The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Trump

  • Trump and America’s mainstream media

    Trump and America’s mainstream media

    SIR: On November 8, the entire world woke up to the rude shock that the United States had elected a newbie. The angered electorate had picked the unlikely candidate. The mainstream media and alternative media – print, online, TV, local and international – were all awash with news, photos and videos of Hillary Clinton supporters weeping uncontrollably, while supporters of Donald Trump were seen mostly in an ecstatic state, relishing their victory. They could hardly be consoled. An “evil” appeared to have been done. A prank had just been played. It was a truly pathetic scene. The reason was obvious: there was a new sheriff in town, and it was none other than Donald J. Trump! The irony is that the overly partisan mainstream media was entirely to blame for this.

    Many had bet on Donald Trump losing the presidential election. The odds were against Donald Trump once he announced his intention to run for the White House in 2015. Several groups – including the Republican National Congress (RNC), the Democratic National Congress (DNC), and President Barack Obama – had completely dismissed the prospects of a Trump victory. In fact, it was so embarrassing to see several well-known members of the Republican Party come out to castigate and disown him just hours before his penultimate presidential debate, yet Trump surged on as every new revelation of Clinton’s alleged corruption seemed to prop Trump higher.

    It became so obvious that all the major media houses had ganged up against Donald Trump. Several well-known dailies consistently published hate-filled articles and op-eds against him. Trump was never even given the chance to defend himself but Hillary Clinton always was. All sorts of spurious claims were brought against him. At some point he was accused of not publishing his tax returns, then he was falsely linked to financial deals with the current Ukrainian Junta, and was accused of being a lackey of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

    It’s pitiful that the press had worked so hard to misinform their audience in a bid to defame Donald Trump. They became so obsessed and consumed with attacking him rather than reporting objectively about the growing numbers in support of Trump. Lately, The New York Times public editor has criticized the paper for its “dishonesty”. I expect other news houses that spent all their time confusing their readers to send apologies for this crime.

    Trump’s victory should be used as case study in many schools of political science across the world. It is truly amazing how he won with only about a tenth of Hillary Clinton’s campaign donations. Trump simply sailed to the Oval Office on the back of speaking out and not appealing to political correctness. He came through as a man who spoke the truth about what he saw rather than be blinkered. He called things by their names, addressed issues that were personally affecting a good deal of Americans, specifically the working class. The shameful mainstream media must learn from Donald Trump. His boldness in the face of these pathetic accusations won him the prize. I hope CNN, New York Times, the Washington Post and the rest of the lying ‘presstitutes’ learn from this fatal error.

     

    • Chuka Uzo,

    askcatholicquestions@zoho.com

  • Trump’s election: Nigerians need caution

    Ever since Donald Trump won the United States presidential election, most Nigerian commentators have gone out to paint an incendiary picture of him. Most are raising fears about the kind of government he is likely to give to this most powerful country in the world. Most raise fears, in particular, about the probable impact of his immigration policies on the millions of Nigerians now resident in the United States, and even on Nigeria itself at home.

    Of course, most of these negative responses to him by Nigerians are justified. The ideas he has ventilated in the past many months about further immigration into America, about “undocumented immigrants” already in America, about the very large number of Nigerian immigrants in America, about further Nigerian immigration into America, and even about Nigeria as a country, are alarming. All over Nigeria now, many families who have members in America are fearfully wondering what will happen to their people at the hands of a Trump presidency.

    Still, I think that we Nigerians need to handle the situation with caution. It is possible that we Nigerians could generate among us at home and abroad such intense hostility towards Donald Trump and a Trump presidency that the Trump presidency’s policy makers may come to feel the need to focus specially on Nigerians.

    It is not that I am afraid for most Nigerians resident in America. Until I returned home to Nigeria about a year ago, I had lived for nearly 25 years continuously as a professor in America, and among the students I taught and mentored (at undergraduate and graduate levels), I can count thousands of Nigerians. I know for sure that most Nigerians in America are there legally. It has never been really easy for Nigerians to enter America illegally, or to reside in America illegally – far less easy than for persons from Mexico and other Latin American countries, and even persons from countries of the Middle East and Asia.  Many Nigerians do come legally to America with visas that allow them to come for short visits only, or for few years as students in American colleges and universities. Many of these usually leave at the expiration of their visas or at the end of their studies. The few among these who decide to stay are typically diligent about pursuing legal permission to stay – and many of these may even become, legally, citizens of America. In short, it is not easy to find a Nigerian who is truly illegally residing in America. An overwhelming majority of Nigerians who reside in America are residing there legally. And if a person is in America legally, there is nothing that American officials, or the American legal system, can do to their residence – especially if they do not involve themselves in crimes.

