America, their America!

I am a boxing fan. I know that the most lethal knockout punch is the one you didn’t see coming. I didn’t see the trump victory coming. Unlike Eyeway Publisher, Aniebo Nwamu and my friend, Dr. John Mabayoje, I didn’t see Donald Trump winning the last presidential election in the United States. But he did […]

I am a boxing fan. I know that the most lethal knockout punch is the one you didn’t see coming. I didn’t see the trump victory coming. Unlike Eyeway
Publisher, Aniebo Nwamu and my friend, Dr. John Mabayoje, I didn’t see Donald Trump winning the last presidential election in the United States.
But he did win majority of Electoral College votes while his opponent, Hillary Clinton, can only console herself with scoring the highest popular votes in the overall tally.
In spite of attempts by his apologists to photo shop his image now that he has become president-elect, I am not one to think the leopard can ever change its spots. I do not hate Trump for that would be subscribing to the man’s own regular diet of hate. Indeed, one can philosophise about the fact that a man who preached hate and racism, and whose moral credentials would be the envy of the chairman of pimps in Ajegunle – still won the US election. There is a sense in which that development evokes a Biblical message from 1 Corinthians 1:27 – “God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise”.
I am now convinced that many of us (including at least half of Americans) don’t know America at all. Apparently, Trump’s racist rants resonated with many Caucasians. His ‘Hitlerish’ characterisation of other races was sweet music in the ears of his admirers. We had underestimated the number of racists in America. There is no way one can analyse the last election without factoring race into the equation. On both ends of the racial argument, passions run deep. In fairness to neo-fascist Trump, he was as predictable as a hurricane. He insulted, taunted, threatened, lied, bullied and four-letter-worded his way to victory. His promise to “take back our country” will, however, be his nemesis whichever way he turns.
By now, he must be seeing that reality is quite different from hate-induced dreams and that that white country of his dreams to which he wants to return America, died long ago. His promise to de-globalise America is doomed to fail. For example, his plan to impose import taxes would lead to trade wars and his promise to keep jobs in the US will conflict with his commitment to high profits. The same conflict will dog his plan to scrap Obamacare.
South African-born host of “The Daily Show”, Trevor Noah, reminds Trump that, “The greatest country in the world is the country that accepts people who come in from everywhere in the world … “He gave the example of Steve Jobs who was the son of a Syrian migrant: “You know what came from Syria?
The iPhone came from Syria… “The same iPhone you tweet s— about the refugees on. Every time you tweet with that fat, little fingers of yours, you should be saying thank you to them for giving you that same phone… The fact that a South African could be sitting in this chair that was once run by an American and can be telling you all of this … proves how great this country is… You got your wife from a foreign country… (yet) You have a problem with people of colour… Maybe, you should look in the mirror…”
Some people have attributed Trump’s victory to the fact that his opponent supports gay rights and that Trump would impose Christian values nationally. My response is a Yoruba proverb, “Eni to ma daso feni, tara e laawo” (when someone promises to present you clothes, check out what he is wearing first)! Donald Trump cannot impose moral values which he so patently lacks.
The good fallout from the US elections is that we have to get things right at home. There is no godfather anywhere. Let Americans solve their own problems. Perhaps we can now see, following the riots in Oregon and some other parts of US that no nation is inoculated against division and electoral strife. At a stage I wondered if we should send election monitors and peacekeepers to America.
Racism is alive and well. Ex-KKK Leader David Duke threw a party to celebrate Trump’s victory. “It’s time to do the right thing; it’s time to TAKE AMERICA BACK!” Duke tweeted as the results came in. I’m not sure that non-white Trump admirers agree with that even as they show so much respect for a man who has no respect for them.  Harriet Tubman’s words ought to make some sense here: “I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves…”
Trump’s victory shows how irrational man can be. Political commentator Van Jones says it isn’t a miracle but a nightmare. My friend, Richard Umaru, addressed the same issue on Facebook: “Base sentiments (such as racism, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sectionalism, etc) play a far greater role than many of us are willing to admit. The lessons for Nigerian politics are simple: pay as much attention to popular sentiments as you do to rational, coherent and actionable policy prescriptions!”
Laugh at your peril, America is in for a hell of a time. If Trump accentuates the racial divide, he will find out that today’s America has more Louis Farrakhans than Martin Luther Kings. The world has been ruled in turns by the Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, British…it seems America’s suzerainty is about to expire. The New Republic opinion journal says, “The hate baiters, the bigots and the outright racists who chose to elect a benighted moron will be confronted with horrific consequences”. Now, 11/9 evokes images of electoral 9/11. Should Vice-President Pence be girding his loins for greater assignment?
But that is not my problem. The American ‘dead body’ has had an accident (apologies to Fela). Now there is “double wahala for the dead body and the owner of the dead body…” The celebrated Nigerian poet John Pepper Clark would have exclaimed all over again: America, *their* America!