How did a man with no political experience defy America's establishments and all the seasoned pollsters, pundits, journalists, political analysts and politicians to become America's 45th President? How did he, despite the disgusting things he said about women, Muslims and Latinos, beat Mrs. Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House? There are all kinds of theories, but the one I wish to respond to is the one that states Mr. Donald Trump won because of he votes of stupid, racist Americans.
Let me declare straight away I am no Trump supporter. Neither am I Clinton's. Trump's campaign pledges violate many of the principles I believe in such as gender equality, climate change, and LGBTQ rights. My interest is purely analytical.
Calling everyone who voted for Trump a racist or a bigot shows a lack of understanding of the issues that matter to a large section of the American people such as uncontrolled immigration, jihadist terrorism, the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries like Mexico and China. It presumes nearly half of all Americans do not know what is good for them. Only those that swallow every news on media such as CNN and FOX could speak like that. It is silly to suggest the people who voted for President Barack Obama in 2008, and then in 2012, have suddenly become racists in 2016. I do not doubt that many racists voted for Trump but so do many respectable Americans. Resentment against the establishment develops when citizens feel unable to freely express themselves (for fear of being called racists, sexist, bigots or Islamophobes) and constrained to adopt the politically-correct language.
In my view, Mr. Trump's victory, just like Brexit, is a vote against the establishment and a verdict on political correctness and the stifling, if not the outright censorship, of discussions on the issues that matter to ordinary people.
I do not believe Trump is going to be the monster everybody is scared of. He could not have become a successful billionaire by being divisive and making stupid decisions. The fact he was bankrupt four times and a billionaire today proves his sagacity. It indicates he is an excellent delegator and team leader, and that he has a remarkable ability to manage people and resources. The fact he beat other smart candidates to become the president-elect suggests he is not the stupid buffoon the media made out he was. And there is the sanctimonious brigade that calls him a serial adulterer and divorcee. Personally, I do not care who the president sleeps with, but I care whether or not they are competent.
If Americans desire a president who is a saint, they should consider persuading the pope to run in U.S presidential election. I do not believe Trump is going to build a wall, imprison Clinton or stop Muslims from coming to America. I think he was speaking in a rhetorical language and my feeling is that most of his followers understood this. The U.S has strong institutions, and the President does not rule by himself. He has the two houses of Congress to balance out his powers. If Trump manages to execute those pledges then the problem goes beyond him - it is Americans because every society deserves the kind of leaders it gets.
As an African, I care about America's foreign policy in Africa.
Historically, this has been meddlesome and exploitative. President Barack Obama gave a great speech in Kenya and lectured our leaders on corruption, the rule of law, gender equality, LGBTQ rights, and goodness knows they needed to hear it. But he along with Cameron and Sarkozy are responsible for the mess in Libya. Their actions resulted in the collapse of the Libyan state and enabled Boko Haram to acquire sophisticated weapons which were smuggled across the Sahara desert.
The lack of leadership in Libya has emboldened thousands of Nigerians (but also citizens of other West African states) to cross the Sahara desert to Libya. Many of them have drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The Obama administration reportedly refused to recognize Boko Haram as a terrorist organization. There is also the contentious issue of its refusal to sell arms to the Nigerian government. While I do not exonerate our leaders from blame it is naive to think American (and Western) foreign policy has (have) no bearing on where our continent is today. I am not convinced Clinton has a more favorable policy towards Africa than Obama. In any case, many analysts describe her as a hawk and as someone who is likely to intervene in the affairs of other countries and possibly involve America in more wars.
Trump has signaled a willingness to cooperate with Russia, and I think this is good for the world. Personally, I think Putin has shown better understanding and judgment in Libya and Syria than Obama and his Western allies. Who exactly are the "moderate rebels" that Obama and his Western allies are arming to overthrow a democratically elected government in Syria? How do they know Syrians will not end up in a worse situation if they eliminate Mr. Assad? Look at what happened in Libya and Iraq when their leaders were deposed and killed. I believe jihadist terrorism is the greatest threat to global peace in the 21st century. It is very good for world peace for Russia and America to cooperate rather than continuing to fight their Cold War. I believe they could very easily defeat ISIS and end the Syrian civil war immediately if they cooperated and fought on the same rather than on opposite sides as is presently the case.
I cannot end without expressing my deep distrust of the military-industrial complex. How has ISIS managed to arm itself and finance its operations for three years? You mean we can land robots on comets and send a man to outer space, but we cannot work out who is moving around large amounts of money and arms in the Middle East? Things are not quite as they first seem to appear.
So, why did the mainstream media fail to predict a Trump win? How did they become so out of touch with their constituency without even knowing it? The reason is because they were blinded by partisanship (perhaps inspired by a collective will to stop the man who promised to pull down the establishments). Or they were in denial and saw only what they wanted to see. Americans saw through the partisanship which only deepened their distrust of the establishments and increased their resolve to elect the man who promised to tear it all down. Without a doubt, this was a vote against the establishment (which Clinton represented).
To conclude, his pronouncements so far lead me to think Trump might be a pragmatist. He has indicated he will be "modifying," not canceling, Obamacare. He has reportedly said he would honor Obama's Iran nuclear deal and that same-sex marriage is a "settled law." If Trump is willing to back-pedal and undo some of his toxic rhetorics, that is good. Intransigence is a bigger crime in my eyes. Whatever one's view of the election we can agree on it undeniably portrays the beauty of democracy. In four years, Americans can vote out Trump and elect a new leader if they so wish.
Ijabla is a medical doctor and a humanist. He writes from the U.K.
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