Some people online have been spreading the phrase "settle for Biden" as a way of showing their support for the Democratic nominee for president. I voted for Joe Biden last week, and I was in no way settling. I am enthusiastic, energized, and motivated to continue to support the Biden/Harris ticket as I have been doing since March of 2020. For those of you who may be looking for a reason to get as excited about voting for Joe as I was, here's some of the reasons I couldn't wait to cast my ballot for Joe Biden.

Like many others, Joe wasn't my very first choice of candidate in the Democratic primary process. I was a supporter of Mayor Pete Buttigieg throughout the primary process in the fall of 2019 and into the spring of 2020. As soon as Pete dropped out though, I knew I would be supporting Joe. The same night news broke that Mayor Pete was dropping out of the race, I changed my cover photos from "Pete 2020" to "Biden for President" and began to rally all of the energy I had for Buttigeig and throw it behind Joe. Pete and Joe had very similar platforms throughout the primary process, so the transition was easy for me to make. They both believed in providing a public option for healthcare which is an issue I am passionate about. They both believed in protecting a woman's right to choose and expanding sexual healthcare coverage as opposed to restricting it which is also an issue that hits close to home for me. But more than anything, both Pete and Joe were genuinely good men. They were patriots. They were real people who knew what it meant to serve and to suffer and to struggle and to overcome. They were distinctly American.

Right now in this moment we need an American President. I don't mean this in the sense of birthplace or nationality; I'm well aware that you can't be president if you were born in another country. I mean that we need a president with American experiences and American values. Donald Trump has spent his entire life having things handed to him. He hasn't worked hard for anything he has. He hasn't overcome obstacles by putting his head down and doing the right thing regardless of how difficult or painful it may be. Donald Trump preaches every day about how the “radical left” wants to give people handouts and wants to embrace socialism, and all the while he has been benefiting from tax breaks and benefits from the government and receiving healthcare paid for by other people's taxes. He believes in socialist government handouts for the wealthy and unchecked capitalism for everyone else. He believes he can name-call and lie and bully and abuse in order to get his way, and unfortunately so far it has worked. But the American people know that he is a bully and a liar and an immoral cheat and a phony. He is truly not American. To give him a second term in office would be to legitimize and normalize the disgusting behavior he has displayed and continues to practice that has permanently damaged our nation. To give such a man who disgraces American values a second term as President would be a grave mistake.

Joe Biden on the other hand is an American. He comes from a middle class family that understood the struggle of building a life in this country after facing job insecurity and unemployment. He was the kid that stood up to the bullies like Donald Trump when they made fun of him for his stutter. Joe Biden understands from his job experience as a white lifeguard at a black pool that all people are created equal, but also that not all people are given the same opportunities to be treated equally in this country. He knows that this fact is not something to exploit in order to gain political momentum, but is in fact an opportunity to make America better than what she is right now by reforming the way we think about race in this country. Biden understands what it means to experience loss. He has experienced it time after time throughout his life and it has shaped the way he thinks about healthcare and it's importance in the lives of every single American. Biden knows what it means to serve because his late son Beau was in the military. He understands the feeling of sitting at the table with an empty chair as your child is deployed. He will bring that understanding to his role as commander in chief. He respects our military and law enforcement. He understands the importance and gravity of what they do and he will never send anyone to war without knowing deeply and fully what his actions mean for the families behind the scenes in the military community.

None of these traits about Biden are true about Trump.

I mean seriously people, listen; if you still support Trump at this point in the election cycle I don't know what else to say to you. I can't comprehend how you justify the actions of this man, his administration, and his enablers in Congress. I can't reconcile the knots you must twist yourself into in order to justify his dismantling of our immigration asylum system and the Affordable Care Act, his rollbacks on protections for LGBT+ Americans and the environment, and his pattern of racist and anti-military behavior among other unacceptable actions over the past four years. You don’t get to support someone like Trump without supporting the things he says and does. Those who supported Hitler simply because they thought he could fix an economy and those who turned a blind eye to the racist, xenophobic, disgusting things he said and did to make themselves sleep better at night were still f***ing Nazis no different than those who actively worked in the concentration camps. Trump is disgusting, disappointing, un-American and a shameful excuse for a president. Those who still support him after everything he has done to irreversibly damage American institutions, norms, and morals are equally at fault for the crumbling state of our nation. If you're unconvinced by now to vote this sick man out of office, I am left with no other choice but to hope that you find some guidance and maybe a good therapist to talk to so that you'll be better able to live with yourself after your blind support of such a toxic force in American life.

I'm excited about Joe Biden, but not just because of his policy positions and his bold stances on things like climate change, healthcare, and racial issues in America. I'm mostly excited about Joe Biden because I want nothing more than for America to begin to heal. I know that Joe Biden is the right man for this moment because he understands all of our struggles intimately and fully. He has the demeanor and the experience and the knowledge and the connections to guide America forward and out of this time of crisis. He knows that going back to where we were before Trump is not going to be possible, so he instead focuses on building our country back better than it was before this age of hatred, illness, violence, lies, and division. I'm excited to vote for Joe Biden the American. I hope you all are too.