You have probably heard the news lately, or maybe heard adults arguing about politics in America, but with millions of ongoing questions, not all of your confusion could have been answered, especially the inquiries about the United States. Politics in the U.S. are arguably one of the most confusing systems of democracy, millions of Americans watch candidates from opposite parties debate in a race to be the next President. In 2016 Donald. J. Trump won the election as a Republican running against Hillary Clinton. Trump won by 306 electoral votes to 232, he went about this win calling it a landslide, however, he only won four states by 1.2%. Had Hillary Clinton won these states she would have been the first female president in the US. H. Clinton had actually won the popular vote with 65.84 million votes compared to Trump's 62.98 million. Clinton only lost because of the Electoral College system.
The Electoral College is essentially a number of points you get from winning over a state, to win the presidency you must get 270 points. The points differ depending on the population in that state, that is why places like Florida and Texas account for more electoral points. Candidates try to target specific states judging on the number of points they could get. After Trump won in 2016 many people were not pleased. Since Trump was officially elected in 2017 more than 3 million jobs had been lost, this goes against Trump’s promise that he would introduce more jobs for the people. That is why many people wanted to vote for any possible future candidate other than Trump in 2020 because their lives were “unhappy” in his hands.
Fast forward to today, Joseph R. Biden has been elected President with the first female Vice President, Kamala Harris by his side. As J. Lindsay (2020) states more than 159 million Americans voted in 2020, For the first time ever, more than 140 million people voted in the US. Biden won with lots of room to move around in with a total of 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232. Trump still hasn't accepted his loss and claims that he had won the “legal vote” and that this was a “historic election interference” but this claim was never proved to be correct as there was no hard evidence.
On January 6th Congress gathered in the Capitol building located in Washington D.C. and confirmed Biden’s win. While this was happening, protesters and international terrorist which consisted of a group named the ''Proud Boys'' and Trump supporters broke into the Capitol building, encouraged by Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump JR. Some of the people who raided and protested were armed and one of them had zip ties, suggesting that they were looking for hostages. The man with the zip ties was found and taken to court, later on police found an arsenal of weapons and tactical gear in his home.
After the horrific event that questioned American police, army and democracy, Trump was scheduled for impeachment the second time. Impeachment is the process in which a legislative body holds a government official accountable with legal charges. Impeachment can take away the rights of a president or government official, making them powerless and essentially firing them. The first time Donald Trump was impeached was for controversial interactions between the U.S and Ukraine, the impeachment trial was not passed and Trump was not removed from office. The Constitution requires 2/3 of the senate to vote for the President to be impeached or they are not removed. Impeachment also takes away one's right to run as president again and that is why on February 8th, Donald J Trump will be tried for impeachment again, the senate will be controlled by Democrats by then and Trump will most likely lose his right to ever be president again.
As soon as Joe Biden was elected, he went straight to work, he signed a total of 30 executive orders within the span of 3 days, these include stopping funding for the Mexican border wall, welcoming back trans gender people into the army, introducing a mask mandate when on federal property and in airports, giving out stimulus checks to families, pausing school debt until October and many more. President Biden is trying to end the pandemic and give out vaccines while also trying to reverse many things Trump has done. He even went to the extent of decorating the oval office where he works, with family photos, portraits and pictures of Civil Rights leaders and even a sculpture of civil rights leader, Rosa Parks. Additionally, he removed the Pepsi/Diet coke button that would bring Trump a Coca Cola on a silver platter.
Donald Trump will now move to one of his large estates most likely in Florida, there is a chance that he will soon face charges for his tax evasion. According to the BBC (2020), Trump only paid 750 dollars in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017. He also has to pay back 300million dollars in loans by 2024. He avoided paying this when he was the president but now he must be held responsible for all that he has done.
Biden is reversing many laws that Trump had implemented and also creating his own set of rules. The U.S. will never be the same for many people but Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris have promised to fulfil their duty and unify instead of divide.
Benjamin Plapis
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