Commonly debated throughout election cycles is whether or not the morals and ethics of a politician affect their ability to do their job. Here’s the thing: they do.
Many times voters can distinguish a person’s actions and beliefs in their personal lives from their actions and beliefs within politics. However, it seems people do not see how these are so intertwined.
While a candidate does not have to be perfect, if they are racist and sexist in their private lives, they will be racist and sexist in their political careers.
In 2016, President Trump had many scandals, saying things that were demeaning to certain groups of people. His “locker room talk” — which was offensive, demeaning, and essentially a presidential candidate talking about sexually harassing women — was extremely misogynistic. Yet “Women for Trump” excuses his actions by saying “he‘s not working off a teleprompter or a script fine-tuned by a consultant and focus groups.” In another interpretation, they think it is ok that he is misogynistic because he’s being real and open about it.
There are plenty of people who are not misogynists and don’t even need a teleprompter to remind them.
Another argument excusing Trump’s actions is “he walks the walk.” While he “walked the walk,” here are some things Trump did for women. The president chose a Vice President who will not meet with women without his wife, which is a clear violation of national security. He is consistently sexist which sets the example for American children that it is okay for them to be as well.
The president retracted the Obama era Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order, showing Trump has made it a priority to increase the wage gap. In Trump’s administration, there are three men to each female worker, an appalling ratio which discourages young girls aspiring to work in politics. In his first budget plan as president, Trump’s budget cuts included cutting the funding for the National Domestic Abuse Hotline.
President Trump has not “walked the walk” for women and most likely will never. Unfortunately, though, women are not the only group being demeaned by the president. While going through the president’s actions since 2017, if he did not marginalize a specific group, he hired someone who has. However, he hasn’t demeaned one group: white male billionaires.
His border policies are based on racism rather than factual evidence. The immigration system is full of problems. However, rather than increasing its budget, creating new jobs through it, and utilizing the strength in difference, Trump put down differences.
Trump decided to block all those who share a difference. Not only a difference in race, but also religion, the president continues to discriminate against religions that are not predominantly white. The president’s Twitter history includes him retweeting various articles from Breitbart, a far-right “news” source which has called the Muslim people, “rapefugees.”
The economy has been a saving grace for the president, having been fairly stable before COVID-19, many voters who vote based on money were happy. However if one is to vote based on taxes or money, their hard-earned money is not going where they think.
The American taxpayers, for example, pay $3.4 million every time Trump decides to go to Mar-a-Lago, as of Feb. 14 of 2020, during his presidency, he has been 29 times. If money is one’s main issue, Trump is wasting it. However, Trump did save some taxpayer money by withholding $400 million in military aid.
A book could be written about how Trump has marginalized the various groups in which politics affects. As Trump is disappointing, lacking morals and wasting taxpayer dollars is a bipartisan effort.
With a majority Republican Senate, it was well known the chances of removing the president from office were low. However, the Democrats still managed to spend $40 million of taxpayer dollars trying to. At least impeachment is a political matter, not a beach vacation.
Unfortunately in the next election, morals lack on both sides, both former Vice President Joe Biden and President Trump have sexual misconduct claims and sketchy relations with Russia.
Regardless of political affiliation, morals and ethics need to be brought into politics. America needs and deserves politicians who can represent all without prejudice. There needs to be an ethical change and it is long overdue.
