The election of the Republican candidate as United States president unleashes unprecedented anxieties
Not a few Nigerians abandoned their beds and kept awake on the night of November 8. Not a few retired to bed, if and when they did, disappointed. Hillary Clinton, who by a consensus of pundits, polls and sentiment, was expected to be the 45th president of the United States, was swept out of her dream by an electoral shockwave that showed how democracy can support bigotry.
The world woke up to ask many questions. How could the so-called leader of the free world endorse a man who mocked disabled persons, promised to install a wall to keep out another race, insulted blacks, promised to ban Muslims, pursued without evidence a campaign to discredit the Americanism of the first black president, groped women and was quoted several times to say unprintable things about women? Yet, for at least four years, the world will have to live with the absurdity.
Newspapers around the world have fretted over the prospect. World leaders, caught in the exigencies of diplomatese, have welcomed him. Even within the United States, his unflinching foes have congratulated him with coded anxiety.
A day after it dawned on the citizens of the United States, protests erupted in no less than 25 cities across the country. The say they are not prepared to accept him as the president of the United States. For Nigerians, the worry is sometimes personal or racial. For personal reasons, many Nigerians are worried about their folks who may fall under the looming hammer of Trump’s immigration promises. Will they be forced back home? Will that affect the stream of modest income they are getting? Is this a hint of an imminent topsy-turvy in some families?
Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric was undisguised in its bigotry. When he travelled to Minnesota hours before the election, he railed at the surge of Somalis in the state. His rhetoric worked. Minnesota almost fell to him. That was a traditionally blue state.
He has shown a mixed signal since he won. His acceptance speech struck a conciliatory tone, saying he would heal the country. He also promised to unite the country.
Yet he fell back to his tweets again, ripping into the protesters. He said the media incited them and the groups were professional protesters, calling it “very unfair.” What side of Trump are we going to see?
Obviously he was roused to his sour temperament again because that is who he is. But he has not realised that although he won the election and clutched a majority of the electoral votes, more Americans voted for Clinton. This means he should not see his election victory as an emphatic mandate.
He won about 87 percent of the white vote. He gulped up white America in the rural part of the country, but also got a huge chunk of them in the cities. Some citizens, who had voted Democratic in the past, turned to Trump. The explanation was that he had promised to put a halt to the wave of lost jobs triggered by globalisation. This is what is called the rust belt that spanned states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Most of them have become alienated and decided to pitch their tents with him. Was it an excuse to install a president? Did jobs trump misogyny, authoritarianism, racism and xenophobia? It seems those were excuses to support a racist without seeming so. An African American critic Van Jones called it “Whitelash.”
What happened in the United States is part of a growing trend of right-wing populism that has swept through Europe. Just like in Britain, the pundits could not predict the outcome of the Brexit vote. The world is getting more xenophobic. The world was stunned when the British decided to opt out of Europe before understanding the niceties and consequences. Most of the voters screamed against immigrants who have streamed into Europe from the Middle East and Africa, including Nigeria. Now they have to deal with it. In spite of that, we have seen many rightwing political parties on the rise in France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, etc. it is a sign of the times.
Trump has aligned with the spirit of Brexit. His victory will only embolden the forces of hate around the world. Outside the west, Filipino leader Ridrigo Duterte has been unabashedly in support of authoritarian rule in the guise of populism. Russia under Putin has metastasized from a broken communist enclave to a capitalist state of tyranny.
Trump met with President Barack Obama, and he described the first black president as “a very good man.” They did not exchange eye contacts but Trump said their meeting went well, especially noting that he looked forward to meeting with him “many, many more times,” and also to seek his counsel.
Yet, he wants to dismantle Obama’s legacies, like his executive orders, his Affordable Healthcare Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. He said he would stop Obamacare once he ascends the throne and initiate deportation proceedings for about 11 million undocumented workers.
It is an uncertain world and uncertain era we are being ushered into by the election of a billionaire businessman who would not unveil his taxes, who stiffed helpless investors and workers, who showed contempt for women and wants to build a wall after that same nation triggered the globalisation he abhors.
We fear he will usher in chaos and tyranny. We hope there is enough good sense in the world to stop him.
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