The election of Donald Trump in 2016 indicated a milestone in the erosion of the American republic. After decades of corporate power slowly seeping into the foundation of our government, a billionaire buying his way into the White House must be the pièce de résistance.
Americans have been forced to witness another administration fail to address our nation’s most pressing problems. There is no doubt in my mind that this presidency has led to a more divided America. Hate-crime violence is at a 16 year high. One hundred environmental-protection policies have been rolled back. Trump’s tough stance on immigration has empowered xenophobia and made life for immigrants much more difficult, economically and socially.
But it would be unfair to paint Trump’s presidency as completely horrendous. Trump signed the First Step Act, a major bipartisan prison-reform bill releasing thousands of inmates. By several economic measures, such as unemployment, market growth, and wage increases, one could easily argue that Trump has been successful. (Whether or not these economic metrics truly reflect America’s well-being is another point of contention).
We knew from the beginning that we were experiencing an even more historical presidency than that of Obama. As Trump’s “middle America” loyally supported him, an emerging generation of leftist millennials and liberals engaged in activism at a level never seen in recent years. Many Muslim-Americans, Black-Americans and Hispanic-Americans called out Trump’s bigotry and many white Americans joined them. Since 2016, American politics have been saturated with continuous conflict between conservatives and progressives. The events that have unfolded since from the first three years of Trump’s presidency will certainly be in history books.
Then, COVID-19 struck, and suddenly the year 2020 felt like America’s season finale.
Leadership in many states prioritized business over health and re-opened far too early. COVID cases and deaths in America continue to rise while other developed nations begin returning to normal life. For the first time since World War II, ALL Americans are sharing a massive struggle that has transformed the way we live. More importantly, we acknowledge that many Americans are suffering unnecessarily due to inaction from leadership. As we entered the climax of conflict in modern United States history, the stage was set for something big to start falling down.
History will recognize Minneapolis, Minnesota as the starting point for the revolution. After the tragic murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the Black Lives Matter movement gained a resurgence like no other. Millions of white Americans broke their silence and began to acknowledge America’s deeply rooted institutional racism. Calls for real systemic change were not only proposed, but even carried out in some cities. The Minneapolis City Council took its first step toward abolishing their police department. The City of San Francisco decided to replace police with trained, unarmed professionals for non-criminal matters. The list continues. Netflix’s CEO gave the single-largest donation to Historically Black colleges ever recorded. Stock prices for multiple Black banks soared amidst an economy crippled by a global pandemic as more Americans began “buying Black”. These small first steps indicate that the tides are changing. We are witnessing the beginning of the modern day Civil Rights movement as White Americans are beginning to provide their much needed support.
For the first time, I feel truly hopeful for systematic change in America. The combination of poor leadership response to the pandemic, a weakened national morale, and the very visible murder of George Floyd allowed the American people to unite across racial barriers and for the first time take real steps toward change. In the year 2020, we have begun a movement that could certainly change the course of history and favor the liberation of oppressed people. Donald Trump represents corporate greed, white supremacy, and a negligent government, a common enemy to many Americans who have never before had a reason to unite. After decades of America turning a blind eye to our injustices, The Trump administration has played a major role in bringing light to our nation’s problems and spurring movements of activism and protest against inequity.
A Biden presidency threatens this progress.
Why? Because Biden’s administration promises a return to normalcy. The entire Biden campaign is hedged on the idea of getting Trump out of office simply because he is immoral and bad. What many American’s have failed to realize is that Trump’s presidency was necessary to spur within us this incessant spirit of activism and a desire for real and sustainable change. Under Obama, Biden, or any other Democratic president, America would have never been forced to see eye-to-eye with its ugliness. COVID-19 became the climax for this ideological revolution and now we have started fueling a movement for real change.
No president will ever advocate for systematic change. The notion of systematic change is antithetical to America’s foundation (a nation founded on oppression). The change we desire will only come when Americans unite and demand change. There is no doubt that Joe Biden is the “lesser of two evils”, but he threatens progress. The facade of a liberal president will convince many Americans that we have less of a reason to fight. In particular, white liberals and moderates, who have been primarily absent in the fight against systemic racism, will perceive a Biden administration as steps in the right direction and reduce their efforts to end injustices in America (this is what they have been doing all along). Trump puts injustice on everyone’s doorstep and newsfeed.
“But JD, what about all of the harms that will come with a second Trump presidency?”
Undoubtedly, another Trump presidency risks numerous dangers to our most disadvantaged groups. I would argue that besides Trump being “a bad person”, the lives of Americans have not fundamentally changed as a result of the President. There are numerous metrics to determine quality of life, but I would implore readers to find one such metric that indicates quality of life is decreasing as a result of the President’s action. In reality, the largest dangers to American life are malicious corporate practices that harm Americans in every way including mass mining of personal data from the internet, the widely promoted consumption of dangerous foods and products, disregard for environmental protection, and the exploitation of the working class by money-hungry capitalists. Is Trump connected to these entities? Yes. But their continuance is a result of democratic inaction more so than who sits in the Oval Office.
In a twisted way, the only way to open people’s eyes to reality, invoke the empathy of the privileged, and to push America toward its breaking point is for Trump to remain in office for four more years. The revolution we are waiting for will not happen under Biden, rather, he will stagnate its progress. True change will only happen once America’s condition deteriorates to a place where a revolution is our only option. Things have to get worse before they can truly get better.
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