    And I also know that Nigerian residents in America are, on the aggregate, among the most law-abiding people in America. I am not saying that no Nigerians in America have crime records there or that none of them gets involved in crimes. Every human group in the world has its own crop of criminally inclined and criminally active members. But it is my assessment, based on very close and long contacts and observations in the Nigeria community in various parts of America, that the criminally inclined and criminally active tend to be fewer among Nigerians in America than one would find among most non-Nigerian groups in that country. On some occasions, we hear some hoopla about “Nigerian crime rings”, but I insist that, even with these, Nigerian youths in America are among the most serious students and hardest workers in that country, and are significantly less likely to lapse into a life of crime. Most Nigerian students come without any scholarship from home, and without sufficient, or any, financial support by parents. But almost all come with a peculiarly Nigerian resolve to succeed, and almost all succeed in the American educational system. Many earn scholarships with their high quality performances in their studies; most scrub floors and do other menial jobs to make their ways through colleges and universities. On the whole, Nigerian youths in America make older Nigerians like me proud, and deserve to be thought of with pride by their parents and their country.

    About three years ago, a department of the American government – the United States National Census Bureau – published the information that Nigerians are the most educated national group in America – more educated than any other immigrant group from any other part of the world, and more educated than even Americans themselves, indeed the most educated group of immigrants in all the history of the United States. The publication added the further detail that in the typical Nigerian family in the United States, the father and mother commonly come with a university degree from their country, that the father (and often the mother) then acquires a postgraduate degree (Masters or Ph.D.), and that their older children are typically enrolled in colleges or universities studying for first degrees or postgraduate degrees. Those who come younger (with school leaving certificates) almost always go on to obtain first degrees, and then higher degrees.

    The result of this is that Nigerians are very formidably included in all aspects of America’s economy and society. Of the thousands of universities in America, there is hardly any one without some Nigerian professors. There are countless Nigerians serving in very high levels of the American government and civil service, in all branches of the American military, in top positions in the American health services, research establishments, elementary schools and secondary schools, the professions, businesses, security services, state governments, local governments, etc.

    Nigerians in America are therefore not as vulnerable as candidate Trump may have imagined during his electioneering campaign – and definitely not as vulnerable as we Nigerians at home seem to fear.   And therefore we Nigerians do not need to be trembling about the coming of a Trump presidency. We do not need all the hostile rhetoric we have been spewing at him. We must stop acting as we are sure that our people living in America are among the most vulnerable people in that country. They are not.

    Very importantly too, we must not appear to be set on a venture of disrespecting the American people. Whatever any of us may think of Donald Trump, he is the man whom the American people have chosen to be their president, and we ought to respect the American people. The president of Nigeria has joined the leaders of other countries of the world to congratulate President-elect Donald Trump, and it is, I suggest, time for us to wish him well, wish our people in America well under his presidency, and wish the great country of America well.

    Finally, here is an insight that may help us a little in assessing the surprising impact of Donald Trump over America at this time. During my decades of residence in America, one political development had gradually been observable in the politics of America – namely, that the politicians had gradually become unpopular with the masses of the common people. This was caused mostly by the fact that the leading politicians had become increasingly incapable of compromise among them, with the result that importantly needed decisions and changes were becoming impossible to arrive at. This reached a sort of peak under President Obama. At the beginning of the Obama presidency, some Republican officials even said explicitly that they intended to see to it that Obama would achieve nothing worthwhile. President Obama responded by significantly rejecting compromise too; and quite often, over difficult issues, he seemed to prefer to go on the road campaigning to the masses of his supporters rather than painstakingly working for compromise with his opponents in Washington DC. The stock of politicians fell sharply. Donald Trump’s initial attraction among some of the masses of Americans was that he was not one of the politicians. As he found this to be a bigger asset than he had first thought, he and his handlers used it more and more – and he said a whole lot of stuff that was far out. Well, it won him the election.

    But can he – can any American president – do some of the wilder things that he has indicated? I doubt it. Most of my friends and colleagues in the American intellectual community doubt it. America is a very solid entity with very solid political traditions. It is very unlikely that President Trump will be able to rock the boat as violently as some of his youthful supporters may expect. Many of the things we fear today concerning him are not likely to materialize. But we shall see.

  • Trump’s America: Tiger by the tail

    Trump’s America: Tiger by the tail

    If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents -African proverb

    There are times and occasions for prolonged grieving. For most of the world reeling from the shock of Donald Trump’s earth-shaking triumph, this is not one of them. Some people can afford deep introspection, some anger and even expressions of intentions to resist a legitimate process. These will be Americans, some of whose choice is still sinking in a world fundamentally influenced by the USA. The rest of the world will be roughly split between those who will submit entirely to a Trump presidency, and others who will look hard at how they can live with it, or in spite of it. Most of the world will be well advised to maintain the highest levels of vigilance over US politics in the next few months before deciding whether to run, stop and fight, or vindicate the philosopher who said in all power relations, the strong will do as they wish, and the weak will suffer as they must.

