Donald Trump is a politician who gets plenty of criticism, and rightfully so. After all, he has made plenty of bigoted comments and has already enacted some very controversial laws, such as his reinstatement of the ‘Global gag rule’ and most recently the ‘travel ban’ which restricts nationals of Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iran, Somalia and Sudan from entering the US for 90 days.
The worst part is that he’s only been president for just over a month. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning.
However, one thing that has bothered me for a while is the fact that many have failed to acknowledge the fact that even Barack Obama was far from a perfect president. Many atrocities were committed under the Obama Administration which people are either unaware of or choose to ignore. Despite Obama’s drone strikes, his deportation rates and his role in destabilizing the Middle East, I do not recall a single large-scale protest when these things happened. American Imperialism in the Middle East is a very complicated problem which has been happening for quite a while, but in my eyes, Obama’s actions that I mentioned before cannot be justified. Of course, not everything was in his control, but I am simply stating the fact that he was the man in charge when these things happened. Whether he should be held accountable for it all is yet another complicated debate.
Unbeknownst to many, Obama was at war for longer than every other US president in history. He also deported 2.5 MILLION undocumented immigrants during his presidency. The sad truth is that he also dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016 alone. I am in no way trying to imply that he is as bad as Trump, it is far too early to make a judgment like that. Of course, there are reasons for Barack Obama being remembered as a good president, (for instance, his health care reforms).
I have also noticed this double standard when it comes to our generation’s view of other liberal politicians such as Justin Trudeau. Rarely do I see people mention the fact that he criticized pro-Palestine activists and supported the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline as well as his support for the Saudi Arabian government despite their numerous human rights abuses.
My point is that we cannot erase the sins of any politician simply because of the party they represent or the fact that they seem to have nice personalities. No politician is a saint and seeing as it is such an important topic, we cannot allow ourselves to have double standards when discussing these issues. It is absolutely crucial for us to be open-minded and remain as politically aware as possible.
