I am afraid that a piece titled ‘Donald J. Trump: What manner of legacy,’ written by one Tiko Okoye follows the trajectory of the single story with its many pitfalls of inaccuracies, biases, and selection of specifics that fit the writer’s goal and motivation.
By Achike Chude
It sometimes becomes a matter of necessity to respond to certain statements and claims when they are made, especially in the public space. It helps to better situate certain events and happenings within specific contexts. But specifically and importantly, it helps to redirect focus and properly establish, hopefully, some level of historicity and accuracy. And these are very important dynamics in the evolution of the public space.
The celebrated Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie talks about the danger of the single story. Obviously, the danger lies in the inadvertent or deliberate misrepresentation of facts or the abandonment of counter narratives, perhaps borne out of bias or rank laziness by a writer who is reluctant to do the needful. With journalists and the much trumpeted journalistic ideals and ethics, the drive and motivation for balance and structure around public dissemination of news and information must be influenced by objectivity rather than subjectivity.
I am afraid that a piece titled ‘Donald J. Trump: What manner of legacy,’ written by one Tiko Okoye follows the trajectory of the single story with its many pitfalls of inaccuracies, biases, and selection of specifics that fit the writer’s goal and motivation, while discarding those that exculpate or attenuate the effects of his attacks on his chosen target – in this case, Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States of America.
That Donald Trump ever became president of the United States of America was a marvel, a wonder to behold. In a way, his near-impossible emergence mirrors that of Barack Obama – they were the most unlikely of candidates for the presidency. Obama’s disadvantage being the colour of his skin, and Trump’s being a man on the periphery of politics. It is said that Trump was laughed at when he declared his intention to run for the president of the United States of America. In the midst of well-established political heavyweights in the Republican Party with better burnished political qualifications, he was given a one per cent chance of making it to the White House. Well, by the time the deed was done and the last vote counted after the presidential elections in 2016, that one per cent chance became one hundred per cent. He had become the forty-fifth president of the United States.
He rode on the back of populist rhetoric that endeared him to those who were critical in his ascension to the presidency. Along the way, he made promises on the platform of conservatism – the need to control the immigration conundrum at the borders, to appointment of conservative judges right up to the Supreme Court justices, to pro-life matters etc. were all part of his avowals as a candidate. He also singled out China quite correctly as the biggest threat to America’s hegemony, and bullied Europe to show greater commitment to NATO by meeting their financial obligations and reducing American funding responsibility to their common defense pact.
That he was able to achieve his landmark electoral promises are not subjects of debate. The positive economic impact of his presidency was generally felt across the nation until the advent of COVID 19.
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But the 45th president had his demons and never succeeded in exorcising them. Perhaps he never even tried to. He was sometimes mean spirited and had a way of undermining the dignity of the office of the president of the United States especially via his Tweets. In a way he was his own worst enemy.
That he was pushing for America’s greatness and wanted to see her maintain top spot in global international politics and trade was never a doubt. The contradiction and fallacy of his world view was to ensure global dominance for the U.S. while at the same time seeking to reduce America’s engagements with the rest of the world through his America First strategy. It was obvious that envisioning a world view of global hegemonic ambition could never work with a policy of withdrawal from the same global stage. Therefore, America First had to have limited application and implementation.
Aside his Tweets and personal failings, in the years to come, his deeds and actions will put him in a good place as a former American president.
There is no taking away from the fact that his brashness, I don’t care attitude, arrogance, and cavalier dispositions fetched him enemies aplenty. Apart from the all-round sing-song of ’emptying the swamp’, – a direct challenge to establishment die-hards, the promoters of the left’s culture wars, their foot soldiers, and neo-con and neo-liberal defense industry apparatchiks were on the war-part and were taking no prisoners.
The subsequent battles of attrition that manifested before, during, and after the election thereafter were inevitable. He was an outsider that refused to abide by the rules and conventions of Washington. The disruption was not just within his political party which sought to support, guide, and contain him. He was a handful for the democrats and allies across the aisles. Being the president of the United States of America, while making him the most powerful individual abroad, did not exactly confer him with such a privilege at home.
The first major attack was in the well-orchestrated attempt to delegitimize his electoral win of 2016. Hillary Clinton, who lost to him led the choir, followed by some party bigwigs and the left wing media. Coincidentally, about a decade ago, the same drama had also played out in the disputed election between Al Gore and George Bush Jr in which democrats were stringent in their claims that the election was stolen.
To now give the impression that Trump’s insistence on a stolen 2020 election is the crime of the decade is beyond baffling especially given the scenario in Georgia in which the Democrat’s golden girl Stacey Abrams is still shouting ‘stolen election’ from the rooftop. The lesson from this hypocrisy which TiKo Okoye falls into is simple and clear: What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander – we have the moral gravitas to shout electoral fraud, you don’t.
In trying to provide justification for the highly controversial raid carried out by the FBI on the Mar-a-Lago home of the ex-president, the writer tries to make a case of professionalism and decency in the make up or operations of the FBI.
For the sake of what is left of their reputation, let us hope that evidence procured from the raid at Mar-a-Lago will provide enough justifiable reason for their unprecedented assault on the Trump home. But there is danger on the horizon. A gateway to the unknown has been opened up by this raid and there will be casualties on all sides.
But there is nothing professional about the FBI – not anymore – especially when it comes to the politics of the day. The FBI has clearly taken sides between the left and right – the Republicans and Democrats. We saw that in the attempt to subvert the Trump presidency even before the inauguration in the triangle conspiracy between the then outgoing White House, the Hillary Clinton campaign – via Christopher Steel, Fusion GPS, and the left wing media.
We see it in the directive of the A.G. Garland led DOJ directive to treat parents of children who challenge school boards about lessons taught their children on Critical Race Theory and others as domestic terrorists.
We see it in the abuse of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) by the FBI – by their false depositions and lies told the court in order to initiate the process of investigation that led to what is now called the Russia Hoax – a fact that some in the main stream left leaning media have reluctantly acknowledged.
We see it in the biased handling of the now generally acknowledged Hunter Binding laptop scandal which details the possible corruption of the Biden family including the ‘Big Guy’ himself (Joe Biden) in Hunter’s dealings with the Chinese, Ukrainians, former mayor of Moscow, etc. It was then politically convenient by the mainstream media to ignore it before the election for understandable reasons. But not anymore.
The raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago follows the same pattern of a weaponised justice department going after vulnerable opponents of the Republican Party with a chink in their armour.
The irony of what is going on in America today is that this is the stuff of dictatorships and dictators especially seen in the so called third world countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia – a phenomenon that has constantly received very serious condemnation from the United States and the West. Back home here in Africa, the Mar-a-Lago incident can only strengthen the hands of our ‘strong men’. The question, “Who is America to lecture us on democracy” will ring true.
It is becoming much clearer by the day that America and the West are not morally more superior to the rest of the world. Theirs is the luck of having built, over the centuries, political, social and economic systems that have worked thus far – though these very same socio-economic and political structures that built modern Europe and America are today being deconstructed and destroyed through a bizarre form of social re-engineering, deconstruction and reconstruction.
Given the same circumstances and conditions which continents and countries like Africa and Nigeria find themselves in, the continent of Europe and America might not have fared better. After all, they contributed hugely to the devastation and ruination of our continent and peoples through the trifecta of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.
No wonder some people in the United States and beyond are now using the word ‘Banana Republic’ to explain why a hitherto better organized country, the so-called leader in the world is now going to the dogs.