    A Trump presidency is actually less fearful than the powerful undercurrents which it stirred and rode to power with, leaving much of the world stumped. Somewhere between the outrageous and the improbable, the Trump presidency will find a place that will leave friends and foes searching for those elements they thought will define it. Some of its outlines will linger longer than others, but it is safe to say that America will bear a Trump stamp for the next generation. Millions of voters, and quite possibly millions more who did not vote appear to want an America which shapes the world after itself. They want an America that will be comfortable with its historic negative character expressed in racism, prejudice, bigotry and hate. They want to re-visit settled wisdom around the progress America has made towards cultural and political inclusiveness. They want to interrogate globalisation, world security founded on extensive cooperation and collaboration with allies and some accommodation with traditional foes, and a world in which America shares space with sworn enemies and forces it cannot defeat. They believe it is possible to permanently defeat deeply entrenched political establishments, remove the stranglehold of corporate America from its politics and reverse policies which attempt to bridge wealth and income gaps by taxing the rich. They are against dealing with inner city violence and decay by reforming policing and re-engineering local economies; against welfare policies that improve access of the poor to social nets; against reducing the dominant white colour of America; against foreigners and Muslims and people who draw boundaries around acceptable attitudes and conducts by leaders. They want an America that chooses which battles it will fight, and they want an America that wins all of them.

    Something had happened to America nearly two decades ago that few people had noticed. Since the end of the Bush presidency, it had begun to look like it will reflect all its defining characteristics, but the Clintons’ dynasty and the Obama presidency aroused a resistance that only needed a catalyst to create what Trump called a movement. Mumbling poorly-articulated sentiments and outrageous provocations, he struck a chord among millions of Americans who thought America can be remade. Now that movement will have to be channelled through a governance process that will attempt to balance huge expectations against fierce resistance by US citizens, political establishments, allies and foes. A Trump presidency will find that its traditional allies already have their hands full from the sharp turn to the right which their politics is taking. Between Brexit and a resurgence of far right political parties and sentiments, Europe is divided between those who believe in building walls to keep out deeply-integrated economies and foreigners, and those who see economic progress and security in stronger alliances and regional groupings that entail some limitations to sovereignty. The far right will see a Trump presidency as a boost to its designs to reverse the gains of globalisation, particularly in the creation of a global labour force and dilution of cultural and racial character of nations. The resistance against re-writing 50 years of unrelenting assault on national boundaries, economies and texture will be fierce.

    A Trump presidency will challenge the world, but it does not have to be all doom and gloom for many. The bloodletting in Iraq and Syria and Yemen and Afghanistan will continue as US military top brass argue over what options to pitch to a Trump presidency that may just prefer that the wars will all go away, or go on without American boots, dollars and blood. Russia will reap from indecision and weak American will to assert itself in areas where it is currently competing with it. Europe could re-invent itself with less US muscle in its defence, dusting up quarrels over trade and economic policies with the US. China will push on, building on the weaknesses of advanced industrialised countries. Neighbouring nationals that Trump threatens to wall out will seep through, prodded by hostile governments now less inclined to work with US on controls and economic cooperation. ISIS and other faith-based enemies will find inspiration from a president with registered hostility towards Muslims. They will benefit from the distance of US support and collaboration in fighting armed, home-grown groups in Europe. Belligerent regimes will find new and additional ways to test US might and mood, and nations which count on US cover against them will feel the impact of its retreat, indifference or indecision. In many of the world’s theatres spilling blood and hope, the position the US takes in the next few months will decide whether thousands of people live or die.

    Africa should not expect any favour from a Trump presidency. African nations will have to watch stores very closely as the new US administration scrutinises all policies and programmes involved in Africa-US relations, just in case they reflect elements of the Obama heritage that Trump and his supporters find so offensive. Africa can wait, bowl in hand, for Trump to decide if it will continue to receive US bailouts for its weaknesses and limitations, or it can re-discover its capacities to limit damage and improve its bargaining capacities. Africa could build new foundations for a US-Africa relationship by engaging the new administration in a forward-looking exercise that sensitises it to its importance. By any standard of judgment Africa is of major strategic importance to the US. From the massively-subsidised military regime in Egypt, to the war against Boko Haram in Nigeria and its neighbours, the campaign against Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, the global efforts to limit the dangers of climate-induced poverty in Africa and the scores of conflicts and tensions dotting the continent, the US has become a major partner in African security and development, a partnership less informed by charity than by the imperatives of protecting the position of the world’s leading power. China represents a real threat to US economic and strategic interests in Africa, and a re-engineered African Union and strong regional groupings will make much impact in leading Africa through difficult manoeuvres to exploit competition for its markets and resources. Africa should work with the rest of the world to limit the potential damage of a rampant US administration that deports thousands of non-citizens, and should even raise its voice in defence of African-Americans whose prospects of progress in a nation more defined by colour are likely to dip.

    Leading African nations, such as Nigeria need to adopt positive and enlightened postures in dealing with new challenges from a Trump presidency. The absence of a Nigerian Ambassador to the US and a Permanent Representative at the UN at this moment is most unfortunate, and should be addressed immediately. Nigeria should deploy all goodwill towards the new administration, and seek to reinforce US support for the war against Boko Haram as well as efforts to sustain the development of its democratic institutions and long-term political stability. The US needs to understand the nature of Nigeria’s current recession and their implications for its security and unity. It needs to appreciate the central position of a Nigeria in Africa, as well as respect its capacities to lead Africa in challenging US interest in the Middle East and other parts of the world that are not consistent with Africa’s. US voters made their choice over how their nation should relate with the world. The world now has to decide how it lives with that choice.

