The Road to the Presidency (2020 Election)

As the 2020 presidential election draws closer, several candidates from across the nation have emerged as potential suitors for the White Houses’ vacant seat. Faces both new (such as the overly idealistic Andrew Yang and Beto O’ Rourke) and old (like current President of the United States Donald Trump and democratic-socialist Bernie Sanders) dominate the political landscape, each greatly differing in their respective social stances. Regardless, the race for the presidency is filled with a variety of intriguing personalities, and even more options to choose from.

First, let’s examine the potential for Trump to elicit a second tenure within the White House. A rather controversial figure in contemporary politics, Donald Trump’s election in 2016 had sent shock-waves across the nation. His apparent lack of political experience, along with his unprecedented usage of the social media platform Twitter to provide commentary on relevant issues, has stirred much divide amongst the general populous.  It also doesn’t help that he has since garnered much backlash due to his insistence to keep the government closed during the shutdown until he had accumulated the money necessary to build a concrete structure across the American-Mexican border, a multitude of explicit evidence indicating that Russia had interfered in the election’s results, and a range of questionable activity on Twitter. Trump’s road to the presidency will certainly be filled with several roadblocks.

Donald Trump is becoming more and more politically isolated. Convinced wholeheartedly that his attempts to denuclearize North Korea will be successful, trump pushes even his closest advisers to step back. This lack of support will make his re-election more difficult and to counter that, he began campaigning much earlier. In his second term, Trump wants to continue his push for building the wall and “keep America great. In El Paso this perseverance to build a wall around America resulted in an actual physical altercation between a filming BBC cameraman and ardent supporter of Trump. Trump did not, of course allow or support this but allowed it to happen nonetheless. After this, the Barr letter was released. This outlined info in the Mueller reports showed that trump could have had nothing to do with Russia’s election tampering but it can’t be proven either way.

These worrying situations are dangerous for Trump as the election nears. No matter how quieted or inconclusive the results of any findings are, public eye will always rule and find its own beliefs. Fortunately, his first term in office saw the economy significantly bolster, as too should his case for a second term.

The most compelling figure to enter the presidential race is none other than the idealistic entrepreneur Andrew Yang. Like Trump, Yang has virtually zero experience in the political ring, but his approach is truly revolutionary. His desire to implement a system predicating on the principles of Universal Basic Income, which guarantees a specific amount of money to the country’s citizens (in this case, $1,000 a month), has garnered much attention of its citizenry. Not to mention, he has largely advocated initiatives that would protect the Earth’s environmental interests, along with prioritizing the legalization of marijuana and universal healthcare. Yang’s ability to differentiate himself from other members in the Democratic Party may cost him, however. Many have criticized his proposals as being “overly idealistic” and “not plausible”. The ability to implement these policies may be incredibly unlikely, but a candidate who’s focused on the future shape of his country deserves at least a glance.

Another Democratic candidate who has been receiving considerable amounts of attention as of late is Beto O’ Rourke. A public dissenter of President Trump, Rourke’s policies aim at rescinding several initiative put in place by the Trump administration. Heavily emphasizing the importance of combating climate change, along with initiatives promoting gun regulation and immigration, O’Rourke has amassed an insurmountable amount of support for his platform.  Also, unlike his contemporaries, Beto is extremely young for the role (46 years of age to be exact). That alone should play a factor in the amount of support he garners.

The only issue with O’Rourke is that he is incredibly conservative when it comes to approaching the media. Understanding the importance of media influence on the political playground, O’ Rourke has since attempted to establish a connection with major media outlets. But, seeing as he has the lowest media presence of any other member in his party, this may prove detrimental to his success on garnering the presidency.

Yet another candidate in this election cycle is career politician Joe Biden. In addition to his decades spent as a U.S. Senator for the state of Delaware, Biden has the unique claim of having prior experience in the White House, serving as the Vice President to the nation’s 44th President Barrack Obama,  from his inauguration up until Trump was sworn in as the 45^th President. If elected, Biden would be the oldest person ever elected to the Presidency, as he will be 76 years old on Election Day. Despite his age, many surveys have described him as the clear front-runner for the Democratic Party, significantly ahead of the other two dozen other Democrats vying for the office.

When it comes to key issues, Biden’s views straight-forwardly  represents

Democratic Ideals. In the past, he has described climate change as an “existential” threat, helping to orchestrate the Paris Climate Accord. This stance on climate change has been present since the early days of his political career, as he introduced the first ever climate bill on the floor of the Senate in 1986. When it comes to the economy, Biden has strongly supported the ideas of raising the minimum wage and promoting the middle class, celebrating when New York raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a change that he wants to make nationwide. In recent years, he has also been one of a first Democrats to advocate for free public education, hoping to make college a more accessible commodity for lower-income families. Biden is also staunchly Democratic on the issues of immigration and firearms, being strongly against Trump’s plan of a border wall and supporting citizenship for Dreamers when it comes to the former; and banning assault weapons and introducing universal background checks for the latter. Socially, he has continuously advocated for the Violence Against Women Act, an act introduced to try and support victims of domestic or gender-based violence, no matter the gender (though the effectiveness of this Act in protecting all victimized genders has been called into question). Biden has also spoke out in support of survivors of sexual violence and has said that accusers deserve the presumption of innocence unless it can be proved that the claims are false.

Despite this, there have been some recent claims that Biden has made some unwanted physical contact, such as hugs or kisses on the head, with women, though he later issued a video statement on Twitter saying that he will be more respectful of women’s personal space in the future. As the 2020 election approaches, Biden is surely a candidate to keep an eye on, and it will be interesting to see what 2020 brings for his political career.

Click here to view our podcast! Where we talk about the past presidency of Trump and brought outside opinions to what we hope to expect this upcoming election.