What a world we live in.

Ever since the end of 2015, the presidential election has dominated the U.S. headlines. It is what some (myself included) consider one of the most interesting elections in U.S. history. It has certainly lived up to the hype. Now, nearing the end of the 2016 election, there are two remaining major party candidates: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Before we begin, I want to get something off my conscience – in general, I try to be nonpartisan on most political issues, including the election. However, this year as we all know, is an exception in so many ways. Just looking at the approval rate of both candidates (below 50% for both) gives you an idea of how absurd the 2016 presidential election is. I definitely support Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. I think that just a quick look at the candidates justifies my position on this issue.

Emerging triumphant from a pool of seventeen candidates is Republican Donald J. Trump. A man of a lot more than a few words, Mr. Trump claims to have given up a flourishing business and a rich life full of grabbing women by the p**** to “make America great again.”

On the other side of the political spectrum (a whole world away, it seems), Democrat Hillary Clinton won the nomination over Bernie Sanders in a race much closer than it should have been. Clinton, who has come under fire time and time again for not releasing the emails on her private server, remained strong and kept her head in the game. Even now, she is incessantly moving towards her goal of becoming the first female president of the United States.

We’ve all seen and heard the things Donald Trump has said and done–the most recent being his lewd statements about women in an interview with Billy Bush, and that’s just the latest quote–if I had a penny for every time Donald Trump said something offensive, or rude, I would probably have a small loan of a million dollars. Trump has called women slobs, disgusting, and many worse derogative terms. He even called a former Miss Universe “Miss Piggy.” This is absolutely ridiculous and I cannot believe he has the audacity to say things like this. Sure, people say Hillary Clinton is dealing with trust issues and comes off as “cold and calculating,” but I would take that in a heartbeat over Donald Trump. At the very least, she isn’t a rude, insulting maniac. It’s just an added bonus that she knows what she’s doing and has experience in the field of policies.

Plus, I believe that Clinton is a good person at heart. Sure, she may have had bad judgement at times, especially involving the email “scandal,” but everyone makes mistakes. I think that deep down, Hillary has good intentions and, unlike the Donald, will put all Americans first, not just rich white people. If someone calls Mexicans rapists, thinks Muslims should wear ID tags, how are we supposed to trust that he would be fair to all U.S. citizens? I’m a minority myself. I know what it’s like to be discriminated against, mocked, laughed at, just because my family is Chinese. Who knows what life would be like if someone who regularly targets minorities becomes president? Would racism become the norm, something that’s accepted, even encouraged? That’s one thing I definitely don’t want to find out.

This election, there’s been a lot of talk about trust. People say Hillary is untrustworthy because she won’t release her emails. But here’s another thought: what about Donald Trump’s tax returns? Every presidential candidate for 40 years has released their tax returns. What makes Trump special? Why shouldn’t he release his tax returns? As Hillary said during the first Presidential debate, it’s probably because he hasn’t paid taxes in 18 years. The evidence is clear; as reported by the New York Times, Trump claimed a staggering $916,000,000 loss. According to the Times, this would allow him to escape paying taxes for up to 18 years. What’s crazy to me is that he boasts that not paying taxes and cheating his way through the system makes him smart.

Donald Trump loves tooting his own horn. We hear him bragging about himself, his company, and his success everywhere; at one of his rallies, during his speeches, even on stage at the presidential debates. He claims that he sacrificed things and served this country; however, the New York Times revealed that Trump dodged the draft. He didn’t serve in the army during the Vietnam War, due to a condition described as “bone spurs in his heels.” What raises a question is that Trump, before the mysterious condition somehow appeared, was very healthy and never had been injured before. How did these bone spurs just happen? And isn’t it such a coincidence that right as he’s about to go into service, Trump gets this “get out of jail free” card? Seems a little fishy to me. What makes it even worse is that he then turns around and attacks the family of a Gold Star soldier who gave his life to his country during his service in Iraq. How could he do such a thing? Their son, Humayun Khan, was an army captain, killed in action 2004 in Iraq, during an attack when he was trying to save his comrades. The fact that Trump would attack this honorable soldier’s family, who has made such a huge sacrifice, makes me sick to my stomach. If he never sacrificed anything himself, if he never felt the pain that Khan’s parents felt, he has no right to insult them in that way.

America, is this the man you want as president? Do we want someone who abuses women, who targets minorities, who insults even the families of gold star soldiers? Or do we want someone who can keep a calm head under pressure, who would know what she is doing as commander-in-chief, who would bring America together rather than tear it apart?

Just some food for thought.

Opinion articles written by staff members represent their personal views. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent WSPN as a publication.

I have supported Donald Trump for president from the moment he announced his candidacy.

I support Donald Trump because he is a true businessman. He has gone through the good and the bad and has still come out on top. Many will use his bankruptcies as an excuse to not support him, but he rose from the ashes and ended up with a net worth of $3.7 billion according to Forbes in 2016. Now look at our country. We are in debt $20 trillion because of career politicians who don’t know the first thing about running a successful company or the value of a dollar. I believe Trump can eliminate a huge amount of our debt because he’s proven that he has the ability to deal with tough financial decisions.

I stand with the businessman because this country is being taken advantage of by other countries. They are taking money and jobs that should remain in this country and here’s how: big businesses in America are paying a huge amount of taxes. According to the Tax Foundation, “the United States has the third highest general top marginal corporate income tax rate in the world at 39.1 percent.” This negatively affects our economy, because what businesses do – including Mr. Trump’s – is take advantage of the law legally. What people don’t understand is that when the products are built in the U.S. and sent to other countries, the products are taxed with a tariff, but when products enter the United States, there is no tariff. This is very bad for our country’s economy because it costs America jobs and also causes the United States to lose a significant source of revenue.

