The 2024 presidential campaign is disconnected from reality

Arguably, the presidential campaign most disconnected from reality in American history is taking place now. 

All campaigns are subjected to distortions, exaggerations, insults and slanders that usually disappear after election day. 

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were not immune to outrageous verbal slings and arrows. 

In 1968, Richard Nixon told Americans he had a secret plan to end the Vietnam War. The plan was so secret that it took five years to implement and ended with a catastrophic retreat from Saigon.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden were determined to “Bring the nation together.” They did not. Donald Trump vowed to “Make America great again” which he never did despite claiming credit for that accomplishment. Of course,  a clear distinction exists between sound bites and slogans and valid policy statements. 

Here is a seemingly simple question that explains why this year’s campaign is so disconnected from reality. How will each candidate implement the promises, aspirations and assurances given to the public, most of which lack specificity and substance or are ill-defined, yet underlie proposed major policies? 

The answer is also simple: They will not. Cynics and bookies would bet the chances of landing on the sun next week are far greater than prying realistic answers from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on these matters. 

This disconnect between promises and reality has always existed. Running for office for the first time, candidates lack the personal experience to produce coherent plans and programs no matter the quality and background of advisors and counselors. For those seeking reelection, rewriting the first term and altering the good in favor of the bad is a given.  

The critical difference today is the enormity of this gap with reality.

The most pressing domestic priority is the economy. How will each candidate implement the necessary actions to improve the economy by stimulating growth, reducing inflation, managing the debt and deficits and providing financial security for all Americans? Subsets of this priority are keeping unemployment low, reducing wealth disparities and ensuring free and fair competition and trade.

Internationally, addressing the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and future Russo-Sino relations are the most immediate challenges and priorities.  

Harris has not yet presented her ideas and policies for any of these. Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine immediately upon entering office. But he has not offered even a scintilla of an idea about how to achieve this. And Trump has asserted electing Harris will lead to a third world war.

Perhaps the infamous 1964 “Daisy Girl” TV commercial that ran only once, in which Lyndon Johnson portrayed his opponent Barry Goldwater as unstable enough to start a nuclear war, was more graphic in content than Trump’s prediction. However, the range and number of over-the-top insults and nasty insinuations, if counted, would be record-setting today.  

The tragedy is that voters are denied opportunities to judge what each candidate might do if elected or how well-reasoned their ideas are.

Consider one of Trump’s foreign policy promises and one of Harris’s domestic pledges.  

Trump has declared he will end the war in Ukraine the day he takes office or even sooner. How is he going to do that?  

He will need the agreement of both President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky on the terms. What are the quid pro quos and incentives that could bring this about? Neither combatant is likely to surrender disputed territories or withdraw from captured land in Russia and Ukraine. Reparations likewise could be deal breakers.

Also, what would the future security arrangements be to ensure Ukrainian sovereignty and resolve any Russian claims? The only obvious plan would be for Trump to demand Zelensky accept Russian proposals or be denied future U.S. support.

If Trump wins, what might he do? The most effective way the U.S. can influence the war to end immediately is to compel a Ukrainian surrender, as there is insufficient leverage to force Russia to accept an agreement. This disconnect from reality defies logic.

Likewise, Harris has yet to announce her economic plan, other than the list of giveaways she has proposed. That is not a plan. Statements of fiscal and monetary policies along with specific actions to reduce inflation and to grow the economy through productivity and infrastructure enhancements are missing in action,  further signs of a denial of reality.  

Yet, one will win the presidency. Then, what will the president-elect do to reconnect actions with reality? Will these delusions persist? And if they do, will America be resilient enough to endure?

Harlan Ullman (Twitter @harlankullman) is a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council and the prime author of the “shock and awe” military doctrine. His 12th book, “The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD:  How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large,” is available on Amazon.