A Crucial Decision

 America is electing a new president, and two major contenders are vying for the office. One has distinguished herself as a leader for women's rights. Many characterize the other as a charlatan with his best interests at heart. The country will have the opportunity to turn the page or get mired in the past. 

By choosing the latter, the nation risks repeating ideas that failed or being further divided by a man who evidently chose style over substance. Trump, the man seeking a non-consecutive second term in office, has vowed to destroy the country from within by rebuking his opponents and setting the stage for a culture war with various institutions at his disposal. To that end, he will rely heavily on the Supreme Court, which he packed with conservative ideologues and those in his inner circle unwilling to tell him no.

Trump will employ the federal judiciary to halt criminal actions against him. For instance, Trump will nominate judges who can manipulate the system, or he will bank on the recent Supreme Court ruling, which granted him immunity from prosecution in matters involving official White House business or Constitutional duties. If interpreted correctly, nothing the former president is accused of should meet the guidelines. Conservatives have often petitioned the courts to overturn longstanding precedents, such as with Roe v. Wade. Trump will pick up the mantle if granted four more years in office. 

There is also worry that if granted a second term, Trump will govern recklessly with no guardrails. Even though there is a system of checks and balances, Trump, with a possible Republican-controlled Congress and a Conservative-leaning Supreme Court in his pocket, could introduce legislation detrimental to the country, such as overturning Brown v. Board of Education, the Voting and Civil Rights Acts, Miranda v. Arizona, and Loving v. Virginia. A total abortion ban may also be on the docket, as well as police immunity in cases involving brutality or officer wrongdoing.  Lastly, Trump may take extreme measures on immigration, even for those entering the country legally, such as travel bans.

The past should be a guide to Trump's leadership style. The forty-fifth president is betting the country has amnesia or is blindsided by the inflation he laid the foundation for. He gave tax breaks to those who didn't deserve them and flatlined the economy with his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the supply chain is gradually rebuilt amid corporate greed and mistakes of the previous administration. Trump inherited stellar economic conditions but squandered them.

When Americans go to the polls, they should reflect on how millions lost their lives to COVID-19, how corporations were given the green light to overcharge consumers, and how controversy rocked the Whitehouse four short years ago, which created the situation we find ourselves in today.

They Should Rethink Their Choice

 I have listened to African Americans who have turned their back on the Democrats. I am not a Democrat or a Republican, and I have voted for both parties. On this issue, however, I side with the Democrats. Often, when Biden advanced legislation that would have benefited African Americans, such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, it was voted down by Sen. John Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, who held the party hostage, and Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, after receiving money from donors who supported her. Their votes were crucial to the slim Democratic majority in the Senate. Republicans and the conservative-leaning Supreme Court also played a significant role in dismantling the president's agenda, such as the student loan forgiveness program.

Biden bashers also claim Trump poured money into historically black colleges and universities. If so, it was done to curtail black enrollment at predominantly white colleges. It is the oldest trick in the White Supremacy playbook. For example, when the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public education in 1954, Southern States rushed to upgrade segregated schools or abide by Plessy v. Ferguson 1896. In other words, they sought to stalemate or hinder the court's decision. 

President Biden and the Democrats have enacted legislation beneficial to the African American community despite what critics may claim. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan of 2021 issued stimulus checks to struggling Americans. It also provided parents $300.00 a month for each child under six and $200.00 for those between the ages of six and eighteen. It lifted millions of kids from poverty before its demise and could be resurrected with Republican support. Moreover, the historic bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has allocated billions for roads, bridges, and other projects in so-called red and blue States, translating into construction opportunities for young black men. And to stimulate the supply chain after the COVID-19 shutdown, Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which capped the cost of Insulin at $35.00 and added jobs. Lastly, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act finally saw the light of day nearly seventy years after the young boy was brutally murdered, something his mother and others fought so hard for.

Aside from passing historic pieces of legislation, Democrats claim to be keeping White Supremacists or MAGA Republicans at bay, who long for the past. It is believed by many that they desire to overturn the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution and undo the 1954 ruling on segregation in public education if Trump is re-elected and Republicans take control of Congress. Such actions would dismantle the hard work of the Civil Rights Movement.

Critics also worry that if Trump and far-right Conservatives take control in 2025, other laws this country takes for granted will be at risk. They include Virginia v. Loving (1967), Miranda v. Arizona (1966), and the Supreme Court ruling affirming gay marriage (2015), for instance. There is also concern that abortion rights will be totally banned, the Affordable Care Act abolished, and both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 invalidated. Finally, Trump has pledged to give police federal immunity in office brutality cases. 

Since Biden is no longer on the ballot, it is up to Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, to convey to the American people that the country may not survive another Trump presidency unscathed. The nation must rally around her for the best possible outcome, regardless of one's views on the issues.