The Experiment
On Tuesday our nation will make a choice. There are many reasons to vote FOR Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. But the essence of the 2020 Presidential election is that we are holding a referendum on the four-year experiment called Donald Trump.
Like it or not, America embarked on this experiment in government with his election four years ago as President. It was a near thing: Trump lost the popular vote but won the Electoral vote. In the Electoral College, less than 1% of the popular vote in three states determined the outcome. Three states sealed his victory, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. There was no popular “mandate”. Nevertheless, he became the President of the United States.
His election was based on the idea that he could run America “like a business”. He projected an image of a dynamic entrepreneur, a billionaire maverick that led us to expect that he might do things differently. We hoped he would “cut to the chase” and get the job done. We knew he would speak his mind, both publicly and in social media. And we thought he would change the way “politics” was done here in America.
So, after four years of the experiment, lets talk about the results.
Competent Businessman
The single “positive” factor in the election of Donald Trump was his competency. Surely a billionaire must be competent. But we now know, that competency wasn’t a prerequisite for gaining what he says are his billions. What has he done? He wasn’t even able to fulfill his primary campaign promise and get rid of the Affordable Care Act. He never offered an alternative, only the negative. There is no Trump Health Care Plan, just a constant rain of criticism for President Obama’s plan. It was a key part of his candidacy – but four years later, he is still unable to get it done.
Yes there is more border wall between Mexico and the United States. Three hundred miles of wall were built, though two hundred and ninety-five miles of that replaced already existing structures. That’s five miles of new wall. And, as we now know, Mexico didn’t pay for it. In fact Congress didn’t pay for all of it either. Much of the money was taken from other sources, including Federal Emergency Management money earmarked for national disasters, $155 million that was made unavailable for relief. (Politifact).
And the President definitely did create a tax cut, one that saved a little tax money for many, and a fortune for the very wealthy. He left the government with an additional trillion dollars of debt, which was magnified by the needs of a nation now in pandemic. The deficit has grown six trillion dollars under Trump’s “competent” leadership (Statista).
Ultimate Crisis
But the real test of any President is in crisis. George W. Bush proved his strength after almost three thousand died in the attacks on 9-11, and while we might not agree with his decisions, they were made confidently and moved the nation. Barack Obama had no choice but to demonstrate competence from the beginning of his Presidency, faced with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We are still enjoying the benefits of the Obama economic recovery today.
But when Donald Trump was faced with the pandemic, his first thoughts were not about the nation, but about getting re-elected. The pandemic didn’t fit into his campaign strategy of running on a growing economy.
So instead of “handling” the crisis, he first ignored it, then made sure that someone else (the Governors mostly) were “responsible”. He took “all the credit” and “none of the blame” for what happened. His own White House put out recommendations on what the states needed to do to reopen. But when that science didn’t fit Trump’s need to get re-elected and the states couldn’t reach the recommendations, he undercut both the Governors’ messages and their authority. Regardless of the virus, opening “the economy” was so much more important, especially to re-electing Donald Trump.
Since the virus wasn’t controlled, opening the economy just made things worse. Just today, 80,000 Americans were diagnosed with COVID. It’s not just about testing: hospitals all over the nation, from Fargo, North Dakota to El Paso, Texas, are full. And more sickness will ultimately result in more deaths. About 1000 Americans are dying every day – a “9-11 level loss” every three days. It’s been going on since April. Over 233,000 Americans are dead, and their deaths are on Donald Trump.
Failure of Character
Incompetence has left us vulnerable to COVID. But Donald Trump’s lack of character has set American against American. He has defended white supremacists, and ignored the legitimate concerns of minority Americans. He claims to be the best “President for Blacks” since Abraham Lincoln. But his economy, even before the pandemic, left minorities as vulnerable as they were before. And since COVID, they are at greater threat from disease, and forced to risk their lives to work. Being an “essential worker” has become for far too many a euphemism for being forced to risk infection.
Mr. Trump accepted the immoral border plan, separating children from their parents. And he takes no responsibility for the outcome of his plan: 545 children that cannot be reunited with their own mothers and fathers. He led the United States to commit this atrocity. If any other nation acted that way, we would demand justice.
Donald Trump is lacking in character. He is incompetent. And COVID has magnified all of these flaws, placing them in full view for the American people. He has failed the test, and the American people need to show him the door. Sometime soon, when the vote count concludes, I believe they will.
