On Nov. 8 when the greatest economy and the most powerful nation chose its soon-to-be leader as Donald Trump, many people around the world were shocked. The only question in everyone’s mind was how America chose such a conservative, controversial, misogynistic and bigoted man to represent their nation and to make them great again. These are not my words but these are the adjectives used by news channels and experts to describe our leader. The whole world was astonished to see a man with such radical principles become the president. Some might be wondering why the world cares about the election in a leader of some other country? It is because the president of the United States is not only the supreme commander of the world’s largest and most powerful military but is also the leader of a superpower with strong allies. According to a report from 2016 by the U.S. Department of Treasury, the U.S owns $9.6 trillion in foreign securities. It has the capability to get together with its allies and completely destroy any small economy. The Americans have bestowed the responsibility of representing such a nation in the hands of Donald Trump.
Recently the Department of Homeland Security led by the Trump administration unveiled several border wall prototypes for the U.S.-Mexico border. This wall, as promised by Mr. Trump during his campaign, would be physically imposing, aesthetically pleasing and a major solution to the drug problem in the United States. The wall would be a 30 feet tall structure throughout the U.S.-Mexico border, which would be approximately 2000 miles in length. Trump has asked Congress to sanction $1.6 billion for the implementation of the first phase of the wall which would be 76 miles in length. Is this how America is going to become great again? Is this how the unemployment issue can be tackled? Is this how the minimum wage of the workers in the United States is going to increase? By spending billions of dollars on a wall in the desert?
All these questions made me wonder about the reason the Americans chose this man to be their president. A little research showed some fascinating results, which were thought-provoking in many ways. More than 61 million people voted for Donald Trump, despite his misogynistic and insensitive comments on Twitter-his preferred medium of communication. This shows the depth of despair to which many voters have sunk. People are frustrated with minimum wages and rising costs which made them biased towards a man who addressed these issues. He was successful in relating to the economic hardships of the people, which was more important to voters than how President Trump treats women or his demagoguery throughout the campaign. People liked the way he said what he thought and how he did not care about political correctness. The fact that he was a successful businessman who knew how to make money allured people to support him.
It was shocking that the voters became delusional to such an extent due to their problems. They believed that a person with such radical thinking can make their country great again but couldn’t realize the factors which made America great in the first place. America believes in equal opportunity for each individual, free trade, multicultural community, merit-based rewards and a non-conservative attitude towards life. This attracted people of various ethnicities to immigrate and pursue the American dream. Leading to an accumulation of talented people from various fields working towards progress and made America great in the first place. Donald Trump is trying to make America great again by thwarting all the practices it has followed since its inception.
A 2016 survey conducted by Yale University showed that only 45 percent of the population agree that global warming is caused by human activities. Scientific researchers have come up with valid proof that climate change is happening. This statistic probably just portrays the negligence of the American population regarding the environmental issues or any other concern which does not affect them directly. This has led to the people electing a climate denier as its leader. On June 1, the United States officially withdrew from the Paris agreement on climate change mitigation. Trump stated that, “The Paris accord will undermine (the U.S.) economy,” and “puts (the U.S.) at a permanent disadvantage.”
By withdrawing, the U.S. government is trying to save $2 billion which was to be provided to the United Nations Green Climate Fund. Probably this money will be utilized in the construction of a wall which is going to make America great again. The Trump administration also appointed Scott Pruitt as the director of Environmental Protection Agency who is also a climate denier. What is the use of putting all this money and energy on the Environmental Protection Agency when the director himself doesn’t believe in climate change?
Some of the Trump supporters who were interviewed mentioned that Trump’s business acumen is useful for improving the economy of the country. But the same people fail to realize that Trump’s hotel and casino business has declared bankruptcy six times between 1991 and 2009, due to his inability to meet required payments. Trump was quoted by Newsweek in 2011 saying, “I do play with the bankruptcy laws—they’re very good for me”. Despite all the bankruptcies, Trump has always managed to maintain a lavish lifestyle by defrauding millions of dollars which belonged to the banks. A man who couldn’t pay his own personal debt is now the elected representative of the United States and is bestowed with the responsibility of overcoming the national debt. Isn’t this people’s negligence to elect such a leader? And despite the economic crisis, the U.S government is advocating to use 20 billion dollars in the construction of a wall!
The last time a person with such radical thinking was elected to lead a country towards greatness, a world war took place which involved mass genocides and communal hatred. The man was Adolf Hitler and after the end of his rule, the only thing left for the people of Germany was a wall dividing the nation into two halves.
The reason America is great or as Mr. Trump would say, was great is because of an open-minded, multicultural lifestyle encouraged by the U.S. implementing policies which are against such principles would not do any good for the nation or any individual. Building fancy walls is not the solution to unemployment. Creating skilled labor, educating people, training people to achieve a certain skill set are some of the ways to overcome unemployment and the administration should focus on such aspects. Instead, the administration has chosen to put their energy in testing the wall prototypes with sledgehammers and axes.
I was agonized to learn that the Department of Homeland Security spent about $4 million dollars on the prototypes by diverting funds from other programs. They are also willing to spend $20 billion dollars on a concrete structure which would be 2000 miles long. It doesn’t take a highly educated economist to prove the unworthiness of this investment. Any sensible and dutiful citizen of this nation can understand the idiosyncrasies of this government.
The democracy is a form of governance where the power is derived from the people and the government is accountable to the people for the use of that power. I believe in the power of democracy and I believe it has the capability to stop the administration from spending money on such preposterous projects.