Here’s a good example: according to the Portland Press Herald, Ford is going to invest $1.6 billion to build their largest manufacturing plant in Mexico. Donald Trump stated during the second debate that once Mexico sends thousands of their cars into America there will be no tax, but if they build it here in America all of Ford’s cars sent into Mexico will have an automatic tariff of roughly 16%. I didn’t believe him at first, but I looked at the fact checking on the second debate and he is right. It is an unfair agreement which only benefits one side and not the other.

The first step to fixing an issue is to establish what the problem is and Trump has just done that. He knows the business system in this country and has created tens of thousands of jobs during his business career. I strongly believe he can bring back jobs to America. When watching each debate the economy always comes up and when asked to each candidate about the issue Donald Trump is the winner. He is frustrated on the stage, because he has felt what the American people feel today. I trust him more than any other candidate because he is specific, emotional, real. It goes to show the audience that the problems with the economy actually bother Trump.

Another reason I support Trump is his plan to build a wall between the US and Mexico. Many people believe having a wall along our southern border is wasteful, mean, and especially racist, but these people don’t know the true facts. It isn’t wasteful because according to research from Breitbart, between 2008 and 2014, criminal aliens accounted for 38% of all murder convictions in the five states of California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and New York, while illegal aliens constitute only 5.6% of the total population in those states.

To some people these are just numbers, but they’re not. They are people. They are American lives. Not all illegal immigrants are criminals; most are very hard workers that just want a better life, but being an illegal immigrant is against the law. The United States must do something about this issue; it is unfair to the people in America who are struggling to find a job, it is unfair to the immigrants who are going through the legal process. It is unfair to the American people who have lost fathers, mother, sons, daughters, friends, etc. Enough lives have been taken from families, this must end. Building a wall along our southern border will end this catastrophe and will finally secure our border.

According to Breitbart and other sources, the National Border Patrol Council has never endorsed any presidential candidate in its history before Donald Trump. ABC News stated that Obama has deported more illegal aliens than any other president, but the difference between Trump and President Obama is that Obama catches them and releases them right at the border, but Trump will build the wall and will not allow them to enter back in. This will not divide our country, but will unify it by keeping us safe and keeping the criminals out.

The final reason why I support Donald Trump is Hillary Clinton. This woman cannot be president, and not because she’s a woman, but because of her past record as a politician. Secretary Clinton has done whatever she can in order to keep herself in power. Hillary Clinton is the most unfit person to be President. If you take a look at her record as Secretary of State, you will see all of the poor decisions she has made, including voting to begin the Iraq War, removing dictator Muammar Gaddafi from Libya and using a personal private server to send official emails. Her vote for the Iraq War demonstrated her bad judgment and her inability to think for herself; she simply went along with the rest of the Washington politicians. Obama and Clinton left Iraq in an incredibly vulnerable state, which eventually led to collapse and created a vacuum in which our enemy ISIS was able to flourish.

Another foreign policy mistake Secretary Clinton made was intervening in the Libyan Civil War, which ended in the ousting of Gaddafi and the collapse of the entire government of Libya. This left another vacuum in which ISIS was also able to take advantage. This brings us to Benghazi. Secretary Clinton, in charge of the safety of the U.S Consulate, ignored impending attacks, which resulted in four dead Americans. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens emailed the U.S State Department requesting more security and was ignored every time. Clinton lied repeatedly by telling the American people that this attack in Benghazi simply took place because of an internet video, but on the same day, she emailed her husband and daughter, saying it was a terrorist attack. Late information officer Sean Smith’s mother has consistently called the State Department asking what happened to her son, and you know what they told her? They told her that she was not a part of Smith’s immediate family. This is ridiculous. She is the soldier’s mother and they’re telling her she does not have the right to know what happened to her son. Please explain to me why this is okay. Also, at her hearing, they told her four lives were lost and her response was “What difference does it make?” This woman simply does not care.

Finally, this brings us to Clinton’s email scandal. The FBI found classified information in emails from Clinton’s server and she consistently lied about her emails when asked by the media. Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails sent or received. The FBI found that this was not true. Clinton said she used one device. The FBI found she used multiple devices. Clinton said all work-related emails were returned to the State Department. The FBI found thousands of work-related emails that were not returned. This woman has lied multiple times to the American people, but now that some of the truth is out, she admits she made a mistake. FBI Director James Comey said that Hillary’s servers were less secure than a Gmail account.

I do not trust Hillary Clinton with my life if she can’t even protect government information. This shows a clear pattern. Hillary Clinton, time and time again, does not possess the ability to think clearly about her actions and will not do so in her presidency. This is simply because she truly does not care about the safety of the American people. She can say all she wants, but at the end of the day her actions speak otherwise. We are judged upon our actions, not upon what we say.

I am not only against Hillary Clinton, but I am against our political system. I strongly believe that the Democrats will do whatever to make sure Donald Trump isn’t President and it’s unfair to the people. We, the people, have spoken, and we want someone who will actually take care of us. Hillary Clinton only shows care when it benefits her the most. Since Obama began his second term, there have been 2,512 homicides in Chicago and 9,396 shot or wounded. The numbers have increased from 2012 to the present. This violence must come to a stop immediately, and the ones who created it will never fix it. The problems that we have in our country will never be fixed if we elect the same type of people who created them. It’s time to give another guy a chance, an outsider, a businessman.

Opinion articles written by staff members represent their personal views. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent WSPN as a publication.