​During the 1980 presidential campaign, the evil Ronald Reagan asked Americans, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” And based off the 1980 election results, Americans responded with a resounding no, as Reagan would defeat incumbent President Jimmy Carter in a landslide election. Now, 40 years later, ex-president and con man Donald Trump is asking Americans the same question. So, are you better off today than you were in 2020?
 
Though not reflected in polling, by nearly every metric, the country is in a better place today than it was four years ago. In the last four years, America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan has been brought to an end, the American economy has grown, unemployment has been historically low, wages have increased, violent crime is down, $146 billion in student loan relief has been issued, and serious efforts to combat climate change has been implemented.
 
Even with those accomplishments, many voters have said that they have been hurt by Biden’s policies compared to Trumps’. Apparently, these voters have completely memory-holed 2020. Maybe because 2020, Trump’s last year in office, was an awful year! 2020 was a culmination of Trumps’ failed leadership and policies that resulted in a wave of death and economic ruin throughout the country. Trump ignored warnings about COVID and allowed it to wash over the country – killing 400,000 Americans (including my Uncle Anthony) by the time he left office.
 
During COVID, there were food shortages, businesses closed, and no toilet tissue! Schools were shut down leading to a learning gap that is still affecting children today. The U.S had three million less jobs on Trump’s last day than it did on his first day, making Trump the worst jobs president in modern U.S. History. 2020 was easily one of the worst years in U.S. history and the president who mismanaged that moment was Donald Trump. You do not have to like President Joe Biden or his policies, but anyone saying that 2020 was a better year than 2024 is lying to you.

​Despite former President Donald Trump’s ongoing legal woes and his disastrous first term – a large number of the electorate has vowed to support Trump and Republicans (aka authoritarianism) this fall. Many of these voters have stated that they support Trump because of his policies. So, it got me thinking, what exactly are Trump and the Republican Party policies?
 
During his presidency, Trump’s major policy achievement was a tax cut for the rich that added trillions to the National Deficit. In 2020, Republicans did not even bother presenting a party platform – their plan was, and still remains, whatever Trump wants. And Trump wants to be a dictator.
 
One does not have to look far to see what Trump and the Republican plan for the country is.  States under Republican control from Florida to Arizona have implemented strict abortion bans, restricted the teaching of Black History, demonized immigrants, and rolled back LGBTQ+ rights.  If elected, Trump and National Republicans, given the opportunity, would enact a national abortion ban, erect mass deportation camps, focus on “anti-white racism”, replace federal employees with Trump loyalist, use the Justice Department to punish their political enemies, hand the Ukraine over to Russia, withdraw from NATO, and of course,  provide more tax cuts to the rich.
 
As far as addressing any of the challenges that Americans are facing today, the Republicans have no policy solutions. There is no plan to make college more affordable. There is no plan to raise working class wages. There is no plan to address climate change. There is no plan to make childcare or housing more affordable. There is no plan to address the issues at the Southern Border. There is no plan to address gun violence (unless you count putting more guns on the street).
 
Trump and the Republicans want to distract you with DEI, Woke-ism, Critical Race Theory, crime, and other hot button issues in hopes that you never ask what their plan is to fix the actual things that are afflicting Americans. They have no solutions, and in November, it is our responsibility to make sure that they don’t have a job.