The 2020 election is filled to the brim with high stakes, propaganda, and polarization. It would be ignorant for me to claim that I have all the answers because no one can know everything. However, there is a surefire difference between fact and falsehood, as well as beneficial and destructive policy.
To prepare for the 2020 presidential election, I’ve taken time to identify my top political priorities, listened to experts in areas that I’m unfamiliar with, and remained up to date with credible independent fact-checkers.
With full confidence, I hereby claim that between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Joe Biden is the candidate who best suited for the oval office come 2021.
One of the most haunting revelations from Trump’s America would be the treatment of undocumented citizens legally seeking asylum at the overcrowded southern border detention centers.
According to PBS News Hour, ‘I believe These Women’ Oscasio-Cortez Says of Migrants in Detention Centers, Representative Ocasio-Cortez, after voluntarily being sworn in, testified to congress how migrants, “were being told to drink out of a toilet bowl … [to sleep] on concrete floors,” and how, “the things that were needed most [were] not resources but policy change.”
This situation has also been inflamed by child separation policies and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
A Biden administration will address these human rights violation and close for-profit detention centers, giving immigrants a chance to seek a prosperous life in the United States.
Another haunting revelation was learning that Donald Trump was briefed on the lethal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as early as February, and he covered it up.
According to a Forbes Magazine article, written by Ariel Sharpiro, titled, “Fauci: Earlier Action On Coronavirus Would Have Saved Lives,” national expert Dr. Fauci states that, “earlier action would have saved lives.”
As if this wasn’t enough, Trump’s administration has hosted multiple super-spreader events from rallies to the White House Rose Garden.
A Biden administration will listen to medical experts, encourage everyone to follow COVID-19 precautions, and expand accessible healthcare which would save lives.
It is a fact that the Trump administration is actively trying to rewrite our healthcare laws so that people between the ages of 18 and 26 will lose their health insurance.
We live in a world where practically every industrialized nation can guarantee coverage for all their constituents while also maintaining cheaper healthcare in comparison to the United States. As such, we should not be in a predicament where tens of millions of Americans are losing insurance.
This will only continue if the Trump administration continues to propose the elimination of the Affordable Care Act simply because their party did not compose it. Having health insurance is important to me; in the event of a car accident, an ambulance ride, or even a pandemic related hospitalization, I certainly do not want to be paying thousands of dollars because representatives have stripped away my rights.
A Biden administration will fight for expanding healthcare coverage.
It is also a fact that skyrocketing college tuitions have plunged Generation Z students into tens of thousands of dollars of debt.
This reduces the likelihood of being able to accrue a substantial down payment for purchasing a house, often resulting in financial insecurity.
According to Joe Biden’s campaign website, under a web page titled, “Plan for Education Beyond High School: Joe Biden,” if elected Biden’s administration will fight for public universities to become, "tuition-free for families that make under $125,000 annually,” as well as “$10,000 of student debt relief,” for those in similar circumstances.
According to an online article by Alina Bradford, titled, “Effects of Global Warming,” it is a fact that, “more than 197 international scientific organizations agree that global warming is real and has been caused by human action.” Scientists also agree that this strongly correlates rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes, greater wildfires, and so much more.
A Biden administration will fight to put science, our planet and innocent animals first by reinstating the numerous environmental regulations that the Trump administration has begun to eliminate.
Even still, there is so much more!
According to BBC News, “Trump's Taxes: What You Need to Know,” it is a fact that Donald Trump — a multi-billionaire — only paid $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017, and has refused to contribute any amount of income tax in other select years.
According to an NBCnews.com article, written by Danny Cevallos, it is a fact that Ambassador Yovanovitch testified to feeling intimidated by Trump’s personal twitter attacks during his impeachment hearings, and it is a fact that witness intimidation can be charged as a felony.
According to Trump’s Golf Account, it is a fact Trump has spent over $137,000,000 in American tax dollars playing golf, and it is a fact that this is significantly more than Obama.
According to an article in The Washington Post, written by Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey, titled, “Ivanka Trump Used a Personal Email Account to Send Hundreds of Emails about Government Business Last Year,” it is also a fact that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — Trump’s daughter and son-in-law — have both conducted business using their personal e-mail servers in the White House despite claiming Trump’s previous opponent, Hillary Clinton, should be jailed for the same incident.
These detention centers, government cover-ups concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, catastrophic loss of health insurance, catastrophic student debt crisis, worsening natural disasters, tax evasion, and abuse of power are unacceptable, and in this regard, I believe Biden can contribute tangible, positive change through honesty and policy.
Biden has worked across the aisle for decades which is the type of unity this country needs right now.
This is why the former RNC Chair, past republican presidents, and a staggering number of Trump’s former administration members have all endorsed Biden.
A democracy is a form of government that works to adhere to the needs and wants of its citizens; government representatives are supposed to work for us.
What will you say on Election Day?
Please acknowledge that the opinions featured within this article are that of the writer, not The SU Flyer.
By JAMES REEDY
Staff writer
Featured image by Michael Cotterino