Ok, let’s go Mr. Trump

Because predictions about electoral contests often come down to who wins and who loses, there is certainty that one side gets it right and another gets it wrong. Of course, at no time can the two sides get it right or wrong simultaneously. It is like postulating about which team would win or lose in […]

Because predictions about electoral contests often come down to who wins and who loses, there is certainty that one side gets it right and another gets it wrong. Of course, at no time can the two sides get it right or wrong simultaneously. It is like postulating about which team would win or lose in a Premier League match.  And when the final whistle is blown, all those who had predicted victory for the winner team would usually thump their chest in demonstration of their adeptness at sports punditry, while others who didn’t get it right sulk and wear miserable faces like they just lost their mum and dad at once.  You may say that this scenario is not   different from the global post-election reactions to the victory of Mr Donald Trump, the man who would become the 45th President of the US, come January 20 2017.      
Perhaps at no other time in the history of presidential elections in the US have   pundits some of who include writers, pastors, babalawos, the press, musicians, been so   wrong about their assumptions. Yet, who can really blame anyone for this gaffe?  Each time you heard Trump speak during the campaign you were almost always tempted to bet your last Naira that Clinton would trounce him at the polls. Of course, you never imagined that despite   the turbulently chaotic vision of Trump, his huge social, political and moral encumbrances, incredibly tempestuous temperament, plus that face he would always make and his finger often curved whenever he was up to some verbal mischief among other idiosyncrasies that this generation of voters would ever find him appealing at all.
But what did you know? Those who would become the direct and immediate recipient of Trump’s governmental policies – these Americans – said they preferred him to the woman Donald fondly called Secretary Clinton for reasons which with the benefit of hindsight,   are now clearer.
Well, that he won the election is history. For now, in the next four years, the world will be watching to see what kind of leader Donald Trump would make. Will he actualize any of those crazy threats he unleashed during his campaign? Will he actually begin the erection of that controversial wall on the U.S -Mexico border and ask Mexico to foot the bill? Are Muslims really in danger of sustained persecution? What about Clinton, is she going to jail or not? Are blacks more unsafe in the country?
It is reasonable to believe and nurse the optimism that by the time the president-elect  receives full  briefing  as he  settles  down in the White House,  he would cease to become as risky as many presently fear, after all there is a difference between campaign reality and actual  governance. But take a second look at Trump; does he come across as someone uncommitted to his globally unpopular ranting? Does he look to you like somebody who believes in the advice offered by others? It is hard to imagine that this fiery president-elect would shy away from actualizing those scary campaign promises.  Trump was never the kind of candidate who pretended to mesmerize the voters in exchange for their votes; he spoke with a brutally odd frankness which simply emanated from his whims and caprices, and with such reckless disregard for anything you might call political correctness.  Of course, those who argue that Trump’s overzealousness will be checked by the constitutional imperatives and structures of the American democratic system are not necessarily wrong, but they underestimated how much damage a president determined to undermine the system to actualize his ideals can inflict on the system itself within a relatively short period of time. 
I actually see him as a president who will be spending the greater part of his first term in office creating and courting one needless controversy or another (even among his party men), making more enemies for the US, reversing the gains and policies of past government, and yet finding it problematic to execute viable alternative policies until his term expires. I see his government as determined to create an enabling environment for chaos and hostilities where non-whites, especially, the blacks would be   inflicted with both psychological and physical injuries. And all this could be possible because of the peoples understanding of the mind of the president.  
But Trump’s coming is also a lesson to us. It demonstrates that a time has arrived in which we should work against the  unhelpful mentality that   unless it is right for America and the big powers, other countries, particularly the less privileged ones would always be in trouble. We need to create our own relevance in the scheme of international politics to such effect that we develop our capacity to turn things around. And this is hardly possible until we can imbibe the spirit of self-esteem and hard work. 
Whatever happens in the coming years it would be interesting to see how Trump’s expected pull of his hawkish business skills (which invariably is the only experience he had touted) into governance would see America through, and how it would shape his engagement with rest of the world.
Dr.  Yakoob wrote this piece from University of Abuja.