As the opinion editor for The Cuestonian in the wee year of 2020, it is my obligation to go about talking about this year’s election candidates. 

A fun year we have had on our hands; with a reckless uber-billionaire TV show host, and a man that cannot formulate thoughts at a normal speed. We also have a dark horse candidate, Kanye Omari West, who can be most attributed to the creation of a few of my personal favorite albums, but not too much of importance on the political side of the spectrum. 

As you can see, I’m more than delighted to cover this for The Cuestonian. 

So the question therein lies, do we hashtag ‘Make America Great Again’ or do we ‘Settle for Biden?’ Let’s start this analysis off now, bare with me as I try to not pull half of the hair out of my head. 

Let’s first talk about President Donald Trump. There’s a lot to unpack here, so I will try and compact this, and make it as fact based and unbiased as a piece about Trump can get. 

A looming war with Iran, unemployment records on both sides of the spectrum, a global pandemic, a trade war with China, turmoil between races, an impeachment, failure of replacing the Affordable Care Act, imprisonment of migrant families, the impending downfall of the US economy, anti police protests, and everything that has been the fun-loving year of 2020. Of course some of these things are a bit more out of control than others, including the president’s Twitter account. 

I apologize if I missed anything of importance here. I’m writing an article for the Cuesta College newspaper on what could be written into the space of a 700 page book. 

Now you might think by my disdain for Donald Trump, that somehow I am going to advocate the ever so attractive action of ‘settling’ for Joe Biden. It’s the first presidency I can possibly vote in, and I’ve never had such an agonizing, indecisive time trying to make up my mind, on whether I even want to vote. We know Biden as someone who changes political stances as the general population does. His running mate, Kamala, is just about as guilty as Joe for having stances that prove hypocritical to what they were doing only a few years ago. 

Another thing that can be obviously said in his disadvantage for this year’s election is his withering age. At only three years older than Trump, Biden has shown every sign of “it’s time to put grandpa Joe into a nursing home.” I can’t really imagine what four years in the White House would do to him, as it’s the most stressful job in the world, but the same can be said for Donald.

Now is time for the hard part: Breaking down the pros of each running mate, which may be difficult, so I’m going to do this in the least biased way possible. 

We will start with Donald Trump, who I would have a bit more faith in bringing back the economy from the record lows COVID-19 will see us through. He is a well acclaimed businessman before presidency, and the economy before the pandemic was actually in favor of the working American man, with 480,000 manufacturing jobs created as unemployment loomed under 4% for more than 19 consecutive months. I also do not mind Trump’s tough trade stance on China, which would bring back manufacturing and economy to American citizens and business owners. 

Another big win for Trump quite recently was brokering the peace deal between Israel and Sudan. This can be seen as part of one of Trump’s promises to bring peace to the Middle East. The last topic I will bring up is the First Step Act, his first step against surveilling misbehaved police officers. It is a pretty good idea, but one could argue we need way more than this as our key to ending police brutality, which has run rampant in our country for years on end. 

Biden, on the other hand, has become way more progressive in recent years. He has teamed up with Kamala Harris as his running mate, an even more progressive attorney turned senator. They plan to tackle climate change by making our energy 100% “clean.” They also will mandate masks in all areas, to prevent the already rampant COVID-19. 

Another notable policy he would put into play is a protection of the Affordable Care Act, which was created during Obama’s stint while in office. This has been previously attacked by Trump’s campaigns. He has many policies that value unions, minority communities, and racial equality. 

With all this being said, I leave you to cast your vote, and be the change that you wish to see. 2020 has been a very, very long year, and 2021 will probably be no different. Stay informed, be proactive, and cast your vote. Or don’t. After this is all said and done, there’s still some light at the end of the tunnel, being that we hopefully won’t ever have to make such a vote between two candidates of this magnitude ever again.