The Kamala Harris coronation betrays Democrats’ values

In 1968, I ran as a Democrat in my first primary election, as I sought to become a New York state Assemblyman.

I fought four more tough primary races against fellow Democrats David Dinkins and Robert Wagner Jr. as we vied to become Manhattan borough president, and yet another in 1985 against Ken Lipper to become City Council president.

In every primary I had to work hard to prove myself to my party and my constituents. Those races made me a better public servant and a better man.

That’s what the democratic process is for — and what the Democratic Party is all about: testing our candidates through primary contests and giving our voters a voice.

This is not happening with Kamala Harris. And it’s one of the reasons the Democratic Party will lose to Donald Trump in November.

If they actually wanted to live up to their name, Democratic leaders would insist on an open convention where delegates could freely select a presidential nominee in Joe Biden’s place.

Instead, Harris is getting a free ride from the media and from many in her party: Those who failed to pass Biden off as competent are now highly motivated to try to position Harris as someone who’s qualified to be president.

The anti-Trump press is ready to deify her, Hollywood donors are poised to fill her coffers, and the left is going all out to maintain their power.

Only one problem: Harris is utterly unqualified for the job.

Harris was one of the worst vice presidents in history, an abject failure at virtually every task except for casting tie-breaker voters for big spending bills that caused the inflation we’re all suffering through.

Her first assignment was to fix the border, but she never did. Instead, she fixed it for the left — letting millions of unauthorized immigrants pour into this country and then backing free healthcare for them all.

She has no foreign-policy experience, with a background as a California “prosecutor” and less than a full term in the US Senate.

She has not been tested on the national stage in any serious way and got zero votes as a failed presidential candidate.

She is turning her back on our democratic ally Israel, even as it faces attacks on three sides from Iranian proxies who are holding Americans hostage. Her stance only gives comfort to Hamas and signals the continuation of weak-kneed pro-Iran policies.

This week, in her first speech as a 2024 candidate, she promised massive new spending programs. As a senator, she backed the full $10 trillion Green New Deal.

So a vote for Harris is a vote for spending that could kick off another round of inflation, continued open borders costing us billions, higher energy prices and electric vehicle mandates.

There isn’t a left-wing idea out there that Harris has not supported, from the transgender agenda to banning private health insurance altogether.

Her idea of freedom is joining a union, not fostering American individualism and innovation.

Her idea of the future is expanded government handouts for virtually everything.

Despite Harris’ trademark cackle, her election would be no laughing matter.

All of the flaws and mistakes of the Biden-Harris administration will be magnified if the veep makes it to the Oval Office. She is nothing but the Great Pretender, the sequel.

Donald Trump has had to survive false accusations of racism, fines meant to bankrupt him, partisan lawsuits in an attempt to jail him, an assassin’s bullet — and now even a second presidential opponent, after demolishing his first one.

Don’t be fooled by all the Harris hype: She is nothing but a new mask for the left, a failed vice president who in nearly four years on the job never did anything to distinguish herself.

As an elected Democratic official for 25 years, I could not in good conscience vote for Kamala Harris. I would have to vote for Donald Trump.

Andrew Stein, a Democrat, served as New York City Council president,1986-94.