  • Trump: Nemesis of American establishment

    Trump: Nemesis of American establishment

    The American electorate have spoken and whatever flaw that may be inherent in their system of choosing their President, a winner has emerged and he is Donald Trump of the Republican Party. America has been the bastion of modern liberal democracy and the rule of law and this system has served them until now and any attempt to alter it to suit the choice of the establishment would be a lethal blow on whatever America represents. The vocal minority have had their say deploying the media as never done before, and the majority have had their way.
    The protest across some cities after the election has been lost and won is the stark reality that there is no perfect system after all in the world. The predictions of pundits, pollsters and bookmakers of a Clinton’s victory have exposed media manipulations that sometimes do not reflect the reality. The world has gone hysteria following the victory of the Republican Donald Trump. It would be wishful thinking to subvert this victory through any constitutional manipulation without very dire consequences whose impact would reverberate over the world.
    The victory of Trump was set in motion when the Democrats decided to choose Hilary Clinton who was the preferred candidate and choice of the party’s establishment with the huge baggage she was carrying rejecting the grand old Bernie Sanders who had large following and the support of the American youths. Pundits and bookmakers sold lies to the anxious world with statistics that was skewed for predetermined end by the media. Donald Trump could have been brash, boisterous and un-presidential but certainly not unelectable having won the primaries of his party.
    The election of Trump is a reflection of the deficit in global leadership and collapse of statesmanship the world over. Furthermore, it a wholesale rejection of the American people of the pacifist leadership of Barack Obama, the first Afro American to have aspired to that exalted office of what could rightly be said to be the President of the world. Obama’s administration witnessed the decline and erosion of American influence across the world for pussyfoot foreign policy without any bite or sting. Obama was an apostle of compromise who read history wrongly when he took the public perception and war fatigue of the American people to mean that America should not take a stand and forcefully too in the global order when it matters. This has seen Vladimir Putin Russia emerging in global leadership after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. He had drawn line in the sand in conflict zones of the world and a red line in Syria should Assad deploy chemical weapons only to chew his words and expose the new America as not master of its own word in the new world order.
    This saw the ordinary Syrians abandoned by the world; not even pictures of children, woman and elderly being bombed out their homes could elicit and rally world support to engage Bashar al-Assad politically and possibly, militarily. This was in the main because the moving voice of America has been lost in the placating Obama government and reluctance to employ reasonable force which America was noted for whether correctly or otherwise at the risk of meddling with the domestic affairs of such fascist government and dictatorship that turn against its own citizens.
    What is more disturbing is the intemperate reactions of respected global citizens and celebrities at run up to the election which was lacking in circumspection and deep reflection as required in their positions. This is in addition to the fear that hangs on the whole world like a spectre that the world could come to an end with a Trump government. Trump may have been irrational on the issue of immigrants, women, and disabled people. He is no doubt rambunctious and an iconoclast and may not know a jack about foreign policy because as he is often referred to an outsider and if you like, a trader. He represents a protest movement and a revolution that the world needs for now to tear down the oppression of the masses by political, business and intellectual elites that are selfish and mindlessly exploitative; manipulating the bureaucracy of the state.
    A Trump’s presidency may as well be the signal for the fall of the American empire to obey the law of gravity; as empires rise and fall.
    To those elements who consider immigration to the America as the only way to decent living and meal tickets, they have to realise that the Americas was built by its people whether they were immigrants or not. We should be ready to build our own America right here in our different countries. We should start by stop the stealing of our resources and sending to the West to develop their economy. Nigerians should learn from this political Tsunami that has just occurred in the United States of America and be ready to change the status quo ante so that the Nigerian electorates would chase out this thieving political elite who prefer to deploy the security forces to cow the ordinary citizens and subject the masses to harsh economic conditions demanding taxes from the poor for the exotic life style of the rich.
    It is doubtful if the United States is as endowed as Nigeria in natural resources but it has been blessed with cerebral leadership until recently. What is lacking in Nigeria is leadership and the will to drive the nation in a new direction. This is a new wind of change and the nemesis of the establishment and state bureaucracy that the masses should take advantage of. The world should wake up to the reality that the neo-liberal democracy and economic order of capitalism has reached its elastic end and may just give way to the competing ideology.

