Four More Years?

Four More Years? By: Madison Hinz |VP of College Republicans |Guest Columnist Opinion

I have supported Donald Trump since 2015, when the brash, New York business tycoon rode down the escalator of the famous Trump Tower to announce his candidacy in the upcoming election. Despite him needing to fi nd a better spa for his spray tan, I was eager to Make America Great Again.

Many close friends and family question my support for Trump, but, rather than question me about his policies, they attack the President with ignorant and baseless claims of bigotry and racism.

Frankly, the main argument I receive is, “Orange Man bad.” He’s a bigot, he’s racist, homophobic, etc.

Allow me to respond.

In the 1990s, when Donald Trump bought Mar-a-Lago, his famous West Palm Beach golf club, Trump sued the city to allow African Americans, Jews, and openly gay couples to become members, claiming “the town commission sought to protect the discriminatory policies of many of the town’s other private social clubs.” Mar-A-Lago was the fi rst club in West Palm Beach to allow blacks and gay couples to golf there, and one of the only ones to allow Jews. ‘Orange Man’ is the fi rst sitting president to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem. He has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and he moved the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. Most recently, the President also signed the Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Bahrain, a move which has prompted several other nations to consider peace in the region. Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation stated in a 2017 op-ed published in the Chicago Tribune, “the sad paradox of Obama’s presidency is that a president who was going to lift up Black America economically didn’t deliver.” Instead, in 2018, Trump signed the First Step Act—an attempt to undo the 1994 Crime Bill that Joe Biden so fervently supported—which helps previously incarcerated individuals reenter society and reforms the federal prison system. ‘Orange Man’ is also the only U.S. President to enter offi ce on a pro-gay marriage platform--Barack Obama fl ip-fl opped on the issue for over 10 years before taking offi ce. In 2020, Donald Trump appointed Richard Grenell to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence, making him the fi rst openly gay man to serve in any president’s Cabinet. Grenell previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 2018-19; together, they have vowed to work on decriminalizing homosexuality around the world. Trump signed an executive order in August 2020 designating $35 million to combat human traffi cking in the United States; according to an article published in the Journal of Trauma Practice, approximately one-third of all human traffi cking in the United States comes from Latin America, and most of this occurs at our southern border. Whatever you make the man out to be in your imagination, the facts prove that his administration and policies are fair, inclusive, and effective.

In 2009, the country faced a far less fatal virus than COVID-19. According to Fox News, the Obama administration asked states to stop testing people for swine fl u in mid-2009, not even halfway through the WHO-defi ned “pandemic.” Currently, COVID-19 has infected almost 8 million Americans and killed over 200,000 however, H1N1 infected almost 61 million Americans and killed more than 12,000 —about 7.5 times the infection rate of COVID, but only 6 percent of the deaths.*

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, said at the time that their successful H1N1 response “just had to do with luck.” As Vice President Mike Pence pointed out last week, “if the swine fl u had been as lethal as the coronavirus . . . we would have lost 2 million American lives.” Yeah, I’d say they got

lucky. Even health experts, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, have called Trump’s response to coronavirus “impressive,” saying about his White House Task Force in March, “I can’t imagine . . . that anybody could be doing more”--a quote that Fauci says has since been taken out of context. Joe Biden called Trump’s decisions “hysterical xenophobia” and “fear-mongering.” Respectfully, Mr. Vice President, you are in no position to judge the President’s handling of this pandemic.

I support Donald Trump because he’s an American fi ghting for the American people. He doesn’t bow to the will of politicians and lobbyists, he doesn’t compromise in his beliefs or actions, and he doesn’t make empty promises, like so many lifelong politicians.

So many people only pay attention to what President Trump says and how he says it, rather than what he does. The same goes for Joe Biden.

Start focusing on what’s actually being done rather than what the media and social media tell you is being done. People tell me, “Orange Man bad.” I say, “Orange Man good.”