Trump wins against all odds
By Boniface Chizea
Contrary to expectations of most of us, not only in Nigeria but safe to say across most countries of the world, Trump won the election! This must be a terrible disappointment for Kamala Harris as sure she must not have seen it coming. She even went to her alma mater, Howard University, to observe as the results were being announced. It is reported that it is the first time in recent memory that a sitting president who lost an election would stage such a comeback. Apparently, most sources that I read who have accurately predicted American election results in the past indicated that Harris will carry the day. So, collectively, we must be asking ourselves what went wrong! And as should be expected there are many and varied perspectives on the matter.
It is surprising how the momentum Harris generated upon her fortuitous entry for the elections following the unanticipated dropping of Biden out of the race did not gather traction as it slipped away as poll results showed consistently narrowing of the lead Harris had on Trump until the elections happened.
But when you look at the personality of Trump, he is certainly most unattractive for the post of a President of America as far as I am concerned. The values he brings to the table are mostly unacceptable. He is a cheat, he is on record to have evaded the payment of taxes hence the state of New York has got him indicted and he is a convicted felon and indeed he will be postponing his days in jail by this victory.
He has no moral values to write home about. During his first term elections, it is on record that he paid hush money to Stormy Daniels, a runs lady he had an affair with and doctored his accounts to keep that payment secret. He does not have any iota of respect for the female folks. He sees and treats them only as an object for fun and pleasure.
There are not many who worked with him in his first outing as President who thought that he was a fit and proper person to be entrusted with the responsibility of the president. Even those who collaborated with him in some of the scams and shady deals he committed, which honestly became his hallmark, did regret, with the benefit of hindsight and considered such collaboration a regrettably error in judgement.
As the clever person that he is, in order to be in good books of the religious and Pentecostals he expresses his support for restrictions on the availability of abortions, and pretends to be against same sex marriages and the current tendency for individuals to suddenly want to change their gender. And because of this posturing some fanatical Christians will swear by him in spite of the fraud he represents.
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Pope Francis expressed difficulties with separating Trump and the Democrats in America who are prochoice and in fact who believe that individuals should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to such moral matters. This is opposed to Trump stand on immigration. A presidential candidate who says that when people are deported and they find their way back that their necks will be slit. The Pope also rightly felt that posture is also not prolife.
But the reality is that with such grand standing, Trump is just being false. It is all Machiavellian; calculated to win votes. There is an epic picture of him holding the Bible but upside down to demonstrate his affiliation with the Holy Book! And as a matter of fact, Trump is not a democrat at heart. He lost the election the last time and wanted to unleash unrest and violence because of his refusal to accept that loss. He is reported to have observed recently that he regrets leaving the White House after that election.
What are the implications of Trump victory? He says, and he parrots the slogan; “Make America Great Again!” Of course, he alone fully understands what that really means. He is a confirmed racist in his personal circumstances and his family. They will not employ blacks and now that he has won an unprecedented term which was not back to back, he is going to ruthlessly go after immigrants and will take steps to repatriate immigrants with whatever questionable status. He will literally shut American borders. And this is one of the strong reasons Americans who are largely racist at heart voted for him despite the fact that he is a terrible misfit for that position. The business people think that Trump is the best news as they will be expecting tax breaks, which aligns with the capitalist orientation of being pro-business. This explains why most big businesses supported him with massive funding. The Democrats were already on course to make an impact on the rate of inflation and the job situation in America, and one thought that was going to count.
But the rest of the world will be at uneasy with Trump’s presidency. He did not prove to be a team player during his first outing. He proved a personal bully that was only concerned with only American interests as perceived from his jaundiced views. Obviously, no one in NATO will be rolling out the drums today with regard to the prospects of Trump presidency and therefore looking forward to going to work with him. Ukraine, in its war with Russia, will most certainly be ill at ease as the robust support which America offered is almost but ended with Trump’s presidency. What is not clear for now is what role the system in America is going to play to checkmate his rabid tendencies, particularly as the Republicans have taken back the Senate. And with the broad support which he now has and considering that he is on his last leg as a President, he is going to be ruthless and we should expect quick actions not minding whose ox is gored for as long as it is in the best interest of America as adjudged by Trump.
The Israelites must be quietly smiling and happy at the moment in great expectations of what will follow by way of unabashed support coming from Trump’s America. We must remember that Trump, in his brazen manner, moved America’s embassy to Jerusalem against popular sentiments during his first term as president. Netanyahu must by now be expecting that his declared intentions to redefine the power landscape of the Middle East is now a clear possibility. Trump even claims that climate change is a scam despite the evidence of massive flooding across the globe and the unpredictability of climate conditions as a consequence.
It does not appear that Africa is of any significance to the American administration, no matter who is at the helm. African governments are being essentially treated as appendages to be dictated to. This is why we need to reinvent ourselves to pull ourselves by the boot straps to fast forward development to make ourselves relevant to the world. Nigeria has a unique and historic responsibility amongst the many African countries to lead this charge, but we continuously languish due to the quality of our leadership. Nigeria has a historic responsibility to rise to the occasion to pull itself and the rest of Africa by rousing itself from its self-inflicted slumber.
Trump remains a gadfly and his unruly self. He even called a rally to announce himself victorious at the elections without regard to whatever laid out procedure that is in place for doing so. Across the various capital cities of countries of the world, there is palpable concerns and shock at this unfortunate and unanticipated development. To Kamala Harris, we offer a word of consolation. I have heard sentiments expressed to the effect that America is still not probably ready for a female president. She must bid her time. At 60 she still has age on her side. God willing, she might still have her day in the sun. The rest of the world must brace up not to allow bully Trump to ride roughshod on anybody. In Nigeria, there are of course lessons for us regarding the way and manner to conduct relatively rancour free elections devoid of intractable violence.
- Dr. Boniface Chizea, MD/CEO BIC Consultancy Service, wrote in from Lagos