    •Kebonkwu Esq, a lawyer writes from Abuja

  • It’s going to be America first, says Trump

    It’s going to be America first, says Trump

    What kind of a first lady do you think Melania’s going to be?
    She will be terrific. She is very strong and very confident, but she’s very warm. And I think she’ll have a platform where she’ll really be able to do a lot of good. And that’s what she wants to do.
    Did you ask Melania sort of, for permission, in a way, to run for president? Did you get her approval?
    Well, I actually sat down with Melania and my whole family and we talked about it. Don, Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany. Barron to a lesser extent, but Barron too. Um, because in a way, he’s affected every bit as much. May be more. And so we all had a dinner and I said, “I would like to do this. I think I can do a great job.” And I wanted to get, number one, a consensus and number two, ideally, their permission. And they all agreed.
    Are you prepared, both of you, for the lack of privacy and the intense scrutiny?And you know, first ladies are really criticized if one little hair’s out of place. Are you both prepared for this?
    I will say, it is on a different scale now, ‘cause I’ve had a lot. But I’ve never had anything like this
    FBI director James Comey. Are you going to ask for his resignation?
    I think that I would rather not comment on that yet. I haven’t made up my mind. I respect him a lot. I respect the FBI a lot. I think…
    Even though they leak so much?
    Well, there’s been a lotta leaking, there’s no question about that. But I would certainly like to talk to him. And see him. This is a tough time for him. And I would like to talk to him before I’d answer a question like that.
    Sounds like you’re not sure.
    Well, sure, I’m not sure. I’d wanna see, you know, he may have had very good reasons for doing what he did.
    Are you gonna release your tax returns?
    At the appropriate time, I will release them. But right now I’m under routine audit. Nobody cares. The only one who cares is, you know, you and a few people that asked that question. Obviously, the public didn’t care because I won the election very easily. So, they don’t care. I never thought they did care.
    Now, for months, you were running around saying that the system is rigged, the whole thing was rigged. You tweeted once that the Electoral College is a disaster for democracy.
    I do.
    So, do you still think it’s rigged?
    Well, I won with the Electoral College.
    Exactly.B ut do you think it’s rigged?
    Yeah, some of the election locations are. Some of the system is. I hated….
    Even though you won you’re saying that
    You know, I’m not going to change my mind just because I won. But I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. There’s a reason for doing this because it brings all the states into play. Electoral College and there’s something very good about that. But this is a different system. But I respect it. I do respect the system.
    What about vacations? You’re not going to take any vacations? You’ve said that…
    We have so much work. There’s so much work to be done. And I want to get it done for the people. I want to get it done. We’re lowering taxes, we’re taking care of healthcare. I mean, there’s just so much to be done. So, I don’t think we’ll be very big on vacations, no.
    Are you gonna take the salary, the president’s salary?
    Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no. I think I have to bylaw take $1. So, I’ll take $1 a year. Do you know what the salary is?
    $400,000 you’re giving up.
    No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.
    I want to ask you all about something that’s going on right now around the country. A lot of people are afraid. They’re really afraid. African-Americans think there’s a target on their back. Muslims are terrified.
    I think it’s horrible if that’s happening. I think it’s built up by the press because, frankly, they’ll take every single little incident that they can find in this country, which could’ve been there before. If I weren’t even around doing this, and they’ll make into an event because that’s the way the press is.
    One of the groups that’s expressing fear are the LGBTQ group.
    And yet I mentioned them at the Republican National Convention.
    You did
    Everybody said, “That was so great.” I have been, you know, I’ve been a supporter.
    Well, I guess the issue for them is marriage equality. Do you support marriageequality?
    It’s irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done.
    So, even if you appoint a judge that—
    It’s done. These cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled. And, I’m fine with that.
    One of the issues that has come up in the campaign is your temperament.
    They spent $1 billion against me on the word “Temperament.” It was given by Madison Avenue. And they thought that, by temperament, they could maybe, you know, win the election. Obviously, it didn’t work because we’re here and they’re not. And I think my strongest asset is my temperament because I have a temperament where we win and we’re going to start winning again. We’re going to win on trade, we’re going to win at the borders, we’re going to knock out ISIS.
    You have said that you’re gonna destroy ISIS. Now, how are you going to?
    I don’t tell you that. I don’t tell you that. I’m not like the people going in right now and fighting Mosul and theyannounce it four months before they went into Mosul and everybody from the leaders of ISIS have left. Why do I have to tell you that?
    Troops on the ground?
    I’m not gonna say anything. I don’t want to tell them anything. I don’t want to tell anybody anything
    Yeah, but what about the American people.
    I wanna do the job. We have some great generals. We have great generals.
    You said you knew more than the generals about ISIS
    Well, I’ll be honest with you, I probably do because look at the job they’ve done. Ok, look at the job they’ve done. They haven’t done the job. Now, maybe it’s leadership, maybe it’s something else. Who knows? All I can tell you is we’re going to get rid of ISIS.
    Let me ask you about Obamacare, which you say you’re going to repeal and replace. When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with pre-conditions are still covered?
    Yes. Because it happens to be one of the strongest assets.
    You’re going to keep that?
    Also, with the children living with their parents for an extended period, we’re gonna—
    You’re gonna keep that—
    Very much try and keep that. Adds cost, but it’s very much something we’re going to try and keep.
    And there’s going to be a period if you repeal it and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose -no?
    No, we’re going to do it simultaneously. It’ll be just fine. We’re not going to have, like, a two-day period and we’re not going to have a two-year period where there’s nothing. It will be repealed and replaced. And we’ll know. And it’ll be great healthcare for much less money. So, it’ll be better health care, much better, for less money. Not a bad combination.
    Let me ask whether the campaign has hurt the Trump brand.
    I think what Ivanka’s trying to say, “Who cares? Who cares?” This is big league stuff. This is our country. Our country is going bad. We’re going to save our country. I don’t care about hotel occupancy. It’s peanuts compared to what we’re doing. Healthcare is making people better. It’s unfair what’s happened to the people of our country and we’re going to change it. As simple as that.
    Concluded

  • ‘It’s going to be America first’, says Trump

    ‘It’s going to be America first’, says Trump

    United States (U.S.) President-elect Donald Trump, in his first interview on CBS television, speaks of his meeting with President Barack Obama, his perception of the Clinton family and his vision for the world’s super power. He says America will be the centrepiece of his administration’s policy. Excerpts.

