I support Joe Biden because I support a man with integrity, with moral standards, with intelligence, with family values, with ethics, with honesty, with honor, with empathy towards his fellow man, with morality to not lie for his personal benefit, with transparency, and with a plan for a safer country. 

President Donald Trump has set himself apart. According to The Washington Post, FactCheck.org, The Guardian, The Seattle Times, Politifact, The Conversation, and other publications, Trump has made approximately 25,000 false statements during his time in office, averaging 50 misclaims a day. I believe Trump has been anything but a leading figure in this nation. He is the reason for the controversy and the division we are currently experiencing as a country. Hence, I support Biden, a man who is the antithesis of Trump. 

There are many in which Trump’s ignorance prevails. The following are just a few examples of Trump’s ineptness in simple history and geography, perhaps due to his lack of reading as he so strongly claims, or the reality that he is not a “​stable genius.”​ During a ​conversation with Prime Minister Modi of India, whereby the prime minister was speaking of the threat China posed to his country, Trump said,“It’s not like you’ve got China on your border,” which India does in fact border. Or when Trump asserted that Andrew ​Jackson might have been able to prevent the Civil War​ by making a “deal” with the South, yet Andrew Jackson died 20 years prior to the Civil War. Hence, I support Biden, a man with intelligence and knowledge of our nation’s history.

As a historic effort to remediate some of Trump’s ignorance, the Pentagon held a meeting with the president on July 20, 2017. Trump’s highest staff officials were present, including the Joint Chiefs of staff and heads of all branches of the armed services. A meeting to inform Trump regarding America’s interests abroad consisted of presentations, with charts, graphs and speeches by Tillerson, Mattis and others. Trump was said to be restless and kept interrupting. Eventually he insisted that the U.S. should be making a profit from all its troops stationed around the globe. In a rage, he told the military heads “you’re all losers… You don’t know how to win any more,” and stated “I wouldn’t go to war with you people! You’re a bunch of dopes and babies!” Hence, I support Biden, a man who ensures a safe future for the country.

Trump claims that “U.S. is experiencing the best economy ever.” However, according to Forbes, President Trump’s best year of job growth was in 2018 with 2.314 million, falling short of any of President Obama’s last three years in office (2.006 million in 2014, 2.729 million in 2015, and 2.318 million in 2016.) On average, Biden and Obama created ​43,000 more jobs​ per month than Trump over a three-year period.

Trump claims to be “a common man”, a narrative publicized by right wing commentators to normalize Trump’s racism. After Trump’s negative comments about Haiti and Africa, Fox commentator Tucker Carlson defended Trump, stating that  “president Trump said something that almost every single person in America actually agrees with.” Although not true, Carlson’s argument represents a larger trend: the normalization of Trump’s racism by assuming his widespread support from the common man.

Despite Trump’s claims to represent “the common man,” in reality, Trump was born with a silver spoon. Joe Biden is the common man in this race and understands the problems faced by ordinary Americans, having grown up in a traditional, middle-class family and with a severe handicap. Biden, having lost his wife, daughter, and son, understands resilience and fortitude during hard times; and throughout all of these experiences, he maintained his seat in the Senate. Biden ​rode the Amtrak train every day for 36 years​ as he commuted to D.C., alongside the common working man, again demonstrating his integrity as a person and rejecting the need to constantly embellish his image and ego.  

Hundreds of Trump’s staff members and co-workers have publicized their fear if Trump were to win the election, and since 2016, ​more than 1,200 ​books have been written about him, compared to around 500 books on President Barack Obama, according to NPD BookScan. Many of these authors are Trump’s former co workers who are now speaking about his lack of morality and work ethic. Consider, too, that during the eight years Biden served with Obama, there was not a single official in their administration indicted for criminal activity. The list of officials associated with Trump who have been indicted and convicted is record-breaking, most of them having been Republican officials hired by Trump himself.  

On Wednesday, June 17, Trump claimed that the pandemic was “fading away.” Trump made this claim at his rally in Tulsa, when the country was seeing at least 20,000 new daily cases. In contrast, Biden supports science: Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate in its 175-year history, but this year they support Biden because of his adherences to statistics, and his fact-based plan to protect our health, economy, and environment. Scientific American states that Trump’s approach to the pandemic and the lack of encouragement to wear masks, follow CDC guidelines, and trust scientific statistics is why they want him out. Biden has a list of green accomplishments that set him apart from our current administration. He co-sponsored proposed legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions in 2007, he called for American participation in UN climate negotiations in 2005, he introduced one of the Senate’s first climate change bills in 1986 leading to the creation of a task force on global warming, and he oversaw disbursement of $90 billion for clean energy as part of the 2009 Recovery Act which increased solar power 20x between the years 2008 and 2016. Hence, I support Biden, a man who does not lie for his personal benefit.

Visit Trump’s campaign website. You will see no tab for specific plans. But visit his Twitter page, and find a barrage of criticisms, foul and baseless statements, childish and bullying posts, and hurtful racist language. Is a president not supposed to have decorum and strive for bipartisanship through cooperation? Biden has lists of long analysis on his plans, ranging from women’s rights to COVID-19 defence. Biden has a plan for ending gun violence, fighting climate change, strengthening education, fixing our foreign policy, closing the gender gap, and more. Therefore, I support Biden, a man with integrity, and the better candidate in the election.