There might be one thing people can agree on about the election: regardless of the results, history was to be made. Either the first black woman would become leader of the United States, or the first ever convicted felon in the Oval Office would deliver an astonishing comeback. Now, at the end of the 2024 campaign, uncertainty hangs over the nation as America returns to the Trump administration, and many still wonder if Donald Trump’s “concept of a plan” will be the answer Americans have been looking for.
Donald Trump’s past administration, debate performances, and rally promises will dictate his ability to meet the following criteria: how well he can unify the nation, his ability to take action, and how well he fares with members of the Loyola community. The political spectrum is more divided than ever. Across the nation, a record high 28% of Americans dislike the state of the Republican and Democratic parties, displaying the need for a candidate to bridge the divide. Donald Trump is far from that ideal. He has rarely shown any attempt at bipartisan efforts, claiming left-leaning news outlets should not have jobs and that people should receive severe punishment for having abortions. These claims are aimed not at unification but at bullying the opposition into submission. In short, most Americans do not want to live in an authoritarian society.
Looking back on Trump’s first campaign, he promised to fix the border crisis. This led to more traction to Trump’s campaign due to his infamous “Build the Wall” movement. However, in 2024, Trump seems to still be laser-focused on fixing the border, forgetting that he had four years of presidency to implement legislation that could help the situation. Theology teacher Matthew Fisher states, “Our Catholic tradition says to welcome the stranger, not separate them from family and incarcerate them.” The fact is that Americans want to see a president who can take action on issues that help, not hurt people.
On the other hand, Harrison Checketts ’27 says, “I think Trump will be a good president because he will lower taxes.” While many right-leaning supporters hold this view, this claim is a misconception, as 83% of Donald Trump’s tax cuts benefited only the top 1%. In other words, saying that everything was so cheap under Trump compared to the Biden-Harris administration ignores the fact that there was global inflation after COVID-19, and Trump simply maintained Obama’s economy while still adding $7.8 trillion to the national deficit.
Trump failed to handle the border crisis and fix the economy during his first presidency, as well as not solving other promises made in his 2016 campaign. To put it simply, Trump is not the person to lead America now or maybe ever.
