Photo Credit: Katherine Krinsky
The upcoming presidential election is on everyone’s minds. The fate of the United States and the next four years rests on the outcomes of November 3, 2020, and the fear surrounding those same results is ever so present.
The two leading candidates and their running mates are President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, and Vice President Joe Biden with his VP nominee Senator Kamala Harris. These options have left many voters unhappy with their choices. Many Democrats were hoping for a nominee other than Biden, perhaps Bernie Sanders or someone else more left-leaning with seemingly simple qualities like zero sexual assault allegations.
But after months of debates, Biden was the front-runner for the Democratic party, and, despite many’s unwillingness to do so, voting for him over Trump is vitally important.
As seen in the 2016 election, when millions of Americans chose not to vote due to dissatisfaction with both Hillary Clinton and Trump, not voting is simply not an option. Yes, voting for someone like Biden, who has numerous shortfalls, is less than ideal. However, another four years with Trump as the nation’s leader will be far, far worse.
We currently have a president who fails to adequately address so many issues plaguing our country: racial injustices, the current COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change, to name a few.
Since the outbreak in March, President Trump has eloquently shown how unfit he is for the position — if he had not proven that already. By failing to consider the lives of the American people and the potential repercussions of barely dealing with the virus, his poor judgement has lost over 200,000 American lives.
Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic is just one of many ways he has corrupted the presidency. Despite this, still not everyone is convinced that Biden should receive their vote.
The former Vice President does not have much going for him, but he is almost angelic when compared to Trump. Aside from having basic human decency and empathy, Biden has actual plans in regards to the coronavirus, healthcare, the climate crisis, etc. He also believes that science is real, a concept which many would consider to be common sense before our current president.
While many Democrats are struggling with the concept of voting for a man they dislike so much, those who recognize that hardship have taken it into account and created the Settle for Biden movement — with the purpose of getting voters to just that: settle.
As the first page of their website says, “Settle for Biden is a grassroots group of former Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders supporters who recognize Joe Biden’s flaws but know that our nation will not survive four more years of Donald Trump.”
Taking the negative aspects in account, this campaign focuses on the comparison between Biden and Trump rather than just Biden’s few redeeming qualities. Realizing that voters are already unenthusiastic about their presidential candidate choices, the organization centers its outreach around the detrimentality of the possibility of another four years under Trump.
Their belief that, “Donald Trump is an existential threat to the future of our people, our nation, and our planet” is supported by our president’s constantly displayed immaturity, irresponsibility, and overall inability to effectively run the U.S.
Voting has never been more necessary. While a vote for Biden is unpleasant and unnerving, choosing to not vote is a vote towards Trump, who, for the sake of our country, cannot be reelected.