4 years ago Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. After a quite insane general election, what came after was 4 years of complete chaos. As a millennial who lived through the 2008 financial crisis, the economy was finally improving in the mid 2010s.
The years were filled with contention. On the first day of Donald Trump’s election my friends reported being attacked in public with racist attacks and being told to “go back” to where they came from despite being Americans.
It was a preview of what was going to come. We saw white supremacists organized and marching in Charlottesville and in other cities in what eventually led to this summer filled protests over the death of George Floyd and police brutality. Trump refused to condemn these vile people. Never in my life as a Puerto Rican have I faced discrimination until Donald Trump became President. Suddenly simply wearing the Puerto Rican flag was met with sneers and looks and rude comments about how I’m supposedly not American.
Hurricane Maria and Irma came and killed thousands in Puerto Rico. Donald Trump and corrupt conservatives in Puerto Rico colluded to declare the disaster a success story (I will never forget the paper towels), but the people who live in Puerto Rico know that their people were abandoned and left to die by the most powerful country on earth. Murals around the island show the deep pain the island was left with as they saw their own die without help. George Bush did more for Haiti than the United States did for a dying Puerto Rico.
Hundreds if not thousands of little children have been separated from their parents in immigration camps and the number of scandals including the sterilization of women are massive human rights violations. Many people were brutally sent to their death despite begging and pleading to be saved. What happened to America saying immigrants are our neighbors? All America was founded by immigrants. It is the one thing that makes us unique.
Finally as we entered the final chapter, Coronavirus came to the United States. The first major pandemic to plague this nation since the 1918 Flu Pandemic. Over 235,000 Americans are now dead from COVID-19 and at least 9 million Americans have been infected with the virus. The White House knew it was coming, but chose not to tell the public to avoid “alarm”. They did warn their donors to brace for impact though.
As a food writer, I have been forced from the thing I love which is dining at restaurants and forced to choose between my health and my family’s health. Thousands of people have lost their businesses and millions have been laid off. Over 20 million Americans are unemployed that we know of. Americans are begging for food in massive lines.
At least in 2008 I could go get a burger inside a restaurant while the economy was imploding without feeling like I was going to become sick.
We are now at 100,000+ cases of Coronavirus occurring with no end in sight. Millions are being evicted. Republicans refused to pass stimulus aid to help the economy, but made time to add Justice Barrett to the Supreme Court. This isn’t sustainable. We cannot continue like this.
Joe Biden is not a perfect man. I disagree with him on a number of issues like immigration and fracking, but here is what I do know. I know Joe Biden will listen to Dr. Fauci. He will listen to our healthcare experts and do what he has to do to restore the health of our country that has been so horribly disrupted by COVID-19.
He will pass stimulus aid and help our ailing economy and not just help the rich who have escaped the pandemic economy unscathed. We face numerous challenges including massive death of Americans and Joe Biden is the only candidate who is equipped for this job. He has done it before.
The Obama Administration left a pandemic team behind in 2016 that Trump dutifully disbanded in 2018. This entire pandemic was completely avoidable. We need to bring the pandemic under control or our economy will not recover or grow. We need leadership back in our government. We need to listen to our scientists again.
I am tired of worrying if my family is going to die from a plague that the White House recklessly has allowed to swallow our nation for their own greed. I am tired of worrying for my own health.
The virus is not a hoax. The doctors are not profiting off death. This is not the flu. We are dying.
That is why #ImVotingFor Joe Biden and I encourage you to do the same.
Carlos Eats 