It was already after ten in these parts. Out there, in the United States where people are waiting for the way forward, people are not in doubt about what is playing out on the streets, at the voting centres. Trump wants a recount in Georgia, a stoppage of the votes in Pennsylvania and a rejection of the entire exercise.
He alleges fraud, claims his victory has been stolen, but he has no proof. Almost childlike, Trump talks about acceptable votes and unacceptable votes. You can’t help but laugh, especially when you get to learn that it is the President of the United States who is on the road to the US Supreme Court to complain about a challenger.
Desperation has completely taken over. It is almost light’s out for the President, who kept on saying during the campaigns, America was turning the curve. Soon it would be past midnight and time to bow out, but Trump isn’t giving up. Like a gambler, he imagines he could still salvage something and somehow stop Biden from pushing him out.
Trump had thought he was up against “Sleepy Joe.” He called Biden by that name most of the time. I could tell, each time he taunted Biden, calling him “Sleepy Joe”, that he liked the sound of it. Trouble was, Trump had his head and shoulder up there in the cloud. It must be that he consciously overrated himself or paid for the gullibility of underrating Joe Biden.
Now, Trump’s reality checks probably reveal that Sleepy Joe hadn’t been sleeping or sleep walking either. It had taken hours of sleeplessness, days of unending toil and months of great focus to get into an advantageous position in the race while Trump pranced like Goliath.
Trump is however finding out the hard way, as the clock ticks and events in the field suggest that he didn’t take a close look at things and didn’t consider the consequence of his utterances and the many fights he chose to pick.
It hasn’t been easy on the campaign trail trying to maintain the red wall. On the contrary, the red wall is crumbling. Debating Biden wasn’t easy. Biden obviously shared a better affinity with the audience. Trump had to reinvent himself in the second encounter in order to make any headway.
Against the media, except for Fox and Friends, Trump didn’t enjoy a sweet experience. The press were like ants, advancing on all fronts and attacking Trump’s every move most of the time. It wasn’t really their fault. The media did not set out to have a confrontation. The Big Boss did. Like one on a suicide mission, Trump declared war, blackmailing the media establishment and alleging fake news.
No US President has been fact-checked by the media like Trump. Nixon had attempted cover ups, especially after Watergate. His relation with the press has been kind of frosty. Somehow, Trump’s relationship with the media has been worse.
His tendency to misrepresent issues, to impeach the integrity of the media and others considered rivals, and tell quite a lot of slimy lies have been legendary. Several fact checks around President Trump shows he never told the truth to the American people most of the time. But this President continues, despite attempts to reveal the truth by the media, to tell lies again and again.
The President may hate the media, but he nursed a morbid fear, the fact that he is yet to know how to accept failure. He even acknowledged that fact when he visited his campaign office and spoke to members of his team. So, in order to assure himself and possibly put a smile on the faces of his supporters, he kept claiming “the people are voting for us, we are winning everywhere.” That is not the situation on ground.
The votes aren’t friendly, so they aren’t real too from the perspective of the US President. It is all a hoax! Yes, a big hoax!!
Don’t you ever imagine for once, many Trumpists would agree, that what the Dems think they have are actual votes. They are not. They are votes that are rigged by people who are prepared to steal the Trump victory.
This is a picture of America that the world doesn’t know. It is the picture of the two Americas that possibly exist. The picture of Trump’s America that is crude, uncompromising and primitive; and the picture of the more urbane America that is a great example of liberty and enchanting democracy.
The American President should be the embodiment of good American values. But Trump has persistently de-marketed America’s democratic institutions and its voting culture. It isn’t difficult to come to the conclusion that all we have been hearing about the American dream; the existence of solid democratic principles and democratic practices; are all lies.
I am not the only one devastated by the thought of what is transpiring. There are many like me who are in shock, following what they see as the current depiction of America, or better still, Trump’s America.
