Short memories are the most serious threat to the American Republic | Opinion

If you’re still undecided in the presidential election, you’re not alone: ​​Up to 13 percent of voters could be in the same boat. according to change the research – there are doubts, or look at a third party, or simply not sold yet.

To avoid getting stuck, try this short exercise. These are three simple steps that can clear up a lot of things.

First, let’s remember how things were at the end of the 2010s. It’s hard because it was 6 or 7 years ago and a pandemic, but go back. Donald Trump was president. He came from a business that looked shiny and successful, but turned out to be mostly made up Hollywood and based on many fraud. Many of his main political allies were actually sketchy con artists who ended up going to jail. As a result, Trump filled his administration unskilled crooks who didn’t know how to run things like he did.

The result was week after week of relentless confusion this has led to the collapse of many functions of the US government that Americans rely on. Just one example: Trump deferred was desperate for help to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, in part because he pushed for the longest reign malfunction Always. And this was only one of his three blackouts.

Much has gone wrong during the Trump administration. The crime was peakincluding the biggest jump in the murder rate ever. Jobs became outsourced abroad even faster than during Obama’s presidency. Cost rose due to Trump’s trade war with China. The national debt was exploding. And everything people hate about politics has gone on steroids: after Trump abused his power, work on something productive outside of Washington Earth to the stop. Trump is known to have a glass jaw and thin skin, so he attacks everyone. He spent most of his sentence in a rage tweet instead of doing anything for the people who elected him. This is why historians classify he was the worst president ever, and the Americans gave him one of the lowest approval ratings Always.

Second, move forward a little to what you experienced four years ago. It was the end of Trump’s term. Covid was rampant. The number of American deaths has already reached almost 200,000. Eleven million were left without work. Crushing stress for parents trying to manage their children’s ‘distance school’. Couldn’t get toilet paper. It’s hard to get food. It was awkward and inconvenient if you were masking and social distancing, but a little unsettling if you were in a place that didn’t have those things (who the hell would cough on you anyway?). grinding Increase. Claustrophobia of loneliness. The boredom of exhausting your drinking watch list. What about dating? Gym? Is your grandmother immunocompromised?

Try to remember why things got so bad. Trump actually had famous how much of a threat Covid poses. But he ignored this and lied about this. He already had dismantled government apparatus to combat pandemics, and then he threw it away action plan to combat new diseases. So we missed the window to limit the damage. Once upon a time, our best and only weapon against a pandemic was smart and cohesive public health strategies, he said. embarrassed, blown up, politicizedindeed stopped all measures that could help. Its own Lead Covid Coordinator said that Trump himself caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans (he, of course, caused many more people die V republican area). His incompetence and destructive decisions did the economic and social pain of the pandemic is much worse.

Fast forward one last step. Remind yourself what happened in our economy as the pandemic waxed and waned (you can read it for yourself in the Congressional Record). readings Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. Covid has forced shops, schools, restaurants and factories to close, people to stop driving, and food supplies to stop. So, demand dropped for everything.

Once Joe Biden became president, he executed the most successful American vaccination program in history. This allowed us to get things running at full capacity again (under Biden, for example, we went from having less than half of our schools open to almost all of them). So, the demand has increased dramatically. However, the supply of most of our goods and services has been severely disrupted. More demand and less supply meant prices began to rise. Then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine limited energy supplies and caused prices to rise further.

So what can we take away from this mental refresher? The most important point – and if you remember one thing, please remember this – is that Donald Trump had more to do with the increase in costs than anyone else: the reason prices have gone up so much is due to Covid and economic consequences of Covid. were much more serious because of Trump.

Trump is trying to shift the blame. He argues that it is government spending under Biden that has worsened inflation. This is nonsense. Trump actually spent way more than Biden, both on Covid and overall. And if it was Biden’s spending here in the United States, then why has inflation soared everywhere? world? And why did the US do it? better than any other developed economy in reducing inflation? And while we’re on the subject, why is Trump now pushing a plan that will reduce inflation? fly to the skies again? Trump is an arsonist trying to blame the fire department.

With Trump there are a lot of similar things, a lot of hopes that we will forget important things. Let’s take an issue that voters are undecided about. say makes them doubt the choice of vice president Kamala Harris: Concerns about the Biden administration’s approach to the Gaza war. Remember that Trump was one of Israel’s prime ministers. Benjamin NetanyahuTrump’s closest friends gave him everything he wanted, which is partly why former Trump officials believe that “compared to the Biden administration, a second Trump administration would likely be more lenient toward the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and less willing to use U.S. leverage to shape Israeli behavior.” Trump hopes we’ll forget about it.

If you are undecided, no one should tell you how to vote. But before you do, just try to remember exactly what happened before. And from that, think about what might happen in the future.