Two foreign news items dominated Nigeria’s media world last week, temporarily diverting attention away from the various mounting domestic problems like the crushing economic hardship and the unending insecurity in the land. The first is the shocking victory of Donald Trump and his MAGA party over Kamala Harris of the Democratic party.
The second being the salacious story from the tiny country of Equatorial Guinea concerning their former anti-corruption Czar, Baltasar ‘E-bang’ Engonga, who is currently enmeshed in a monumental sex tapes scandal involving hundreds of Equatorial Guinea high-profile women, including wives of ministers, top government and religious leaders, etc. The resulting shockwave seriously shook the moral foundations of the country while its reverberations were felt all around the globe but that should not detain us today.
The Trump story surprisingly received the triumphal attention of several Nigerians, some of whom have never set their feet on American soil and who, from the look of things, may no longer do so anytime soon because the retuning MAGA strongman, Trump, will not welcome people from places he calls “shithole countries” which also include Nigeria.
EXPOSED!! POPULAR ABUJA DOCTOR REVEALED HIDDEN SECRET ON HOW MEN CAN NATURALLY AND PERMANENTLY CURE POOR ERECTION,QUICK EJACULATION, SMALL AND SHAMEFUL MANHOOD WITHOUT SIDE EFFECTS. EVEN IF YOU ARE HYPERTENSIVE OR DIABETIC ..STOP THE USE OF HARD DRUG FOR SEX!! IT KILLS!
The key lesson for Nigerians about the US election is the fact that both Kamala Harris and the Democratic party have since conceded defeat to Trump, unlike Trump and his misguided Nigerian election results denying wannabes, who do not concede defeat even after the Supreme Court has spoken. People who cannot concede election defeats cannot validly claim to be genuine democrats, no matter the volume of their unending crocodile tears!
Trump won his re-election not because of the economy or his better policies. It was squarely because of Racism and Sexism with a heavy dose of Xenophobia. Campaign sloganeering on abortion, immigration, LGBTQ issues were simply code words for the morbid racial fear of the Whites about the fast shifting US demographic which is pushing them into the minority group column with all its implications for political domination and privileges. Apart from the Native Indian Tribes, every other group in the US actually migrated from somewhere else. It is just that some arrived earlier than others.
While I was still pondering over the fundamental misperception by Nigerians about the true nature of the American society, I received an analytical piece from the renowned jurist, writer and author of the current bestselling novel “Nothing Now Remains”, Ernest Izedonmwen, which he aptly entitled “Trump: The Sequel – Defeat is Transient and Victory is Cyclic.” The write-up brilliantly x-rayed the ‘Trump Phenomenon’ in such a way that has compelled me to share it with you. Please read on:
“Tell it not in Gath, publish it not on the streets of Ashkelon ….” but tell we must. Trump is back at the helm of the US after an astonishing electoral success of both Trump and the Republican Party or more appropriately, the Trump MAGA party. Since the election, we have had a glut of post-mortem analyses, recriminations and lamentations of what went wrong or right, depending on your perspective.
I think we are oversubscribed in that department. I do not wish to dwell on that here, although the reoccurring question is why did Americans elect a seriously flawed character as Trump to the presidency? Stripped of all excuses, reasons and rationales, the persistent and stubborn truth is that Americans could not trust a black/ Asian woman to be commander in chief of their country. You have to understand that in the pecking order of America’s historical and disgraceful racial hierarchy, black women are at the basement, lower than the proverbial belly of the snake.
I therefore will spend the rest of this piece on the probable consequences of the election.
Internally, the least powerful group, undocumented immigrants, will immediately take it in the shorts. There will be massive raids on factories and day labor centers not because it is an effective immigration control but as part of a performative display of deporting ‘illegal aliens.’
There will be official groundbreaking at the Mexican border for the construction of walls. There will be travel bans for some countries and visa restrictions for others… When Trump placed anyone in sight in immigration proceedings in his first reincarnation, he clogged up the courts because there were not enough immigration courts and judges to handle the work load.
Advertisement
Most of those cases were later dismissed or set for dates as far away as 2028. Despite the noise, Trump managed to build only 80 miles of walls in his first term. Of this, only 47 miles was primary wall while 33 miles was secondary walls. The US/Mexican border is 1,954 miles long.
Trump also banned travel from some countries ostensibly to stem terrorists’ attacks. However, the only country whose nationals successfully attacked the U.S. on 9/11/2001, Saudi Arabia, were excluded from the list. Trump will essentially emasculate the Justice Department. But he will find out soon enough that indictments and convictions of political opponents is easier said than done. The criminal process is a little more complicated than political rallies.
States like California (5th largest economy in the world) New York, Illinois, Washington are gearing up to give his administration a run for its money. The Biden administration has scars to show for its legal tangle with republican states especially Texas. The states are formidable opponents to the Federal government in the U.S.
Trump may have an easier path on the international scene. Unless the Europeans are willing to step up their game substantially, Ukrainians will have to swallow their patriotic pride and concede territory to Russia. They will not get any support from Trump. He remembers that his first impeachment was triggered by Ukraine’s refusal to cooperate in his failed efforts to frame Joe Biden.
The place known as Gaza will remainuninhabitable pursuant to Netanyahu’s scorched earth war with the unabashed support of Trump. For Muslims in Michigan who wanted to send a message to Kamala Harris by refusing to vote for her, there will be an opportunity to test their theory that there is no difference between the parties regarding their Palestinian policies.
Iran – Trump will not urge caution but cheer Netanyahu on and possibly escalate the current tame attack and response relay between Israel and Iran.
Trump will impose tariffs on Chinese goods and risk a trade war. The World Trade Organization (WTO) will have a very busy schedule. NATO- the Europeans hopeful is preparing for Trump to undermine the defense alliance to appease his man crush, Putin. France and Germany have indicated that Europe should be prepared for an alternative defense alliance. All international organizations where the US holds sway will be decidedly hostile to African and other developing countries.
BRICS may provide an alternative power block and become more relevant in the new dispensation in the mode of OPEC in its heyday. Visa bans and restrictions may also adversely affect Nigerians. It may be time to seek vacation and scholarships elsewhere.
One quick digression – the Christian Right’s support for Trump, while confounding, is explainable because it is a combustible mixture of white supremacy with distorted Christian theology. Hence David Duke and the evangelicals end up as bed follows, one with white sheets, the other in corporate suit speaking in codes. If you believe that Trump is a Christian or cares about Christianity, then I have a bridge at Ikpoba river in Benin city for sale to you.
The above, unfortunately paints a dystopian picture but hope lies eternal. As the Nigerian mobile poets display prominently on their M-Benz 911 trucks ‘No condition is Permanent’. We survived Trump before and will again. The mommy rabbit always cautions its young that ‘these old eyes of mine have seen a lot of smoke in my days’. Be patient. Do not despair; it’s only a four term. This too shall pass.”
I concur!