    You’re president-elect.

    Thank you.

    How surprised were you?

    Donald Trump: Well, I really felt we were doing well. I was on a string of about 21 straight days of speeches, sometimes many a day and the last two days I really had a pretty wild time. I did six speeches and then I did seven and….

    But everyone thought you were going to lose.

    Donald Trump: I know, I did my final speech in Michigan at 1:00 in the morning and we had 31,000 people, many people outside of the arena. When I left, I said, “How are we gonna lose?” We set it up a day before. And we had all of these people. And it was literally at 1:00 in the morning and I said, “This doesn’t look like second place.” So, we were really happy, I mean, it was— these are great people.

    On election night, I heard you went completely silent. Was it a sort of realisation of the enormity of this thing for you?

    I think so, it’s enormous. I’ve done a lot of big things, I’ve never done anything like this. It is so big, it’s so enormous, it’s so amazing.

    It kind of just took your breath away? Couldn’t talk?

    A little bit, a little bit. And I think— I realised that this is a whole different life for me now.

    Hillary called you. Tell us about that phone call.

    Donald Trump: So Hillary called and it was a lovely call and it was a tough call for her, I mean, I can imagine. Tougher for her than it would have been for me. And for me, it would have been very, very difficult. She couldn’t have been nicer. She just said, “Congratulations, Donald, well done.” And I said, “I want to thank you very much, you were a great competitor.” She is very strong and very smart.

    What about Bill Clinton? Did you talk to him?

    He did, he called the next day.

    Really? What did he say?

    He actually called last night.

    What did he say?

    He couldn’t have been more gracious. He said it was an amazing run. One of the most amazing he’s ever seen.

    He said that.

    He was very, very— really, very nice.

    It was a pretty nasty campaign. Do you regret any of the things you said about her?

    Well, it was a double-side nasty. I mean they were tough and I was tough and—do I regret? I mean, I’m sitting here with you now and we’re gonna do a great job for the country. We’re going to make America great again, I mean, it began with that and that’s where we are right now. There are so many.

    So no regrets about….

    Donald Trump: I can’t regret. I wish it were softer, I wish it were nicer, I wish maybe even it was more on policy, or whatever you want to say. But I will say that it really is something that I’m very proud of.  I mean it was a tremendous campaign.

    Can we talk about yesterday with President Obama?

    Sure. We talked about foreign policy, we talked about domestic policy. This was just going to be a quick little chat and it lasted close to an hour and a half. And it could have gone on for four hours. I mean it was in fact, it was almost hard breaking it up because we had so many things to say. And he told me the good things and the bad things, there are things that are tough right now.

    Like what?

    Well, I don’t want to divulge, but we talked about the Middle-East, that’s tough. It’s a tough situation. I wanted to get his full view and I got his, you know I got a good part of his view. And I like having that because I’m going to be inheriting that in a short period of time. I found him to be terrific. I found him to be very smart and very nice. Great sense of humor, as much as you can have a sense of humor talking about tough subjects, but we were talking about some pretty tough subjects. We were talking about some victories, also, some things that he feels very good about. But what I really wanted to focus on was the Middle-East, North Korea, Obamacare is tough. You know, healthcare is a tough situation.

    Oh, I bet he asked you not to undo it.

    Well, he didn’t ask me, no, he told me the merits and the difficulties. And we understand that.

    You looked pretty sober sitting there in the Oval Office, did something wash over you or…

    No, I think I’m a sober person. I think the press tries to make you into something a little bit different. In my case, a little bit of a wild man. I’m not. I’m actually not. I’m a very sober person. But it was respect for the office; it was respect for the president. Again, I never met him before, but we had a very good chemistry going. And I really found it might not be that I agree with him, but I really found the conversation unbelievably interesting.

    Was it at all awkward, at all, given what you’ve said about each other? You said he was not born in this country, he said things about you. He said you’re unqualified…

    You know what, it was a very interesting thing because few people have asked me from my family, what was that first period of time like? We never discussed what was said about each other. I said terrible things about him, he said terrible things about me. We never ever discussed what we said about each other.

    There was no awkwardness?

    I’ll be honest, from my standpoint zero, zero. And that’s strange. I’m actually surprised to tell you that. It’s a little bit strange.

    Do you think  your election is a repudiation of his presidency?

    Donald Trump: No, I think it’s a moment in time where politicians for a long period of time have let people down. They’ve let ‘em down on the job front. They’ve even let ‘em down in terms of the war front. You know, we’ve been fighting this war for 15 years

    This was the message of your campaign.

