Donald Trump is going down in the history books as one of the most controversial Presidents of the United States. Starting his journey in 2015 as a Republican candidate, Trump was seen as more of a nuisance character rather than someone who can win the race to be the President. The Republican Party put forward the most talented from its own party, during 2016 primary with Governor like Chris Christie of New Jersey, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and even Jeb Bush who is the brother of former President George Bush.
CANDIDATE TRUMP TAKING DOWN TRADITIONAL POLITICIANS
Candidate Trump took all his opponents one by one in the debates. Personally attacking candidates, calling them liars, and attacking their records. One of the most successful things he did as a candidate was letting people know he was not a part of the system which they thought was corrupt. However, This did not sit well with the Republican establishment which came out heavily against Trump’s tactics of xenophobia and racially dividing comments as unacceptable, many leaders denounced the candidate calling him a bully and a liar. Unsympathetic to the establishment’s concern Trump went on to win the Republican nomination by beating the most powerful and conservative candidates of the party. Nevertheless, the journey was not over for him yet as he was facing one of the most experienced candidates on the Democratic side of the party former Secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Secretary Clinton already had the experience of a Presidential race, as she ran against former President Barack Obama back in 2008. Not bothered by his opponent the 74-year-old Trump made his election bid into one of the most talked-about campaigns in the history of television as every day at his rallies, he would often make controversial statements.
He said, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. This anti-immigration rhetoric rallied up his base who lost their jobs due to the influx of immigrants in the United States. A few of his campaign promises which resonated with his base were immigration, getting jobs back from overseas, and defeating the terrorist outfit in Syria. He often talked about getting Troops back home and telling his supporters “The US won’t be World’s ‘Policeman.’
The United States has spent $2 Trillion in Afghanistan since 2001. The President often called his supporters the forgotten or the silent majority but he found a new name after Hillary called them Deplorable for supporting Trump. Secretary Clinton was not a popular figure among the older voters, as she was blamed for pushing Libya to the brink of war and also the famous attack on the Benghazi consulate during her stint as Secretary of State.
Despite, Trump winning the election in 2016, the Democratic party constantly looked for reasons to oust Trump from the Presidency. Ever since the intelligence agencies blamed Russia for interfering in the elections. The Democratic establishment went ahead blaming the President of colluding with Russia, also calling him the ‘Illegitimate President’. In addition to this Democrats asked for an investigation into the Trump campaign and spent a whopping $32 Million to try and find a connection between his campaign and Russia which ended up with no conclusion. Besides, Russia ‘Witch hunt’ as the President calls it, the Democrats took an unprecedented step of impeaching the President, as he became the third President to be impeached in the History. Democrats accused Trump of seeking advantage in the upcoming election by asking Ukraine President to open-up an investigation into the Democratic Presidential front-runner Joe Biden and his son for his deals with Gas companies.
CANDIDATE TRUMP 2.0
Fast Forward to the 2020 elections, we still have Donald Trump at the helm and seeking re-election this year. Moreover, this year is one of the most bizarre time in the history of mankind with the Coronavirus, or as the President likes to call it the ‘Chinese Virus’ is wreaking havoc all around the World. As a result, the United States has the greatest number of COVID-19 cases in the world with the count touching more than 8 million people and more than two hundred thousand dead. President’s critics have often blamed him for not taking the virus seriously in the early stages which led to the economy suffering and the worst economic recession since 1929. The President himself got infected by COVID-19, and made headlines after he decided to go out to greet his supporter while being infected. However, after getting recovered, the president’s campaign team has decided to hit the campaign trail in the important swing states like Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. In the recent polls, that are out President is losing to Biden with decent points. On the other hand, The American people are facing the wrath of the political class after the talks of another stimulus bill was put on halt by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The current stimulus package of 1.8 Trillions dollars is going to help re-open businesses and help people who lost their job due to the pandemic and are suffering delay due to opening up of the economy in mostly democrat ruling states. In addition to the pandemic, recent racial tensions have pushed the country on the brink of Civil war and the death of George Floyd which led to widespread looting and rioting bringing the opening up economy to a grinding halt. President Trump faces a tough re-election bid against former Vice-President Joe Biden who is been in Washington for more than five decades. Joe Biden is running for the President for the third time, as his previous campaigns have failed due to one reason or another.
With less than 15 days left for the election, the race is getting more intense as both the president and his opponent are campaigning more out in the open.
