Editor’s notice: This story has been corrected to replicate that Tim Walz is the governor of Minnesota.
In earlier presidential elections, the Democratic and Republican candidates usually didn’t tackle hashish and cryptocurrency as points heading into Election Day.
This yr, it’s totally different. Each Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have acknowledged hashish and cryptocurrency — two areas of protection for Benzinga — as key subjects of curiosity among the many voters.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the way forward for the hashish market might be entrance and heart on the Benzinga Hashish Capital Convention in Chicago.
For Trump, he seemingly took a touch from the Biden-Harris administration and acknowledged {that a} majority of individuals, together with most Republicans, favor marijuana legalization. Final month, he even expressed a want to federally reschedule hashish if he’s re-elected — a take that’s at odds with different GOP leaders.
And with regards to crypto, Trump was notoriously a skeptic at first. Not anymore. Now the twice-impeached former president is trying to money in on the crypto fandom he’s amassed and launch, together with his sons, a brand new enterprise enterprise known as World Liberty Monetary.
Voters eager on understanding the place Harris stands on every challenge will doubtless hope to get some solutions this week when she and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her operating mate, embark on a media blitz, beginning Monday evening with a “60 Minutes” interview.
The Democratic ticket will face a large number of pointed questions on quite a lot of subjects: the financial system, inflation, ladies’s rights and saving democracy.
Whether or not Harris mentions hashish or crypto in her media appearances this week stays to be seen. Till then, right here’s a recap of the candidate’s stance and questions her interviewers could be clever to ask.
See Additionally: 2024 Election & Hashish: Swing State Voters Again Legalization, New Ballot Reveals
Harris On Hashish
Final week, Harris — in an interview on “All of the Smoke” — reiterated her stance on hashish legalization to hosts and former NBA gamers Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
“I simply really feel strongly, folks shouldn’t be going to jail for smoking weed. And we all know traditionally what that has meant and who has gone to jail,” Harris advised Barnes and Jackson.
On common, Black persons are 3.6 occasions extra more likely to be arrested on marijuana fees, in keeping with ACLU knowledge.
“Second, I simply assume we have now come to a degree the place we have now to know that we have to legalize it and cease criminalizing this habits,” she added. “And really, this isn’t a brand new place for me. I’ve felt for a very long time we have to legalize. In order that’s the place I’m on that.”
Harris’ critics typically level to her time as California lawyer normal from 2011 to 2017. On the time, she didn’t assist legalizing leisure use of marijuana. Since then, she’s modified her view.
Throughout her 2020 debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence, Harris promised to decriminalize the drug and expunge marijuana-related prison information. By 2022, the White Home introduced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of straightforward marijuana possession.
Key Query To Ask: Why has the variety of folks nonetheless imprisoned remained unchanged? The Final Prisoner Challenge has been calling on the White Home to make good on its promise.
Harris On Crypto
Polymarket, the place gamblers wager on real-world occasions utilizing cryptocurrency, at the moment has Trump within the lead. That is maybe a mirrored image of how the crypto group views Harris.
Over the past 4 years, crypto traders and enterprise capitalists have grown annoyed with the way in which Biden-appointed SEC Chair Gary Gensler approached the trade.
Harris hears these complaints. She lately commented on the way forward for digital property at a Manhattan fundraiser, including it to “modern applied sciences” like synthetic intelligence which might be value supporting.
She has additionally requested SkyBridge Capital managing associate Anthony Scaramucci and different crypto advocates to advise her marketing campaign’s insurance policies on digital property.
Trump as soon as dismissed cryptocurrency as nugatory. He warned in 2019 that unregulated Bitcoin BTC/USD and different digital property can “facilitate illegal habits, together with drug commerce and different criminal activity.” The quadruple-indicted candidate has since pivoted 180 levels on his place.
Key Query To Ask: Who would Harris identify as SEC chair if she’s elected president? The way forward for the sector depends upon it, as companies coping with crypto stay at the hours of darkness on the trade’s authorized nuances. Trump is reportedly trying to make his decide.
What’s Subsequent: The affect of Bitcoin as an institutional asset class is anticipated to be explored at Benzinga’s upcoming Way forward for Digital Property occasion. Test it out on Nov. 19.
And along with “60 Minutes,” Harris has a number of different media appearances in the course of the week, together with:
- Tuesday, Oct. 8, 11 a.m. ET: “The View” on ABC
- Tuesday, Oct. 8, 1 p.m. ET: “The Howard Stern Present” on SiriusXM SIRI
- Tuesday, Oct. 8, 11:35 p.m. ET: “Late Present with Stephen Colbert” on CBS
- Thursday, Oct. 10, 10 p.m. ET: City Corridor with TelevisaUnivision, partially owned by Grupo Televisa TV
Now Learn:
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