Whoever Wins, We Lose
The following article is merely an opinion, and is not meant to insult anybody's personal political opinion. However every single comment or event I cite is completely factual.
"The United States is a one-party state but in typical American extravagance they have two of them"- Julius Nyerere
On November 3rd the United States will hold the presidential election with the two candidates that have any chance of winning being Donald Trump of the far-right Republican party and Joe Biden of the far-right Democratic party. This article will not be a defense or endorsement of either candidate.
Let's begin with the current president of the United States, Donald Trump. Trump has a long list of possible grievances against him but for the sake of brevity, I will focus on some that I find particularly egregious. In 2017 after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville left a counterprotestor dead, Trump was asked whether he would condemn the racist protests. Trump responded that "There were very fine people on both sides". During the first presidential debate of this year he was asked once again to condemn the violent fascist group known as the Proud Boys and he instead said that the group should "Stand down and stand by" which many interpreted as a call to action including the Proud Boys organization. After riots for racial justice erupted in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd by the police, Trump made tweets that said that protestors engaging in looting of stores would be shot fatally by the National Guard. In 2019 Trump made comments implying that immigrant Democrat congresswomen, especifically Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, should "go back" to where they came from. He has also repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of COVID-19 and commonly refers to it as the "chinese virus". This is only a sample of the bigoted and irresponsible behavior by Donald Trump publicly. Donald Trump has also been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by 26 women, these allegations span 4 decades and show a pattern of sexually predatory behavior from the president.
His administration and policies have been coherent with his hateful rhetoric. In September 2019 there were approximately 52,000 illegal migrants in detention centers in the United States, without right to a fair trial or any idea of when they will be released. Furthermore reports broke out this year that many women in these centers had undergone forced hysterectomies, taking away their reproductive capability. There have also been widespread reports of sexual assault and rape commited by ICE agents and photos of the conditions of these migrants show crowded, tiny cages with little right to privacy or dignity. Children have been separated from their parents and lawyers say they could not find the parents of over 500 kids who are now in detention indefinitely. This follows a pattern of steps that could develop into genocide if not halted immediately. His administration has also tried to revoke laws that protect LBGTQ rights and has dropped out of the Paris Accord meant to stop the rising threat of climate change. The argument against Donald Trump does not need to be made with rhetoric as his failings are so public. However this is not an endorsement of Joe Biden which I will discuss next.
Although the Democratic candidate has not been as mired in controversy as Trump his past is far from spotless. Firstly much like his opponent, Biden has been accused of sexual assault by a former campaign staffer. Although there have been no further allegations, many have raised concerns over Biden's behavior around young women with videos that show him making girls visibly uncomfortable. Biden was also a major proponent of the 1994 crime bill which has directly led to the mass incarceration that plagues the United States today. He also voted in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 which resulted in a decade-long war with hundreds of thousands of dead civilians and a destabilized country. Joe Biden also has a checkered past involving race relations, in the 1970's he described desegregated busing as sending children into "a racial jungle". As recently as this year he talked about missing the "civility" of disagreement in the past but regrettably used a racist senator as an example of these civil disagreements. In an interview he also said that "if you're still undecided between me and Trump, you ain't black".
Prior to running for president Joe Biden was the vice-president during President Obama's two terms. The Obama administration has also been a topic of controversy for Biden. It was during that time that the detention centers where immigrants are held today were built and they also started the practice of detaining children in cages. In fact even for all of Trump's anti-immigrant words, Obama deported more illegal immigrants in his first term than Donald Trump. The administration also engaged in drone warfare in the Middle East, killing thousands of civilians while facing no accountability.
So what we have are two candidates who have a history of racially insensitive comments, mistreatment of immigrants, sexual assault allegations and disastrous policy decisions. The United States is at a crossroads that lead to the same destination, both candidates have much more in common than they do different. They both uphold the values of American liberal capitalism, imperialism and exceptionalism. A country where 45 thousand people die every year due to lack of healthcare, a country where unarmed black men and women are being murdered by the police at alarming rates, where 225 thousand people have died due to the Coronavirus and this is what the candidates for president have to offer. I guess it's not surprising because as Joe Biden said in May of this year "nothing fundamentally will change".
Yes
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