So, it looks like the Democrats won this one. The votes have been tallied, and Joseph R. Biden, Jr. is now the U.S. president-elect, and the people are one step closer to being free from the tyrannical grip of President Donald Trump. This sense of happiness and relief that some people are feeling post-election results begs the question: are people genuinely happy with their incoming president and what he stands for or are they simply relieved they will no longer have to live under Trump’s reign?

Most Americans will be glad to see Trump out of the white house. Having someone who has openly sided with ideologies of racism, misogyny, and being the absolute definition of a narcissist is not necessarily the best person to run a country fairly. 2020 has been a year of immense change, and the outgoing president has had a hand to play in derailing or delaying several aspects of it, especially in relation to the pandemic.

While this is a tremendous victory for Biden and his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, one cannot deny that there is an equal celebration about the dethroning of Trump. There are non-Trump supporters that do not fully support Biden and are still grateful that at least someone is getting Trump out of office. People are definitely celebrating the end of Trump. In some of America’s eyes, Joe Biden is being looked at as this country’s savior, but in others, he is no better than his predecessor.

Joe Biden is no Donald Trump, but he is still a politician and his record is not spotless either. His role in the creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, or more informally known as the crime bill, has been a factor in the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of black people. Considering there had to be a substantial amount of black people who voted for him, this begs the question of how much his political past was really taken into account during this presidential race.

While there are people who are either die-hard Trump or die-hard Biden supporters, there are also people, black people more specifically, that will argue that this year’s election was simply the lesser of the two evils. Both Biden and Trump have questionable pasts and beliefs, and it is arguable that those who voted for Biden really did it because of Kamala Harris. She is praised for being not only a woman of color but also an HBCU graduate. That alone for many provides a sense of encouragement, and it is quite possible that some of Biden’s voters are more invested in Harris rather than him.

Biden was never presented as a powerful political figure himself; he was always just regarded as the man going against the petulant Donald Trump. During the campaign, and especially after the first debate, the news programs would focus on the way that Biden reacted to Trump’s inappropriate actions rather than explain Biden’s proposed policies and stances to the public, so in a way, he was always supposed to be the man who would get Trump out.

Needless to say, it is fair that there was more of a frenzy to get Trump out then to get Biden in; the two events were just subsequent. Regardless, Trump’s loss is Biden’s victory, which is also America’s victory.