America Needs More Than Trump’s Defeat to Heal


I was wrong.


Like many, I falsely believed that former Vice President Joe Biden defeating President Donald Trump in 2020 would cure all of the nation’s ills like the racial divisiveness that currently plagues us.


And although former Vice President Biden has won the election, whether that is official before this article goes live or President Trump contests the vote, this election has shown that Trump was not the nation’s only problem.


Trump’s presidency truly brought out the ugliness in this country.


But the ugliness already existed.


The current president truly has shown why this country is not as great as it thinks it is.


Trump did not create the problem.


His presidency just put a spotlight on some serious problems.


When Trump entered the White House in January 2017, he simply turned on all of the lights and exposed all of the roaches.


For a brief second in 2008 and 2009, former President Barack Obama’s historic election dimmed the light on those hidden roaches and made America falsely believe that it truly had achieved post-racial status.


I, like many, thought America would get back to normal once Biden got elected as the 46th President of the United States.


Suffice it to say, America during the Trump administration is really the normal America.


Everything we believed, because America hated to talk about its faults like racism, sexism and other forms of bigotry, was just a mirage or a façade.


And although I am no fan of Trump, I am glad that his presidency slapped this country back into reality.


One of my many pastor friends said in 2016 that God told him, during prayer, that Trump would win the White House four years ago over former Secretary Hillary Clinton.


And even throughout this election, I have heard many of my pastor friends and family members pray for God’s will when it came to the 2020 election.


They prayed that God would put whomever He saw fit to lead this country into the Oval Office, Trump or Biden.


As a supporter of Biden, I initially could not understand how God would believe that Trump could be the right person for the job at this current time, or even back in 2016.


However, after such a close election in 2020, and the fact that the blue wave did not come for Democrats in the Senate and House, I understand why God chose Trump in 2016.


Sometimes, God will take a person through Hell just to get them to Heaven.


God, sometimes, exposes our faults and flaws in order for Him, and us, to correct them.


But, we have to see and acknowledge our faults before we can begin to correct those faults.


Trump showed us just who we are as a nation.


And unfortunately, America has not changed much since the days of the Civil Rights Movement.


When I watched some of Trump’s rallies, I could not help but compare them to former Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace shouting, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” to a stadium full of cheering supporters during his 1963 inauguration speech.


When I watched the Trump caravan, or Trump train, try to run a Biden campaign bus off the road in Texas last weekend, I could not help but think of the brutality that the Freedom Riders faced when they attempted to integrate interstate travel in the 1960s.


When I would hear Trump speak about “law and order,” I could not help but to think of how that was code word for former President Richard Nixon as he tried to squash Black militancy in 1968.


When I see people ignoring Trump’s racism and voting for him because the economy is halfway decent, it shows people that so much progress is needed when it comes to racism.


Unfortunately, the Trump presidency and the Black Lives Matter movement has shown a lot of Black people which one of their White “friends” harbored racist feelings.


When I see Trump try to stop the count in states that he is losing momentum in, and asking for the count to continue in states in which he does have momentum, it makes me realize how fragile he has made our democracy.


People risk their lives to come to America because of the personal freedom that a true democracy offers them.


Americans have avoided an authoritarian government because of the checks and balances that exist in this country via the three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial).


Furthermore, Americans have avoided a dictatorship because the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, which I call the fourth branch of government because true journalists hold politicians like Trump accountable.


America has gone to war to free other countries from authoritarian rule.


Therefore, it is disheartening to see so many so-called patriots doing everything in their power to change our country from a democracy to a dictatorship.


But no matter what politician sits in the Oval Office, Jesus Christ sits on the throne.


He sits high and looks low.


And, He knew that America needed the four year wakeup call known un-affectionately as the Trump presidency.


He also knows that America needs healing right now.


And there is no better leader out there than Biden to heal this nation and bring back decency to the White House.


Trump’s childish charade regarding the vote count, and the upheaval that it has caused, will soon pass.


When it does, America can finally get back to reconciliation and unity.


But unfortunately, it will take more than just Biden to mend those political war wounds.


It will take all of us collectively.

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