As of Sept. 1, the 2020 Presidential election is only 63 days away. With that in mind, I decided to watch both the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the Republican National Convention (RNC) so I could see both parties’ efforts to normalize an already unorthodox campaign season. There were highlights and lowlights at both conventions and as I was watching my TV screen, the only thought in my mind was: are these our only choices?
First, the RNC had its fair amount of headliners, despite 50% of the keynote speakers having the last name “Trump.” The main theme they were trying to convey was “law and order,” as noted in President Trump’s RNC acceptance speech. Richard Nixon was the last president who used that as his major focus and I think we all know how that went. Speakers at the RNC eagerly brought up the idea that all of today’s unrest is a representation of “Biden’s America.” They must have forgotten that we are under the Trump administration and will be until Jan. 20, 2021. The only “highlight” (and I use that term loosely) was Kimberly Guilfoyle, an advisor to Donald Trump, channeling her inner Evita to shout the now memorable, “the best is yet to come.” If you are like me, you stared at your screen with complete confusion when she said that. What does that even mean? If we are waiting for the best president then what were these past four years? The convention ended with a large group of maskless Republicans embracing each other after Trump’s remarks about how well he handled the pandemic. That says it all.
As for the Democratic National Convention, there were some moments that had me scratching my head. There was already a stir when the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, announced Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, as his nominee for vice-president, despite the largest anti-cop movement happening in our nation’s history. Something tells me he’s not watching the news. The thing that I found completely off-putting was the fact that the Democrats see themselves as the heroes of the nation, acting as if everything will automatically be “OK” if they win. They see themselves as the perfect solution to today’s issues, despite disagreeing with “Medicare for All” and police reform, like many Americans are asking for.
In the end, the National Conventions only succeeded at proving one thing: neither party is doing a good job. They have placed their own party over their principles and, as usual, Americans are the ones to suffer as a result of their obliviousness. The National Conventions only served as a reminder of how questionable a two-party system is for the future of the United States.
