Committed to the rule of law, and equality and justice for all, InsiderNJ proudly endorses Kamala Harris for the office of President of the United States. Like many other Americans this week, we have watched the vice president courageously and vigorously step forward to serve her country following President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection. We are inspired by the presence of this American leader at a critical time.

A former United States Senator and former Attorney General of California, Vice President Harris brings prosecutorial experience to the job, and most immediately, to this historic campaign cause. In her own words, “Before I was elected as vice president, before I was elected as United States senator, I was elected attorney general, as I’ve mentioned, to California,” she said. “Before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds.

“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters, who broke the rules for their own gain,” Harris continued. “So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type. And in this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his.”

That is a great opening argument, and we trust in the Vice President’s preparation, stamina, intelligence, experience, and justice-focus, to continue to make and close the case on Nov. 5, Election Day. Republicans showed terrible judgment in accepting a convicted felon and rapist as their party’s nominee for the presidency, an individual who told a crowd of his supporters on Jan. 6. 2021, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Moments later, those people marched to the U.S. Capitol, stormed the building, and attempted to prevent United States Vice President Mike Pence from certifying Joe Biden’s lawful victory over Trump. Pepper sprayed during the attack, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick – a New Jersey native – suffered a pair of strokes the next day and died.

Before security hastened him out of the Capitol, under siege by a mob, Pence certified the results of the 2020 election, prompting Trump to tweet the following: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” It was just one more in a series of hate-filled, seditionary, and inciteful comments by Trump on a horrible day for the country as Americans watched the desecration of the United States Capitol by the followers of a spoiled and pampered person who could not accept a loss and facilitate, as this country’s most powerful officeholder, a peaceful transfer of power. Trump now faces felony charges related to his action and inaction on that fateful day. He will not stand trial on those charges, however, before November, as his allies try to run out the clock and enable this man to regain the presidency.

So, it’s up to us, fellow Americans, to support Kamala Harris, and peacefully and lawfully reject Trump in the general election. We trust in the course of legal justice for a man who incited a mob to short-circuit his former vice president’s dutiful certification of a national election, and whose current choice for VP once called him “America’s Hitler,” according to Reuters. Never a mature man, Trump rages hatefully against America’s interests as he infernally exclusively prioritizes himself. In his shameful, rambling, and painful RNC speech last week, he bragged about how well he gets along with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Previously, he threatened to punish NATO allies by green lighting Russia – led by KGB-molded dictator Vladimir Putin – to “do whatever the hell he wants with them.” In the words of Vietnam combat veteran Jack Hyland, “Wake up, America.”

For her part, Harris stands poised to make history (again!) as the first woman president. What an exciting and exhilarating prospect. She has served honorably as our beloved nation’s vice president, the public policy partner of President Joe Biden, and integral member of an administration that continues to prioritize American strength through diplomacy with NATO allies, the protection of Ukraine against Russian aggression, and support for Israel. Domestically, this administration capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors and cut prescription prices and enacted a $1 trillion investment in America’s infrastructure, which includes over $12 billion in federal dollars for the long-stalled Hudson Tunnel Project. Vice President Harris leads the country as a champion of reproductive freedom for women in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision – following the appointment of Trump judges – to overturn Roe versus Wade. The U.S. economy is strong overall under Biden’s and Harris’ leadership. From Snopes: “The government reported that 272,000 jobs were added to the economy in May 2024, a number that surpassed the 180,000 that had been estimated, as we previously reported. Meanwhile, while the unemployment rate had remained under 4% for more than two years, something that hadn’t happened since 1967. Further, the economy grew 3.1% in 2023, a year that 85% of economists in a survey expected would end in a recession.”

Unlike Trump, born with a silver spoon in his mouth and stunted in a bubble, insulated from the gritty, real world of America, Harris has a long history of professional public service excellence. As attorney general of California, she – along with other AGs – reached a multi-billion dollar deal with five U.S. banks that settled over flawed mortgage foreclosure practices. From CBS News: “the deal provided relief to those affected by those practices, with the average eligible homeowner receiving $20,000 in mortgage aid.” Daughter of educators (a biologist mother and economist father), Harris built a strong environmental record as AG, securing “$50 million in settlements from lawsuits against Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and other oil companies during her tenure … and leading an investigation into Exxon Mobile’s history of misleading Americans on the climate crisis. Her opponent, in his RNC speech, called climate change “a hoax.”

The only hoax here is Trump, a grifter and TV personality who abandoned casino workers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and window installers in Atlantic City, did his level best to destroy New York City with buildings that besmirched Manhattan’s distinctive architectural past, who once hatefully and repeatedly tried to insist that President Barack Obama was not American-born, demeaned the military service of war hero, the late U.S. Senator John McCain, a great American, continues to call undocumented workers “illegal aliens,” as if they’re not even human, routinely attacks women, makes fun of people with disabilities, and incites violence, whether at the U.S. Capitol, or in his infamous exhortation to police to rough up individuals they arrest. From ABC News: “President Donald Trump seemed to encourage police to be more violent in handling potential offenders during a speech to law enforcement officers today. ‘Please don’t be too nice,’ he said to the audience in Long Island, New York.”

We could go on and on and on. But here’s a better idea – instead of enabling a morally shriveled-up nightmare that little resembles the awesome spirit and character of our great country and the foundation of law and order upon which we stand, vote for Kamala Harris of Oakland, California, former district attorney, the sitting Vice President of the United States, that bright, prime time light on the landscape of our great country.