By Kayla Webb
The presidential debates between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton discussed important topics that concerned Americans are worried about.
Some of these issues included wealth and prosperity, race relations, national security, and discrimination against women. Prior to watching the debate I had seen several engagements and rallies of Donald Trump and I’ve started to notice a trend that could not be more evident in this debate. Trump does not have any tangible plans, and his points are merely about listing issues and how great of a success he is rather than how he is going to solve the issues of our country. When Trump was asked about his plans on achieving economic prosperity, he failed to answer the question. Trump talked about how businesses are leaving America and going to China and Mexico for cheap labor which has caused many Americans to lose their jobs. He also believes his tax plan which will reduce taxes from 35 percent to 15 percent for the top one percent of earners will remedy this and make business want to come back to using American labor. Reducing taxes even more for big corporations and the rest of the one-percent will result in the middle class having to pay more in taxes. There is also no guarantee that these companies will go back to using American labor.
Hillary Clinton introduced a very good point in response to Donald Trump’s “plan” to create economic prosperity. She talked about the 2008 recession and how tax cuts for big businesses were a major part of the reason for the recession. As Hillary Clinton stated “Trickle down economics does not work.” The wealthy are continuing to get richer and richer while the middle class are becoming poorer. We need to start investing in the middle class instead of the one-percent. Clinton’s plan is to invest in jobs in technology and innovation, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and small businesses. She wants to fix job inequality that has caused women to make less than men. She wants paid family leave, earned sick days, and day care so that families can efficiently balance work and home life. She also wants to raise the national minimum wage. Clinton plans to combat these economic issues by making it necessary for companies to share profits with employees, close corporate loopholes and punish unethical businesses practices. Clinton’s plans on economic prosperity are simply more realistic and thought out than Trump’s plan.
The next section of the debate focused on race relations and what will be their plan on how to best heal racial tension. The killings of unarmed black men by the police has caused many riots, protests and campaigns to bring justice to the families of slain unarmed men and also hold the police accountable. Clinton plans to address this issue by building back trust between Black communities and police officers. She wants to reform the justice system that has caused many African American men to be given harsh prison sentences for nonviolent crimes such as drug trafficking. Clinton also wants retrain police officers and educate them on racial bias. Clinton also plans to reform gun control laws to get guns off the street of Black communities because the leading cause of death for Black men is gun violence. Clinton, in her speech acknowledged many of the issues that has caused racial tension.
Trump, however, said that “law and order” is important for race relations but did not specify what he meant by “law and order” and how it will help racial tension. Trump also agreed with Clinton on some of her points such as gun control but made Black communities out to be in dire need of police presence and protection. He went on to say that he has many properties in Charlotte, North Carolina, Chicago where shootings of unarmed Black men have occurred. Trump also stated that stop and frisk a practice that was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court back in 2013 because it disproportionately targeted African American men should be brought back. Trump went on to state that many of the people in Black and Latino communities feel that politicians make promises to them when it’s time to run for office but fall through on those promises when they get into office. This statement stood out to me in his statement because as an African American that is very true but Trump’s plans are simply not beneficial to the needs and safety of African Americans.
Hillary Clinton had the best plan and talking points. As a woman of color, who is also a college student and a business owner, Clinton’s plans for economic prosperity and race relations made me feel confident that she has an actual and effective plan to implement when she becomes president.
