After the Conventions: A Tale of Two Americas — But You Have to Pick One.
Now that the two political conventions are over, the American voter has been given a clear choice, in what both parties believe is the
“most important election in the history of The Republic”.
The Democrats have painted a picture of a country in the grip of a deadly pandemic that has been allowed to infect millions of Americans and murder more than 180,000. Further, the nation is facing a crisis of institutional racism, brought to the surface by a recent spate of police actions resulting in the unjustified death or of several Black men and women. And, finally, The Democrats have made a case that America has become a laughing stock on the world stage, embracing the autocratic leaders of our enemies while cutting ties with our long standing allies. And through it all, the once-robust economy Trump has touted, has fallen apart, with tens of millions of people out of work and no clear path to get them back.
All of this can be laid at the feet of Donald Trump, who they believe has no interest in or ability to govern a nation. He has, from the day he was elected, set on a course of rewarding friends and punishing enemies within his own country. He has bitterly divided America, which is in danger of exploding if Trump embarks on four more years in charge.
For their Part, the Republicans have painted Joe Biden as a puppet of crazed Socialists who will tear down everything that defines America, and bankrupt the country and all of its inhabitants with Communist and Socialist policies. Besides defunding all police departments in the country the Democrats will destroy the comfortable suburban lifestyles of middle America by forcebly integrating neighborhoods and pushing a “Black Lives Matter” agenda while taking away your guns, and telling each of you what to eat, what to read, what schools your kids have to go to, and how much you should pay for health care and everything else in your life.
Looting and rioting will become the norm in all of our cities and neighborhoods. There will be no protection. And, in a classic overreaction to the Pandemic, they believe Biden will “shut down the country” and destroy our economy and everyone’s job.
To be clear, they said, “No one will be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”
Here’s the rub. Many of dangers the Republicans are laying out are exactly what is already happening in this, the 4th year of the Trump administration. How is that not their own fault?
In fact, it’s even more accurate to say:
“No one is safe in Donald Trump’s America.”
Starting just with the Pandemic, it’s clear that a significant number of the 180,000+ deaths in America can be laid at the feet of Donald Trump. Several estimates have surfaced that have cited the fact that at least between 30,000 and 50,000 lives would have been saved at this point if Trump had just taken action when the threat surfaced and other countries were already acting, instead of delaying for month while he denied the threat. Certainly those people, in the end, were not safe. And, the Dems argue, Trump is still in denial about the pandemic, pointing to the 2,000 people at the Trump acceptance speech on White House lawn, jammed together with very few wearing masks or socially distancing.
And in response to the lingering Pandemic, most schools and businesses have chosen not to open or go back in business yet, at least not the level Trump would like to see. Mostly because parents and customers don’t yet feel safe from the Virus. They have no reason to. This too, is in Trump’s America.
In addition, the threats that cities will burn with protesters and rioters, have actually played out already in Trump’s America. While Trump attempts to put the onus for those problems on all the Democratic mayors and Governors, the fact is the Trump administration itself has totally ignored the issue that caused the demonstrations to happen, institutional racism in law enforcement. By ignoring the growing call for the country to deal with it, Trump has forced the Black Community to take the time-honored demonstration route to make its case to the American people, who appear to be backing their cause in huge numbers. Then, as the protests grow, The Trump administration continues to ignore the underlying issues and choses to reject the concept of institutional racism, causing more anger. Actually, in many ways Trump throws gasoline on the fire of these demonstrations because he believes they help him sell the fear.
So how is it that he can criticise Joe Biden for what they say will happen when he is in charge, and ignore the fact that it is already happening and Trump IS in charge and doing nothing about it except making it worse?
It ignores the fact that Joe Biden is exactly the kind of person who can keep the calm and bring people together to talk about solutions. That’s not weakness, that’s leadership.
