By John Pullano, Managing Editor
So much to gain and yet, too much to lose. When we sit down to plan, we often weigh the pros and cons of a situation. I was lucky enough to come from a middle class family where my decisions frequently had low stakes or lacked great sacrifice. From a young age, selecting what toy I wanted from Target, deciding on a phone color, or determining where I wanted to go to college, my life’s decisions were low risk, high reward.
With an impending presidential election only ten months away, United States citizens will be forced to make a monumental decision; forced to weigh the pros and cons of the incumbent Donald Trump and the democratic candidate. However, this election holds a heavier toll than just a spot in the oval office. This election will put human decency on trial.
As we near the end of Trump’s first term as president we can gather a clearer picture of what Trump has accomplished.
From an economic standpoint, in 2019 the newest unemployment claims hit a 49 year low while women’s unemployment is at a 65 year low. All of this while NET exports are set to increase by $59 billion in 2020.
From a stock market perspective, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high and surpassed the records of former presidents with strong performances from Amazon and Apple.
There is no arguing the economic achievements Trump has achieved during his time in office. A former businessman, Trump brought his experience to the oval office and it has paid its financial dividends.
However, every economic improvement and every billion dollars added to the military’s budget cannot justify supporting a candidate who is indecent towards others because of their race.
When Trump arrived on the political scene in 2016 campaigning for President of the United States, his history had already been stained by racist behavior.
In 1973 the US Department of Justice sued the Trump Management Corporation for their violation of the Fair Housing Act. Investigators found evidence that Trump refused to rent to black applicants and lied to them about availability.
In 1991, while at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, Trump said, “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day…I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks.”
These events, among several of Trump’s racist actions and remarks, followed him throughout his campaign and into the oval office.
Trump continued to add to his collection of racist actions, as president, regularly retweeting messages from white supremacists and neo-Nazis while in office. Along with calling for a ban on Muslim immigrants and calling all Mexican immigrant’s “rapists” among other things.
Since his election, Trump has become an increasingly polarizing figure, now on a global scale. Supported and revered by many American citizens, when Trump acts inappropriately towards a person of color it sets an example for millions of young Americans who look up to the leader of the free world as a symbol for how a person is supposed to act, setting America up for a racially insensitive future. Unfortunately for what Trump does for the country on paper pales in comparison to the future that he is creating with his actions.
FBI data shows that since Trump’s election there has been an anomalous spike in hate crimes. Most curiously this happens in counties where Trump won by large margins. It has been the second-largest increase in hate crimes in the 25 years.
Our current president’s actions are racist. If you support him, you justify the discrimination of one person against another because of their race. If you support Trump, you value economic improvement and military expansion over human decency and that is unacceptable.
Trump has brought back the idea of America being a “white man’s country,” and it is not worth any number of zeros on a check.
pullanjj18@bonaventure
