Disclaimer: All views expressed in this article reflect the opinion of the individual writer, not the Lamar Life staff as a whole.

The presidential election is rapidly approaching and while I am not able to vote, I have been closely following the race while in quarantine. After months of news, debates and polls, I strongly believe that Joe Biden would be a better president than Donald Trump. 

While there are many points that one could make to support my stance, I have compiled it down to three main reasons. 

Trump’s mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the greatest damage to the economy since the Great Depression. Contrary to what Trump propagates, a full economic recovery will depend upon bringing the pandemic under control. Instead of listening to expert scientists, Trump spreads lies such as telling us to ingest bleach as a remedy for COVID-19. He claims that the pandemic will soon end but we are now seeing the highest levels of COVID-19 infections ever. He actively discourages people from wearing masks despite multiple studies showing that this is a highly effective method of slowing the spread of coronavirus. If everyone would wear masks, businesses could sooner reopen and regain the millions of jobs that have been lost because of the pandemic.

Furthermore, a common misperception is that Trump’s business experience indicates an aptitude in leading the country. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Trump’s “business experience” is simply experience in failure. His hotels and casino businesses have declared bankruptcy no less than six times, despite receiving millions in untaxed gifts from his father. This track record of failure indicates that he is incapable of leading a company, let alone the United States government.  

Most importantly is Trump’s total lack of leadership. A good leader takes responsibility for his or her actions. For example, our principal Rita Graves is a highly respected leader because she holds herself accountable for her actions. When something goes wrong, she does not blame the assistant principals or other staff. If students are not testing well, she does not accuse the students of not studying hard enough but asks herself what she can do to help. We would expect no less from the leader of our school. We celebrate our leaders who take ownership for errors and work toward a solution. Trump, on the other hand, has been deflecting blame for his entire presidency, finding new people, or even countries, to inculpate every time he comes under fire. 

I understand that Biden has his flaws as well but based on what I have seen, read and heard, I confidently believe that Trump is, under no circumstances, fit to be a leader, let alone the President of the United States.