Four years ago, America elected the most unqualified person to ever run the country: Donald Trump. Now, on Nov. 3, we have a chance to replace him with a man who has spent more than 36 years in the Senate and eight years as a Vice President.

Donald Trump, the incumbent Republican President, inherited an economy that was doing well, and one that had managed to add jobs for 76 months before him coming into office. He took credit for the resulting boom and proceeded to give numerous benefits to the rich in the form of tax cuts while failing to help middle and working-class Americans. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, his poor planning caused the loss of 14.7% of American jobs in 2 months, and he has denied on numerous occasions that there is a problem. He also claims that he has created thousands of jobs for Americans, when in fact the number of jobs has decreased by about 1.3% and the unemployment rate has gone up 7.9%. 

But Joe Biden, the Democratic Presidential nominee, has a plan to fix the economy. He will extend the COVID-19 crisis unemployment insurance for those out of work, give aid to the state, local, and tribal governments so essential workers do not get laid off, and offer a comeback package to Main Street business. This means that under Biden, Main Street businesses, also known as small businesses, would have multiple policies set into place that would help them build back better and stronger through access to capital and targeted resources for woman-, veteran-, and minority-owned businesses. 

He will also help to mobilize American manufacturing while protecting our climate.  Biden plans to invest in clean energy so America is carbon-neutral and has a 100% clean energy economy by 2050. He also believes that one of the core purposes of an economic agenda is to end systemic racism in America. He will pursue an agenda that will help to close the racial wealth gap, invest in Latino, Black, and Native American communities, and so much more. Biden will build back a stronger economy and truly help those who need it, instead of only helping billionaires as Trump has.

And it’s not just the economy that’s failing. Trump’s COVID-19 response has been almost nonexistent. He could have been able to control the pandemic like Taiwan, New Zealand, Iceland, and the UAE did if he didn’t get rid of the pandemic playbook that the Obama-Biden administration left him with. 

When COVID-19 came to the US, Trump claimed that the virus would go “away in April with the heat – as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April.” That was in February. As the virus progressed and the situation worsened in America, by April we were averaging around 21,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, while Trump continued to claim it was going to go away. He has repeatedly contradicted the public health experts, such as infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and his own CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield. Trump has even gone as far as suggesting that people should inject bleach and disinfectant into their bodies to help combat the virus, which was a ludicrous suggestion that put the lives of many in danger.

Biden and running mate Kamala Harris have a plan to stop the spread of COVID-19. Biden and Harris plan on fixing the problems with Personal Protection Equipment, PPE. This means that he will focus on making sure that the US has enough PPE for our frontline workers and healthcare workers in the future and ensure that we have the manufacturing capability on PPE so we don’t have to depend on other countries during a crisis.

The plan also includes fixing testing and contact tracing problems, having evidence and science-based national guidance, having an equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments, and helping protect the elderly and high-risk citizens.

While Trump tries to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which covers over 20 million Americans, and replace it with his nonexistent health care plan, Biden will expand and protect the ACA by adding a new public health care option onto the existing plan, making our healthcare system less complex to navigate, and cutting healthcare costs. 

Vincent Hutchings told MarketPlace, that “When it comes to Biden,… his ideas are more far-reaching.” Despite being a moderate Democrat, Biden’s plan goes further than most Democratic nominees on issues such as health care options, education, and housing inequity. While Biden has detailed plans and policies, Trump’s policies are very vague and he seems to be running a very nontraditional re-election campaign since he didn’t draw up any plans before being nominated during the Republican National Convention earlier this year.   

Beyond his superior policy agenda, Biden is clearly the more ethical candidate. Trump disrespected our military by calling them “losers” and “suckers” in a private conversation. Take his comments about John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Insulting the people who gave their lives to serve and protect our country is downright wrong, plain and simple. 

Biden understands and respects what an honor it is to serve in the military. He has two sons, Beau (who sadly passed away from a brain tumor in 2015) and Hunter. Both sons served in the Navy, and Beau went to war in Iraq. Biden also has a plan to help military families by paying service members a competitive wage, prioritizing military children, and providing resources to military survivors, caregivers, and spouses.