I used to believe that politics was a matter of opinion. Politicians simply had different ways of leadership and the citizens voted for who they thought would best serve them. But that all changed when the United States in the 21st century, once again regressed to everything that it stood so strongly against — supremacism and the oppression of the American truth.
The American truth as we know today, is that where we no longer tolerate racism and oppression. Though they still exist, they are no longer ignored like before. But what happens when in this time and age, after we had our first black president came another whose values are a regression of the truths we know now?
In today’s political climate with President Donald Trump, everything has gone extremely unconventional — with the year 2020 highlighting that.
Sad to say that the long list of Trump’s failures such as the irresponsible coronavirus response and the pressing realities of a president who circled around denouncing white supremacists, leaves the negative outlook on him as pure factual, and no longer a matter of opinion.
Even prior to the winning the presidency, Trump was already entangled with endless sexual assault cases, extreme racist remarks, and a lackluster of experience — being the only American president without a political or military background.
In a Trump administration, the coronavirus pandemic which has cemented the United States as the leading nation with the most cases, has been met with restraints on something as simple as wearing a mask — by the president himself.
Logically and scientifically speaking, it is a known fact that face masks are capable of mitigating the transfer of the virus, yet as we near the 2020 elections, we have seen Trump himself stage rallies without social distancing and masks.
In a time of a deadly pandemic, Trump has brought the country into a polarizing political statement with people divided between those who wear a mask, and those who do not — more accurately, those who have common sense, and those who do not.
In a Trump administration, facts and science are no longer honored. We now have a leader who has suggested injecting bleach as a way to combat the coronavirus without any scientific backup.
Aside from a complete aberration from science, Trump has also shifted the 21st century America into that where we have a president who freely speaks with racist undertones.
From building a wall between the United States and Mexico, labelling undocumented immigrants as “animals”, mishandling of the George Floyd case that caused national demonstrations and looting, to having a hard time denouncing white supremacists during a presidential debate — Trump has an abundance of bigot and racist remarks.
This now poses the question, what makes Trump so powerful that even the American truth has tremendously shifted?
In his unconventional and regressive ways, Trump has stood on a political ploy of empowering fear, instilling hatred, and uplifting a United States that is far from being united.
This brings us back to the coronavirus where even science was questioned.
Trump has numerously used fear to suggest that our old normal will be lost if we won’t get it back soon — completely downplaying the pandemic in an attempt to look as though he had done a good job. But the fact that the United States is still leading in this pandemic, with over 8 million cases and over 200,000 deaths as of writing, opposes that strongly.
More so, the Affordable Care Act that houses the healthcare of millions of Americans has been desperately repelled by Trump without any plan to at least replace it — all in the middle of a deadly pandemic.
As for bigotry and racism, Trump has fed on the still ongoing prejudice in the country— emphasizing stereotypes and creating fear that makes people act out of hatred — knowing that there in the White House is a president who seeks justification around marginalizing and segregating others. This is clearly evident by how white supremacist groups see Trump as a figure of inspiration.
The American truth in a Trump administration is corrupted and contradicting to our history and essence.
The land of the free and democratic America is now the land of a free powerful white man who can say and do everything he wants without consideration — not even the constitution. Let us not forget that Trump has not yet committed to a peaceful transition should he lose the 2020 election, being the only president in the United States to do so.
The old normal is not a time before the coronavirus. The old normal is a time before Trump — one where we still had a lot to work on but was in the process of progression.
The current normal is a time where we have a president who retweets conspiracy theories about Osama Bin Laden being alive, simply in an attempt of political gain while other more pressing matters need attention.
The new normal should be a time where we go back to imperfect but real and decent politicians who at the bare minimum, have the ability to speak in coherent sentences, not contradict themselves every five seconds, and easily denounce white supremacism.
America has fought long and hard to get us where we are now. But the continuous onslaught of that truth by a white supremacist and billionaire president who sees none of the real struggles of the people, is completely detrimental.
We elect a president who wants to at least make the effort, so what good is a president who has no interest in helping us move forward, even just a little?
Donald Trump has to go — and this is not an opinion but a pure fact based on his tried and tested record.