 Trump cancelled a visit to a US war dead cemetery outside Paris he said: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
5. Optimism: Trump’s opinion of the US: “We're a failing nation. We're a nation that's in serious decline.”
6. Sense of humor: After more than 8 years of observing Trump, it’s clear that he has totally no sense of humor.

These deep character flaws, which are on display with Trump every day, drive every decision he makes, and explain the corrosive effect he has had in the US for many years now. It is also clear that he is on a failing trajectory, as age catches up with him and his behavior becomes more erratic.

Thanks, Australia, for seeing things so clearly.

Hope springs eternal that American voters will make the right choice on November 5.

Personal Note

I draw breath every day because of two major events which affected my family.

In 1904, my great-grandfather and his family were living in the Minsk/Pinsk area of modern-day Belarus. At the time Russia controlled the area, and one day Cossacks came and took my great-grandfather away to serve in a labor camp. He was never seen again.

The rest of the family had the good sense to flee, and my grandfather, David, first ended up in New York, but then migrated to Sydney, Australia and raised a family.

It is important to recognize danger when it stares you in the face, and act.

I would not be here today without them having done that.

Those circumstances inform my opinion on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russians are doing exactly what they have done for more than a century and Trump, so cosy with Putin, will give way to foreign powers when they attempt to crush democracies.

That is a lesson completely applicable to Australia.

The second event was the Battle of the Coral Sea, referred to at the start of the article. My father was serving as a medical officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, stationed in Port Moresby, exactly the target of the Japanese naval thrust in May 1942. He did not talk much about the war, but he did talk about that.

The danger was severe, prior to the US Navy blocking the Japanese advance, and the word was that you did not want the Japanese to take you alive. Memory of the hospital staff and patients in Singapore being bayoneted to death in February 1942 was strong.

My personal thanks for US naval power coming to the rescue in 1942 and ensuring that my father made it to the end of the war alive.