Election Day 2020

Election Day 2020

By 王渊源John

Election Day each year in the United States is “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November”. Today is Wednesday as I post this in Beijing, but it’s still Election Day in the US, and we don’t know for sure what the results will be.

Four years ago on Election Day, I drove with my family from Philadelphia(ˌfiləˈdelfēə), PA, to Middletown, CT, where I went to university. The day before, we had visited the site in downtown Philadelphia where Hillary(ˈhilərē) Clinton was to hold her final rally(ˈralē) of the 2016 campaign(kamˈpān).

We arrived in Middletown after dark and checked into our hotel. My wife and our son were tired and quickly fell asleep. I sat on the edge of the hotel bed and watched the election coverage on television with the sound turned down low enough that it didn’t disturb(dəˈstərb) their sleep.

I was shocked as the results came in and it slowly become clear that Donald Trump was going to be the next president. I had known that the race was close, but the polls showed Hillary Clinton ahead, and I had refused to believe that my country would elect someone like Donald Trump.

Who did I think Donald Trump was? Someone who exploited(ikˈsploit) divisions(dəˈviZHən) for his own personal gain. Someone who cared about nothing more than himself. Someone who did not have a clear understanding of national or international governance(ˈɡəvərnəns). Someone to whom the truth didn’t matter. I may not have agreed with Hillary Clinton on every policy matter, but I believed that she cared about every American. I may have disagreed with previous presidents on even more policy matters, but I also believed that they cared for every American.

I didn’t feel that about Donald Trump, and nothing about the past four years has changed my mind. In some ways his presidency(ˈprez(ə)dənsē) hasn’t been as catastrophic(ˌkadəˈsträfik) as I feared; in some ways it has been worse. Running through it all: I do not believe he cares for other people, I do not believe he cares for the truth, and I believe that he stokes(stōks) division among Americans for personal gain.

This year, the polls look better, but I am frightened(ˈfrītnd). I worry that another four years of a Trump presidency will damage my country in ways that may not be repairable(rəˈperəbəl). I worry that he will cause lasting rifts(rift) between countries across the world that will damage the project and ideal of the peaceful development of humanity. Maybe that sounds like hyperbole(hīˈpərbəlē), but it’s the way I see it.

I’ll be glued(ɡlo͞o) to the computer this morning, frightened but hopeful. Frightened that my country will again elect someone that I do not think has our best interests at heart. Hopeful that Joe Biden will be elected to be the next president of the United States. No matter what happens, there is a long road ahead.