September/October 2020 - These Curious Times

Editorial
TCTN’s Editors-in-Chief don’t like bringing politics into the paper, but the Nation is only a few weeks away from one of
the most important elections of this lifetime. Our editors have differing political views and have added the new Opposing
Opinion column to prove that it is acceptable to agree to disagree and still be friends and colleagues. The question in this issue:
Did America Really Become Great Again?
We hope their conversation is an example of how true democracy and friendship can be achieved.
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Created by Mike
America Has Become A
Failed State Under Trump
Andrew Perry
Is America great again? Almost four years after President
Trump took office, we can just look around. The answer is
easy. Hell no. While my opponent might parrot talking points,
what I say can be independently verified by you.
In 2016 we had an economy that was recovering well
from the previous Great Recession: the stock market was
trending upwards, and unemployment was still decreasing.
We had a positive relationship with our historical allies.
America was still the superpower.
After Trump first stepped into the office, this stability and
upward trend was his inheritance. What would he do with it?
Through sheer incompetence, he would run it like one of his
businesses and crash it into the ground in epic fashion. Most
Trump followers will point to the time before the pandemic;
I’m talking about where we are right now.
From the beginning we knew that he wasn’t scientifically
literate, but we imagined he would put the appropriate people
in charge of the appropriate departments. For example, like
his predecessor we trusted that Trump would put a scientist
or environmental expert in charge of the Environmental
Protections Agency.
That didn’t happen. Instead, he put in Andrew Wheeler. Not
a scientist, but he was an executive in the oil and gas industry.
In his current capacity, Wheeler worked towards removing as
many regulations as possible that would benefit his former field.
That’s just one example. He has placed many former corporate
executives in charge of various departments so that they would
see their respective industries benefit, at the expense of that
department’s responsibilities and putting us at greater risk.
Over and over, Trump put monied interests over science
and the public’s interest. That is corruption. In some cases, like
with Ben Carson and the Housing and Urban Development,
he put in people who were not of that field. Ben Carson is a
neurosurgeon; not a civil engineer. This is incompetence.
Corruption and incompetence are the hallmark of
Trump’s one term in office. Where does that leave us today?
Consider that we are basically in a Second Great
Depression: tens of millions unemployed, record amounts of
small businesses permanently closed, massive civil unrest, a
global pandemic where America is failing but the rest of the
world is doing okay. Because of Trump’s follies, the United
States is kind of a joke to the rest of the industrialized world.
During the pandemic’s early months, as tens of millions of
people were laid off, many of these people became in need of some
sort of financial assistance. Guess who got all the assistance?
The people who don’t even need it. Corporate interests and the
wealthy received trillions and trillions of free money to prop up
the stock market. What did regular Americans get: peanuts.
And we can’t forget the effects of climate change, which
became such a prominent feature these past few years, and this
year in particular. Aside from the global toll, like giant glaciers
in the Arctic and Antarctica breaking off and melting, consider
America’s toll: record wild fires in the American west, record
heating trends, record hurricanes in the South, and severe
droughts. Under President Trump’s administration, America is
actively trying to do the opposite of what is needed.
This isn’t a left or right issue anymore. This is simply what
happens when a leader is both incompetent and corrupt. So
no, America is not great anymore. It is a failed state.
3
President Trump Has Made
America Great Again
Scott Kline
Voting Republican in 2016 was the best choice I could have
made. The economic policy of the Barack Obama administration
was characterized by moderate tax increases on higher income
Americans, designed to fund health care reform, reduce the
federal budget deficit, and decrease income inequality.
Trump did not inherit a stable economy. Trump has rebuilt a
depleted military by authorizing a historic $738 billion for defense
spending. The National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA]
provided the Administration requested for a 3.1% pay raise for
our troops which is the largest in a decade, with $5.3 billion being
authorized for disaster recovery at military installations across
the country. This bill also established the Space Force as the sixth
branch of the Armed Services, marking the first time a new
branch of the military has been established since 1947.
Being the leader of the free world carries immense
responsibility. Trump’s goal was to make sure the United States
became ‘energy independent’ and not reliant upon any other
nation, as a matter of fact he is leading an energy revolution.
American energy production is reaching new heights. Under
the Trump administration the United States has become the
world’s number one producer of oil and maintained our position
as the number one producer of natural gas. The deregulatory
actions taken by the Trump Administration are simultaneously
benefiting the American consumer and the energy sector by
lowering cost, speeding up projects and removing unnecessary
bureaucratic and regulatory hurdles.
Countries around the world are in support of Trump, flag
waving processions, boat parades, and non violent protests
for this American President. Democrats support the kneeling
and disrespect of our flag and country, allowing the names of
convicted felons on helmets, crime is rampant in Democratic
cities and states.
Those who want to blame Trump for the pandemic
crisis need to take a second a look. From January to June, the
coronavirus disease [CoVID-19] has evolved from an isolated
disease in a region of China to a global pandemic that has
brought countries to a standstill, pushed hospital systems to the
bring and dragged the global economy into a global recession.
During the earliest days of the pandemic, Trump was chastised
for cutting off travel to China, while Democrats focused on
impeachment. Trump took swift action to release guidance
recommending mitigation measures to slow the spread, with
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx attesting to the fact that Trump took
action as soon as the data was presented to him.
When you have one party sabotaging the other party
continuously, you have a failed state. Yes Trump is arrogant
and brash and his Twitter feed needs to be monitored. But
he is bringing peace to nations. It was a Norwegian politician
that put Trump’s name forward for the 2021 prize, citing the
president’s role in the recent peace deal between Israel and
the United Arab Emirates. Trumps third nomination, from
Australian law professors, stating “The Trump Doctrine is
something extraordinary.’ He decided that we would no longer
have America in endless wars, which achieved nothing but the
killing of thousands of young Americans and enormous debts
imposed on the American public, and nothing solved in the
countries in which they were waged on.
There is a bigger picture if you can step outside of the
liberal shelter.