Another Biden/Trump matchup? No thank you. At a time in our history where over two-thirds of us allegedly feel that the country is headed in the wrong direction, nominating an 82-year-old or a 78-year-old who can only serve one term and will be a lame duck in two years is not the answer. There is no two-year solution to our problems; we need a new generation of leaders to turn this ship around.
As I have repeatedly said in this column before, we the people must rise up and start the process of righting the ship. I recognize that each of can have different priorities. However, I cannot help but wonder if the majority of us end up with somewhat similar top priorities when we put country first. My top five, in no particular order, would be fix inflation and the economy; fix crime; fix the border; restore our traditional American values; and reclaim our standing in world affairs. Based on my priorities, I graded Biden and Trump on their records and how likely they are to address these issues in the one term they would have left. Your priorities may be different, but you can still use this process to assess these or other candidates versus making an ideological choice based on party affiliation, mainstream or social media narratives or candidate name-calling that results in reverse Darwinism – the survival of the unfittest.
Economy/Inflation: Trump: F; Biden: F
Our core issue this century is out-of-control spending. We have run deficits every year since 2000. That means the government spends more than it takes in during a fiscal year. The government has to borrow the deficit every year by issuing securities. Our total debt is an accumulation of our annual deficits. At the beginning of this century, we had about $5.5 trillion in total debt. One billion is 1,000 million. One trillion is 1,000 billion or 12 zeros. Starting the century with $5.5 trillion of debt, we have grown that debt to $31.5 trillion by accumulating deficits every single year. In 2016, Trump promised he would eliminate the national debt in eight years. Instead, he had a record increase for a one-term president in the modern era. Debt increased from $19.9 trillion when he took office to $27 trillion when he left, with a record $3 trillion added to the debt in 2020, allegedly for handing out massive COVID checks fueled through a flawed approach. Biden doubled down and increased the debt from $27 trillion to $31.5 trillion in his two-plus years, including a massive $2 trillion America Rescue Plan giveaway. While Trump and Biden followed a reckless fiscal policy of borrowing, they encouraged the Federal Reserve to pump additional liquidity into the system by increasing the federal balance sheet from $4 trillion to $7 trillion under Trump and up to almost $9 trillion under Biden so far. You don’t need to be an economist to know that inflation is basically too much money chasing too few goods. Handing the keys to either one of these two individuals can only do harm and will result in continuing the 20-year record of ever-increasing debt, an increasingly problematic economy and a loss of confidence in the stability of the dollar.
Crime: Trump: D; Biden: F
While crime is definitely getting worse by the day, our sense of uneasiness with crime started well before Biden. Remember the Black Lives Matter riots, the burning and destruction of property, the tearing down of statues that represented our history and the dramatic increases in crime in New York, Chicago, Baltimore and elsewhere? All that happened on the Trump watch. By cloaking all crime in racist rhetoric, Biden has just made it worse. Ironically, Blacks suffer the most from this idiotic rhetoric. In 2019, the FBI’s own data showed that 6.9 million people were arrested for serious crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Of this group, 51% were Black. On the other side, approximately 55% of murder victims were Black. So a lot of Blacks are being killed by other Blacks. That is not racism. It is a problem perpetuated by socioeconomic and other factors and can be solved if they are acknowledged. Neither Trump nor Biden did the two things that have proven to impact crime. First, violent crime is often committed by the same set of individuals – 77% of federal and state prisoners are re-arrested within five years. So, violent offenders must stay locked up. Second, the “broken window” theory of law enforcement, which states that vigorously policing minor infractions like vandalism, shoplifting and trespassing decreases the incidence of major crimes. Trump and Biden pontificated about crime but did nothing to make sustainable change in their first term. I don’t see either of them having any meaningful impact in their second and last term.
Open borders: Trump: C; Biden: F
Trump famously talked about ending illegal immigration during his first campaign. At least he made an effort, built a partial wall and instituted a stay-in-Mexico policy. However, change that is not sustainable is not change at all. It is optics. Data shows only modest improvements during the Trump era and the wheels coming off during the Biden era. U.S. Border Patrol encounters that do not include the “got-aways” showed 310,000 border encounters in 2017, the first full year of Trump. This climbed to 859,000 in 2019 and then dropped back down to 405,000 in 2020, the last year of Trump. So, a lot of talk but not so much in results. Along comes Biden, opens up the border and the Border Patrol encounters soar to 1.7 million in 2021 and 2.2 million in 2022, with the Border Patrol estimating an additional 1.2 million “got-aways” during the Biden years. In two years of Biden, there were over 5 million illegal entries, which violates U.S. law and singlehandedly disqualifies him from running. A one-term Trump presidency will definitely improve these numbers, but, as already demonstrated, does not create lasting change. Therefore, I consider both of these men unqualified to do something that is critical to us having a country in the future. For those who believe illegal immigration is OK, our system requires you to work to change federal law, not support violating the law because you don’t agree with it.
Our standing in the world: Trump: C/D; Biden: F
I have lived all over the world, and I can tell you that the world looks to America to lead. As an Aussie told me recently: “It scares us to see what America is becoming. We need you guys.” Trump appeared to have the right instincts internationally and was wary of the powerful military industrial complex that only benefited when we were at war. However, like most poor leaders, he was unable to convince anyone of his vision and ruled by presidential order. Most of his accomplishments internationally, from Iran to the Abraham Accords to peace with North Korea to exiting the Paris Accords to isolating China, have all been reversed or will be. While we were at peace during his presidency – which counted in my grading – we were also quickly exiting our world leadership role due to his unpredictable and unstable leadership style. Biden is in a class by himself. To say he is an embarrassment on the world stage would be an understatement. His Afghan withdrawal and his timid approach with Iran and China have our staunchest allies looking for other partners. Ukraine has been a $200-billion money pit, and, as I said before, he does not realize that Ukraine cannot be a war that is won through a corrupt proxy regime. He cannot define what the end game is as we incrementally inch toward a military confrontation and unite historical adversaries China and Russia. The international community also recognizes the folly of trying to make deals with a one-term president, further complicating our ability to get back to the head of the table.
American values: Trump: D; Biden: F
This is an area where we have strayed long and far. America has always been a country founded on the ability of an individual to have an opinion and freely express it and still be friends with someone who has a different opinion. From censoring speech and opinions to weaponizing government agencies against those who disagree with you, we certainly have our Founding Fathers turning in their graves. Our mainstream media is corrupt and a disgrace. While sexual preferences are a matter of personal choice, they are a matter of choice for adults – not children. From abortion to gun violence to other social issues, we can find solutions that we can live with if we do not vilify someone who disagrees with us, call them names and attack them on social media. This cultural drift started before Trump, continued and accelerated during his presidency and has gone off the rails under Biden. Trump does not have the moral authority to shift opinions on these issues. Biden does not have the will.
I recognize that not everyone will agree with my opinion. Even if you partially agree, please make the effort to analyze the track record and the results achieved by the various candidates. Look for a leader. There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage. Do not form your opinions from the mainstream media, negative ads and name-calling. List the things important to you and see if any of the candidates have the leadership skills and track record of achieving results in your areas of interest. Fully understand that both Trump and Biden will be one-term presidents in their 80s, with all the drawbacks of being lame ducks within two years. We can make better choices.
This column will eventually endorse national and local candidates by name with reasons for the endorsements. But I will let you form your own opinions first. God bless.
Reddy or Not represents the opinion of Lucky Dog Publishing owner Rom Reddy but not necessarily that of the newspaper. In keeping with the paper’s philosophy of publishing all opinions, the publisher welcomes responses, which must be limited to 300 words and will be published on a space-available basis.