    We’ve spent $6 trillion in the Middle-East. $6 trillion, we could have rebuilt our country twice. And you look at our roads and our bridges and our tunnels. Our airports are, like, obsolete. And I think it was just a repudiation of what’s been taking place over a longer period of time than that.

    You know, you surprised everyone by winning the primaries, beating 17 other Republicans or 16, people are really surprised that you won this election. Are people going to be surprised about how you conduct yourself as president?

    You know, I’ll conduct myself in a very good manner, but that depends on what the situation is. Sometimes you have to be rougher. When I look at the world and you look at how various places are taking advantage of our country, and I say it, and I say it very proudly, it’s going to be America first. It’s not going to be what we’re doing. We’re losing this country. That’s why I won the election. And by the way, won it easily, I mean I won easily. That was big, big.

    Are you going to sometimes have that same rhetoric that you had on the stump? Or are you going to rein it in?

    Well, sometimes you need certain rhetoric to get people motivated. I don’t want to be just a little nice monotone character and in many cases I will be.

    Can you be?

    Sure I can. I can be easily, that’s easier. Honestly to do that, it’s easier.

    So, let’s go through very quickly some of the promises you made and tell us if you’re going to do what you said or you’re going to change it in any way. Are you really going to build a wall?

    Yes.

    They’re talking about a fence in the Republican Congress, would you accept a fence?

    For certain areas I would, but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I’m very good at this, it’s called construction.

    So, part wall, part fence?

    Yeah, it could be some fencing.

    What about the pledge to deport millions and millions of undocumented immigrants?

    What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally. After the border is secured and after everything gets normalised, we’re going to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about, who are terrific people, they’re terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that. But before we make that determination it’s very important, we want to secure our border.

    So, you were with Paul Ryan, you met with the Republican leadership, what was the thing that you all agreed you want to get done right away?

    Well, I would say there was more than one thing, there were three things, it was healthcare, there was immigration and there was a major tax bill lowering taxes in this country. We’re going to substantially simplify and lower the taxes.

    And you’ve got both Houses?

    And I have both Houses and we have the presidency, so, we can do things…

    You can do things lickety-split.

    It’s been a long time since it’s happened. And they gave me a lot of credit. Don’t forget, I was abused four or five weeks ago, they said I was going to— instead of having all three, we would lose all three. So, that was good. But those are the three things that we really discussed.

    You said that lobbyists owned politicians because they give them money.

    Yeah.

    You admitted you used to do it yourself. You have a transition team…

    And when you say lobbyists, lobbyists and special interests.

    And you want to get rid of all of that?

    I don’t like it, no.

    You don’t like it, but your own transition team, it’s filled with lobbyists.

    That’s the only people you have down there.

    You have lobbyists from Verizon, you have lobbyists from the oil gas industry, you have food lobby.

    Sure. Everybody’s a lobbyist down there, that’s what they are. They’re lobbyists or special interests. We are trying to clean up Washington. Look, there are all people that work, that’s the problem with the system. Right now, we’re going to clean it up. We’re having restrictions on foreign money coming in, we’re going to put on term limits, which a lot of people aren’t happy about, but we’re putting on term limits. We’re doing a lot of things to clean up the system. But everybody that works for government, they then leave government and they become lobbyists, essentially. I mean, the whole place is one big lobbyist.

    But you’re basically saying you have to rely on them, even though you want to get rid of them?

    I’m saying that they know the system right now, but we’re going to phase that out. You have to phase it out.

    Let’s talk about your cabinet. Tell us, have you made any decision?

    Yes. Well, I can’t tell you that. You know the amazing thing to show you the incredible nature of our country. First of all, every major leader and probably less than major leaders, has called me, I’ve spoken to many of them and I’ll call the rest of them, but and I said, “Boy, this really shows you how powerful our country is.” France and U.K. and I mean everybody, all over Asia and just to congratulate. But it really shows the power of our country.

    One of the things you’re going to obviously get an opportunity to do, is name someone to the Supreme Court. And I assume you’ll do that quickly?

    Yes. Very important.

    During the campaign, you said that you would appoint justices who were against abortion rights. Will you appoint a justice who wants to overturn Roe v. Wade?

    So, look, here’s what’s going to happen, the judges will be pro-life. They’ll be pro-life, they’ll be – in terms of the whole gun situation, we know the Second Amendment and everybody’s talking about the Second Amendment and they’re trying to dice it up and change it. They’re going to be very pro-Second Amendment. But having to do with abortion if it ever were overturned, it would go back to the states. So, it would go back to the states and—

    But then, some women won’t be able to get an abortion?

    No, it’ll go back to the states. They’ll perhaps have to go, they’ll have to go to another state.

    And that’s ok?

    Well, we’ll see what happens. It’s got a long way to go, just so you understand. That has a long, long way to go.

    Are you in any way intimidated, scared about this enormous burden, the gravity of what you’re taking on?

    No. Lesley Stahl: Not at all? I respect it. But I’m not scared by it.

