[US Presidential Election D-7 Op-Ed] "Trump's 4 Years Destroying Racial Balance... Damage to the Whole World"

Kim Dong-seok, Representative of the Korean American Voters Coalition in the U.S.

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] 'For the last choice...'

Since Donald Trump took office as president in 2016, civil society has been engulfed in conflict and division. The president encouraged violent extremists. Various racist violent groups, already designated as criminal organizations and reportedly eradicated, have been openly showing their faces and shouting their slogans on the streets in broad daylight.

During the election, they were militarized and became the president's militia. In the political rivalry, they armed themselves and threatened law enforcement agencies and public institutions with force. The president attacked mail-in voting to secure unconditional victory, using them as his backing.

He abused his office and denied the legitimacy of political opponents. He broke the norms of a nation composed of a multiracial immigrant society united over generations. He included public interest in the profitability of his business and political interests. And he is stubbornly refusing to accept defeat.

However, we have no way to deal with a sitting president who is being obstinate. The American intellectual community is bewildered by the loopholes in federal law, which was created on the premise of peaceful transfer of power.

Recent U.S. election results repeatedly violate the democratic principle of majority rule. The Republican Party has won only one presidential election in the past 20 years but has held the presidency for 12 of those years. Although the Democratic Party received more votes in the 2016 and 2018 federal Senate elections, the Republicans maintained a majority in the Senate for four years. A president based on a politically regressive minority replaced three of the nine federal Supreme Court justices, who are supposed to guarantee the balance and stability of American society (its way of life and values), all at once.

Democracy should be a numbers game. The party with the most votes should win. However, our political system does not allow the majority to govern. Recent political and geographical trends in the U.S. unintentionally encourage a minority to become the rulers. The Constitution favors states with smaller populations. Small states have equal status with large states in the Senate. In the presidential Electoral College, states with smaller populations have an absolute advantage.

Today's political reality in the U.S. is different. Democrats are concentrated in cities, while Republicans increasingly base themselves in sparsely populated rural areas. It is common to receive many votes but not win. What started as a political advantage for small states has over time resulted in overrepresentation of rural areas. Instead of rural issues being reflected in politics, anti-intellectualism has become rampant, with the political power of a randomly less-educated mass leading federal politics. Voters in low-population rural areas are still overwhelmingly white. They share the pre-1960s civil rights movement perception that "America is a white country, and blacks are slaves." They label immigrants as invaders and attack them.

At the center of the election is 'white supremacy.' Trump rallied these people, entered the White House, and is attempting re-election. The racial criminals who began roaming the streets at the start of Trump's term organized themselves during his presidency, armed themselves with firearms, and militarized through their own training. Therefore, American intellectuals do not hesitate to label Trump's entry into politics as a 'rebellion.' The rebels' attacks are directed not only at the Black community but also at Latino and Asian communities. Non-white people resisting Trump's power are struggling for survival. Compared to the rebels, the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement is too moderate.

Trump's re-election campaign is the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II. Trump's past four years have already caused serious damage to the U.S. and the world. Above all, it is clear that he is unfit for the office he holds.

I am an activist for minority rights. I do not support or oppose any particular candidate. Therefore, I do not urge voting for 'Joe Biden.' This is a strong recommendation to focus on the 'race' issue.

Kim Dong-seok, Representative of the Korean American Voter Coalition (KGAC)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.