Op-Ed: A failure to lead a nation

The 2020 election was one of the most important in the history of the United States. Comparing the differences in Biden and Trump’s political strategies and ideals of humanity, one candidate has put profit and personal gain over the well being of the country, its people, and the environment with every chance he has gotten: the current acting president. 

One example is the now declining Trump administration of the White House current attempt to uproot all the protections on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to harvest large amounts of exhaustible material, such as shale oil and natural gases to make more profit and continue the utilization of and heavy reliance on fossil fuels for energy production. There are many vital issues with this. 

First, the government should be declining the prolific use of fossil fuels for energy and electricity to help preserve the environment and other species on Earth besides humans. The harvesting and production of them causes massive amounts of CO2 emissions that are warming the Arctic environments and shortening the length of time humans and other species can survive on Earth. Second, the mining costs of harvesting the fossil fuels from the Alaskan terrain would completely destroy that whole ecosystem and environment, which thousands of species (some endangered) vitally depend on. 

Along with doing this and emitting increasingly more CO2, the many O2 providers of the area would be simultaneously eradicated as well, cutting off even more of the carbon and oxygen circulation, which we are already desperate to keep strong within all the damage we have already done. 

The current administration has also clearly and publicly advocated for protecting white supremacy groups, such as The Proud Boys and The Boogaloo Boys, whose terrorism too often goes denied and unrecognized for the significant damage they have done. These groups have also been linked to causing riots and lynchings, and overall terrorism throughout the U.S. Along with this horrifically clear stance on pro-white supremacy, Trump has also publicly disapproved of the Black Lives Matter movement and allowed illegal hysterectomies on women held by I.C.E. Those are just a few of Trump’s decisions during his presidency, all based on severe racism, ignorance, and a lack of humanity. 

Along with these horrifying failures of leadership, President Trump has been in charge of dealing with the U.S.’s response to COVID-19. As it is an international pandemic, it is expected and intelligent to keep steady relations with the international countries when facing global problems. But, instead of doing this, Trump decided to remove the U.S. from communication and participation with the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), and break connections and respectful ties with China, a country that this country strongly relies on for many essential resources, simply because the disease originated from the country. 

He has cut valuable ties with governments and vital communication and assistance international lines in response to the pandemic. Any person with critical thinking ability would be able to conclude that international assistance and good relationships are hugely important and vital in dealing with a global crisis.

These are examples of Trump’s failure to lead this country. Though there is no disregard for past presidential failures and mistakes, this article’s purpose is simply to call out the current presidential administration who’s made a particularly public and notable amount of dangerous mistakes and self-centered choices for a country. Effectively, mistakes are to be recognized and learned from them so as to progress by not repeating the same terrible mistakes and mindsets.