A Choice Like No Other We Have Faced
By Jim Koury
For this following article, I decided to veer off on a different path from my prior articles and touch on something that directly impacts us all. As we are all well aware, we have a Presidential Election coming up in the fall and a Congressional election. This election could not be any more critical and will chart our nation’s path for years. Sadly, our choice is the same one given to us in 2020. It will be another contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
I am one of the many Americans who desired a different choice. I was hopeful that the President would step aside and relinquish the Democratic Party to a candidate of this generation. So much talent and innovative ideas are stirring in the hearts and minds of the next generation of leaders waiting in the wings. Unfortunately, that is not the case, so we must choose between the two given to us. Do we pick a man who has four indictments and 91 felony charges lodged against him and who tried to subvert the will of the people and throw out the results of a free and fair election by fanning the flames of insurrection and sedition, or do we choose the one that best serves the nation’s general welfare, and explicitly addressing women’s and minority interests? That choice is crystal clear in this American’s mind. There is no other choice but Joe Biden.
Biden’s three years in office have been remarkably positive, and progressive. His time in the White House has been full of accomplishments that have helped Americans in all walks of life. Some of his notable achievements include the passage of the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Bill, the Safer Communities Act, the Burn Pits Bill, standing by Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression, the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, took actions to reduce greenhouse emissions, and the Postal Service Reform Act. Other notable achievements include appointing the nation’s first black woman to the Supreme Court, giving long overdue student loan relief, supporting the Violence Against Women Act, the Respect for marriage act, and a host of other actions and legislation benefiting all Americans.
Most importantly, the economy is stable, with unemployment down to record levels, inflation stabilizing and falling, and the GDP to grow at a healthy clip in the coming months.
Last, as a queer American, I am wholly grateful we have a President who respects all for who they are and supports equal treatment for those who may feel disillusioned and disenfranchised because of the treatment accorded them by our less-than-supportive American brothers and sisters.
The other choice? Where do I begin? It is pretty amazing that so many of our fellow Americans still support a wholly disgusting man who fanned the flames of sedition, treason, and insurrection because he was a big baby and could not accept the fact that he lost a free and fair election. The only explanation I can provide for his enduring support among his MAGAT brigade is that Trump speaks their language of hate, racism, and disrespect for all that is different and outside the realm of established white America. And of course, being brain-dead.
He is back running for a second term with four indictments and 91 felony charges to his credit, along with sexual harassment, defamation charges, and judgments. Trump runs a campaign of fear characterized by revenge and retribution. He has publicly stated that he hopes the economy tanks in the coming months before the election, which would hurt many Americans nationwide. He is a foul man, a literal force of evil in our nation who cares not about anything but Donald J. Trump and his return to the White House to be a dictator and a hate monger, as well as to exact retribution upon his political enemies. Quite the American, eh? What is more confounding is that so many fake evangelical Christians think he is pious and Godly and is the spiritual savior the country needs. How fucking laughable, right?
His brain-dead MAGAT supporters claim he is unfairly persecuted, with intricate and far-reaching conspiracies swirling about him to get him off the ballot and lose the election. They claim he did great things for the country and needs to get back into office to continue making America Great Again. Just how great did he make it? Not so much.
His crowning achievement, facilitated by a GOP-controlled Senate, was the appointment of three conservative Supreme Court Justices who lied during their confirmation hearings, stating that Roe was an established precedent. Surprise!!! All voted to overturn Roe and return personal decisions about what should happen to a woman’s body to legislatures dominated by men instead of to women, who rightfully know best what to do. A whole host of anti-abortion measures passed after Roe’s demise, many of which contain no allowances to protect the life of the mother or pregnancies brought about by rape or incest. How inhumane to force a woman, especially many of whom are underage, to bear children they cannot care for or support, as they are yet children themselves.
Another feather in his and the GOP’s cap was the passage of the massive tax reduction bill, which primarily helped corporations and wealthy people keep and make more money while everyday Americans derived a pittance. The extra $13.42 a year I got in my NY State Pension helped me a lot! Right, sure. What a damn joke!
His administration rolled back countless environmental and other regulations that directly harmed consumers and our natural resources. Our national parks and sensitive ecological areas suffered irreparable damage.
Trump’s harmful immigration policies separated children from their parents, many of whom have yet to be reunited. He spent a vast sum of money to construct his wall, which did nothing to prevent the influx of illegal immigrants into the country. His zero-tolerance policy resulted in the expulsion of decorated military personnel who served faithfully in our armed forces and, in many cases, separated families because of it.
His administration’s disparagement of the LGBTQ community, especially our transgender brothers and sisters, has caused much angst and stress in the hearts of countless queer Americans, such as myself, all across the nation. His attempts to subjugate us back to the closet and irrelevance have caused violent and often fatal consequences for queer Americans.
He bungled the COVID pandemic response, thereby putting many Americans in harm’s way and, in many cases, causing their deaths due to an abject denial that the “China virus” was actual and as broad and damaging as it indeed was. He subsequently created an environment of distrust in vaccines and other mitigation measures that continue today because he did not want to harm his re-election chances. He played to the fears of the Facebook infectious disease experts who knew more than the scientific community. His actions, er, instead, inaction, unnecessarily prolonged the pandemic in America and made it much worse than if appropriate actions were implemented based on scientific evidence and empirical data instead of putrid anti-government, anti-vaccine, anti-control rhetoric that he perceived would help his re-election chances.
Despite all this and more, Trump’s attempts to overthrow the government of the United States by fanning the flames of insurrection and inciting a mob to storm the capital to stop the certification of Joe Biden as President should be enough to disqualify him from ever holding any public office again. 60 plus judges, both Democratic and Republican, said there was no voter fraud. Yet, he clings to the delusion fraud occurred and millions upon millions of votes were illegally cast for Joe Biden. His dutiful minions on Fox Noise and others festered this idea in the minds of the faithful, doing untold damage to American democracy and the very foundations of the Republic itself.
So, yes, the choice is clear. America must vote against Donald Trump and, more specifically, the GOP all across the country. The GOP has sold its soul to a con man and a grifter whose primary purpose in running is to save himself from his legal troubles and prosecution and to take revenge on his enemies. Incredibly, so many do not see the danger he and his mindless minions in the GOP present to our way of life and all America represents. Please get out and vote, as you have in the last three election cycles in record numbers, once again, and stop this menace called Donald Trump and the party of Trump, the GOP, from inflicting their poison on our great nation any further.
Jim is the author of two books, Unredacted and Soul Journey, and also publishes an online publication, Diversity Rules Magazine. He resides in Upstate New York in the city where he was born, with his dog Lina and cat Critter.
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