By Tasnim Oyshi
Correspondent
Nov. 6th, 2024 marks the date that Donald Trump was declared the winner of the latest presidential election. This was Trump’s third time running for president and his second time winning. In both of the elections he found success, Trump’s opponents were women.
Within the next three months, he will embark on his journey as the 47th president of the U.S.
For many, it is a peculiar and concerning fact that Trump has managed to beat two perfectly qualified female candidates despite his lack of political experience and the multiple felonies he has been charged with.
In May of this year, Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, according to NPR. All jurors on his case agreed that he used false business records to hide his $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who claimed she had an affair with him in 2006. This makes him the first U.S. president, sitting or former, to be convicted of criminal charges.
This was only Trump’s most recent criminal case. So far, Trump has been impeached twice and indicted four times, including for his hush money trial. His other indictments involved accusations of keeping and attempting to hide classified documents, interfering with 2020’s peaceful transition of power through the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and trying to stop proper certification of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, according to CBS News.
Trump has even promised to pardon those involved in the Jan. 6 attack despite his indictment, according to BBC. In comparison, neither Kamala Harris nor Hillary Clinton have been indicted even once despite accusations on social media in 2016 by a Kentucky republican that Clinton deserved to be for allegedly mishandling classified information as Secretary of State, according to USA Today.
The various charges against Trump should be enough to prove that he is less than qualified to run a country. If they aren’t, his lack of political experience should have put him at a disadvantage against both Clinton and Harris.
Prior to the 2016 election, Trump had been a businessman through his control of The Trump Organization and a celebrity who owned the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants and hosted the reality show “The Apprentice,” according to BBC.
While he had shown interest in politics throughout the years by joining the Reform Party in 1999, and even considering going against Barack Obama in the 2012 election, his first term as president was the only experience he has had in the political sphere, according to the Miller Center. In fact, Trump is the only former president to not have held seats in any political offices or been an army general.
Trump’s first presidential opponent, on the other hand, had even more experience than Obama, according to Vox. In addition to being a former first lady that had knowledge of the White House, Clinton was a secretary of state for four years, a junior senator from New York for eight years, and one of the few Cabinet members with considerable awareness of foreign policy in the postwar era.
In Harris’ case, she has been the attorney general and senator for California, as well as been a part of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. Both of these women have spent more time in the American political system than Trump has and still lost to him.
With their level of competence, it came as a surprise each time Trump won against them considering the amount of traits that add to his incapability to be president, including his age. Currently, Donald Trump is 78 years old. When Biden took office as president four years ago, he was also 78.
Since then, Biden has faced backlash and has been perceived as an unqualified fit for president due to his age. His endorsement for the 60-year-old Harris was celebrated by many and she has released her medical records since then. In August, Trump had promised to do the same, but still has not despite being the age that Biden was once criticized for, according to Time.
The disadvantages that Trump has as a presidential candidate are significant and yet, he has been selected to serve as America’s 47th president. His female opponents have proven their worth as presidential candidates through years of experience and lack of criminal activity. Even compared to Biden, Harris has the qualities of a better president. Trump’s only loss to a man begs the question: Will America ever be ready for a female president, no matter how qualified she is?