It ought to be a good time for Americans. Sadly, it isn’t. Americans live in a divided country.
Putting America first was such a good idea. It suggested many great leaders did not do enough to take care of the interest of ordinary Americans.
With so many Americans dead as a result of the pandemic, a President who appears out of tune of the with the risk that the Coronavirus poses, it has become difficult to make Americans believe that the nation is moving in the right direction.
Under Trump, the people of the world have been unable to breathe. Great American allies for instance, have been badly treated and ignored. NATO was no better than a piece of thrash. The World Health Organization became a China ally in the estimation of Trump
Washington hasn’t pursued a coherent foreign policy under Trump that articulates America’s interest. The best he has done in the last four years is to engage in what I see as a “kick-and-start policy that has no impact globally.
Take Africa for example, what was Trump’s African Policy? What was his relationship with African leaders and their countries? Without knowing who we are or how we live, this very strange man with a hairdo that’s way too fanciful for his age described Africans as people who live in shit holes.
Now, those who live in shit holes are laughing at Baba Ajilo. Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired Nigerian General has long taught us how to laugh. We dey laugh ooo!
The African world is not the only segment that is exclusively moved to laughter as it follows the unfolding drama in America, courtesy of the global village in which we live. The entire world is laughing too at the pitiable spectacle that America has become, particularly under President Donald Trump.
“Bros see America na! D same pipu wey dey send us observer. Wetin be dia own na? So, dem too dey rig election? Which one be the grammar dem dey speak all the time na?”, a friend asked in course of our discussion.
I couldn’t help thinking about it, long after 10 O’clock yesterday night. He was right. Americans don’t have an upright electoral system and a decent political culture. That’s all President Trump has been telling the rest of his fellow countrymen and the people of the world who have been engrossed in the presidential election.
There have been times in American society when there have been certain doubts in times like this; when tempers have flared uncontrollably; and tensions raised to unbelievable heights. But the sanctity of America’s democracy, America’s mission in the world and the need to protect its international image had shaped the dance steps of great America’s statesmen.
In time, we have come to see great Presidents too. Presidents like Bill Clinton who persuaded his vice, Al Gore to ignore his doubt about votes which paved the way for a Bush victory. And Presidents like Obama who appealed to Senator Hillary Clinton at a time like this to concede defeat.
These presidents could well be Democrats, but they are men, who no matter what, refused to bring the image of America’s democracy to ridicule as Trump is doing right now. But wait-a-minute! Who the hell put that lady on the ticket?
Trump doesn’t like Black Americans. So, you can understand what he has tried to do about Kamala Harris.
Harris would be part of history, part of the team that is sending him prematurely to his home and a celebrated female Vice President.
I can only imagine the scowl on Trump’s face, especially against the backdrop of the thought of a coloured woman working at close range in the White House. Has it struck you as strange that Trump had no kind words for George Floyd and others like him killed by the police.
His hatred for blacks would equally explains why Nigeria’s choice for the WTO job, Ngonzi Okonji-Iweala is being challenged by Trump and his administration. In his view, the South Korean could make a better choice.
A meeting of the WTO has just been put off. It is obvious the issue of Ngozi’s adoption as the Director General of the organization by 163 countries would not be raised until the bully in the White House leaves.
The world is tired of seeing a bull in a China shop. The nuisance value of the bull has been too much. So much has been damaged too. Rather, the world is praying for moderation, understanding, collaboration and cooperation. It is looking for leaders whose words are like soothing balms, whose sense of humanity could help bring mankind together.
Biden and Kamala appear set to make the difference. They are speaking to power and speaking to the issues. We hope that the laughter that would trail their elevation when the time comes would be that which comes with a show of great warmth, optimism and hope.
The arrival of a new dawn in America; and the commitment expressed by Biden and his team; renew my faith in the ability of all nations to build a coalition that would defeat the Coronavirus, combat climate change, terrorism, racial discrimination and inequality