Biden 2020!

In 10 well put points -

1. Climate change- Climate change is an issue in which you are either acting to solve the problem or ignoring it. Donald Trump is not only ignoring it, but he is actively working against a solution. According to InsideClimate News  Donald Trump has unnecessarily rolled back a number of existing climate programs, including beginning the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate treaty. Joe Biden plans to not only reinstate the programs that President Trump has repealed and keep the US from withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty, but also to take new action including expansion of renewable energy nationwide.

2. Pandemic response- It is no secret that the US has been struggling amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. At the time of writing this, we have just topped 6,000,000 cases and the CDC encourages wearing masks in public with several states mandating them. Despite the obvious severity of this pandemic, President Trump continues to mishandle this crisis. According to BBC, it took until July 12th for him to start wearing a  mask and encouraging others to do so. To put that into perspective, the United States had 135,000 deaths from coronavirus before the president began supporting mask-wearing, a habit which almost every medical official ruled essential to limiting the spread of COVID-19. Donald Trump has also discredited the severity of pandemic numerous times including once when he can be quoted as saying that the coronavirus is "going to go away without a vaccine...and we're not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time." Trump also held a number of in-person rallies, notably including the one in Tulsa, Oklahoma. How did Joe Biden handle the pandemic differently though? He has encouraged wearing masks since the CDC stated that they could help prevent the spread of coronavirus, he cancelled all in person rallies and began self-isolation from home, and he released a comprehensive plan to combat COVID-19  which includes expansion of resources (such as tests), restoring the pandemic response team (which Trump dismantled), and protection of disabled and elderly Americans who are at higher risk of contracting a severe case of COVID-19.

3. Experience- Joe Biden may actually be one of the most experienced politicians to attempt a presidential campaign. He has served as a public defender, member of the New Castle County Council, US Senator (an office which he was elected to at only 29 years old), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Vice President of the United States for 8 years under President Barack Obama (meaning Joe Biden has more years experience in the whitie house than the current president). Biden has also spent a large portion of his political career fighting consistently for what he believes in and building bi-partisain relationships including his close friendship with the late Senator John McCain.

4. LGBT protections- Despite talking big game and claiming to advocate for LGBT rights worldwide, the Trump administration has done the opposite. According to the Human Rights Campaign, the Trump administrations is responsible for all of the following harmful actions to the LGBT community: removal of Obama-era non-discrimination protections, ban on openly transgender individuals from military service, removal of people with HIV from the military, removal of the clause in the ACA that protected LGBT people from healthcare discrimination, attempt at >$1,000,000,000 cut to the PEPFAR budget (which fights AIDS abroad), allowing emergency shelters to deny transgender individuals, and many more. Unlike Trump, Joe Biden does not support theses harmful regressions and instead supports progress and has a number of policies to protect LGBT individuals including discrimination protections in the prison system, schools, and in housing.

5. Healthcare- Obamacare had a lot of issues which Donald Trump loves to point out. These issues led to Trump repealing a number of benefits of the Affordable Care Act, but when announcing his 2nd term agenda, he announced plans to reinstate a number of them to some degree. Why would he do this though? Did he not have a clear plan for healthcare? The answer, in his own words from March of 2019 is that “I understand healthcare now.”  He himself claims to have misunderstood the healthcare system as president and plans to reinstate programs that he previously deemed unnecessary. This lack of understanding is a harmful quality in a president and is one that we will not see in Joe Biden if he is elected. Biden’s plan for healthcare is clear, he wants to protect the Affordable Care Act and extend coverage to Americans who need it while still maintaining the private insurance industry.

6. Trump’s lack of plans- Despite holding numerous campaign rallies and speaking often about how he wants to “Keep America Great”, Donald Trump released no 2nd term plans until August 23rd. Beyond that, a number of plans that he released simply do not make sense. One of his plans is to “develop a vaccine by the end of 2020” and while that does seem like a noble plan to combat COVID-19, Donald Trump will be president through the end of 2020 whether he is re-elected or not, meaning that this is not a campaign promise. His military plan is also vague and contradicts itself when Trump says that he wants to both “bring our troops home” and “expand America’s unrivaled military strength.”

7. Military- While it has already been addressed that Trump’s military plans are flawed, he also plans to launch an unnecessary and costly military expedition called Space Force and use them to create a permanent military presence on the moon. Joe Biden’s plans for the military  , however, are a little more sound. He wants to end endless wars in countries like Afghanistan while still maintaining troops in countries like South Korea where American help is still needed. Biden also has specific plans for veterans, a group which Trump only mentions in his 2nd term plan once. Biden’s veteran plans include improving the quality of physical and mental healthcare that is provided to them, creating programs to end veteran homelessness and suicide, and creating more employment opportunities for them.

8. Immigration- Beyond just his controversial executive orders banning immigration and even visitors from predominantly Muslim countries for short periods of time, Donald Trump has poor immigration policy. He claims to want to “end illegal immigration” but has not made it easier for the people who come here illegally to immigrate. President Trump introduced a plan for a merit-based immigration system which makes immigration harder for workers who are not “skilled” or do not have training for a specific field. Biden’s plan, on the other hand, does not aim to deport the illegal immigrants who are not causing crime, who are not recent border crossers, and who are not threats to national security. He believes that the focus should not be on removing the people who have been living and working here for years but instead on making sure that people do not feel the need to enter the United States illegally in the future. Biden also plans to stop separating families at the border and to reunite the children and parents who have been taken from one another.

9. Respect- Most simply put, Joe Biden respects other people whereas Donald Trump does not. I could discuss President Trump’s worst moments such as when he mocked a disabled reporter or spoke ill of John McCain for having been captured, but instead I would like to discuss some examples of  Joe Biden’s constant respect for others. In mid-August, Donald Trump’s brother Robert passed away. Biden’s first instinct was to make a statement  expressing his condolences and putting political differences aside. Biden has also had a stutter his entire life and recognizes that speech impediments can make life harder for kids, this led him to work personally with kids who have stutters. He has even gone as far as to give some his personal phone number so that they can call and practice speeches with him.

10. Education- Donald Trump only lists two plans for education under his 2nd term goals, “provide school choice to every child in America” and “teach American Exceptionalism.” Biden, however, has three full pages of plans for reform in different areas of the education system. Biden has plans  to improve community college and make it accessible to everyone so that no Americans are forced out the opportunity to get a higher education. He also has policies geared at closing gun loopholes so that people who are not dangerous still have the right to bear arms while people who are dangerous do not have the potential to cheat the law which will hopefully lower the risk of school shootings. His campaign also includes plans for educators that include improving pay, strengthening education in lower-income communities, and  expanding access to mental and physical health resources for students so that teachers are able to best focus on educating their students.

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