    Now, you’re not scared, but there are people, Americans, who are scared and some of them are demonstrating right now, demonstrating against you, against your rhetoric—

    That’s only because they don’t know me. I really believe that’s only because —

    Well, they listened to you in the campaign and that’s….

    I just don’t think they know me.

    Well, what do you think they’re demonstrating against?

    Well, I think in some cases, you have professional protesters. And we had it – if you look at WikiLeaks, we had….

    You think those people down there are professionals?

    Oh, I think some of them will be professionals. They’re in every city.

    When they demonstrate against you and there are signs out there, I mean, don’t you say to yourself, I guess you don’t, you know, do I have to worry about this? Do I have to go out and assuage them? Do I have to tell them not to be afraid? They’re afraid.

    I would tell them don’t be afraid, absolutely.

    But that’s not what you’re saying, I said it…

    Oh, I think, no, no, I think I am saying it, I’ve been saying it.

    Ok.

    Don’t be afraid. We are going to bring our country back. But certainly, don’t be afraid. You know, we just had an election and sort of like you have to be given a little time. I mean, people are protesting. If Hillary had won and if my people went out and protested, everybody would say, “Oh, that’s a terrible thing.” And it would have been a much different attitude. There is a different attitude. You know, there is a double standard here. It has been five full days since the election and anti-Trump demonstrations, driven in part by Hillary Clinton’s edge in the popular vote, have been significant. I am very surprised to hear that— I hate to hear that, I mean I hate to hear that.

    Lesley Stahl: But you do hear it?

    Donald Trump: I don’t hear it—I saw one or two instance

    Lesley Stahl: On social media?

    Donald Trump: But I think it’s a very small amount. Again, I think it’s…

    Lesley Stahl: Do you want to say anything to those people?

    Donald Trump: I would say don’t do it, that’s terrible, ‘cause I’m gonna bring this country together.

    Lesley Stahl: They’re harassing Latinos, Muslims…

    Donald Trump: I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, “Stop it.” If it it helps. I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it.

    Lesley Stahl: I want to ask you about the tweet that you put out, I think it was last night or the night before, about these demonstrators. You said that they were professionals and you said it was unfair.

    Donald Trump: I said some of them. Some of them are —

    Lesley Stahl: But are you going to be tweeting and whatever you’re upset about just put out there when you’re president.

    Donald Trump: So, it’s a modern form of communication, between Facebook and Twitter and I guess Instagram, I have 28 million people.

    Lesley Stahl: So, you are going to keep it up?

    Donald Trump: It’s a great form of communication. Now, do I say I’ll give it up entirely and throw out, that’s a tremendous form I pick up? I’m picking up now, I think I picked up yesterday (last Thursday) 100,000 people. I’m not saying I love it, but it does get the word out. When you give me a bad story, or when you give me an inaccurate story, or when somebody other than you and another network, or whatever, ‘cause of course, CBS would never do a thing like that right? I have a method of fighting back. That’s very tough—

    Lesley Stahl: But you’re going to do that as president?

    Donald Trump: I’m going to do very restrained, if I use it at all, I’m going to do very restrained. I find it tremendous. It’s a modern form of communication. There should be nothing you should  be ashamed of. It’s where it’s at. I do believe this, I really believe that, um— the fact that I have such power in terms of numbers with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et cetera, I think it helped me win all of these races where they’re spending much more money than I spent. You know, I spent my money, a lot of my money. And I won. I think that social media has more power than the money they spent, and I think maybe to a certain extent, I proved that.

    Lesley Stahl: Are you going to ask for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton over here mails? And are you, as you had said to her face, going to try and put her in jail?

    Donald Trump: Well, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to think about it. Um, I feel that I want to focus on jobs, I want to focus on healthcare, I want to focus on the border and immigration and doing a really great Immigration Bill. And I want to focus on all of these other things that we’ve been talking about.

    Lesley Stahl: You called her “crooked Hillary,” said you wanted to get in jail, your people in your audiences kept saying, “Lock em’ up.”

    Donald Trump: She did some bad things. I mean she did some bad things—

    Lesley Stahl: I know, but a special prosecutor? You think you might…

    Donald Trump: I don’t want to hurt them. I don’t want to hurt them. They’re good people. I don’t want to hurt them. And I will give you a very, very good and definitive answer the next time we do 60 minutes together.

  • Trump: Globalization gobbles self

    Trump: Globalization gobbles self

    Just as well Himself the Osoko, Ayodele Fayose, has mouthed his usual “plebeian-nity” on the Donald Trump upset in the American presidential election of November 8.

    “It is … a turning point for Nigeria and Nigerians, particularly those controlling the federal government that must change their ways as their allies who imposed them on us just lost out,” he gloated.  “Most importantly, President Barrack Obama got what he did to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.”

    As apt as a butcher jiving on the latest high-tech surgery, isn’t it?

    And pray, what did Obama do to Jonathan?  Voted with Nigerians to throw out that un-presidential disaster?   Or conspired to “rig the polls” against Jonathan,  as Trump, Third World gift to America, would have mouthed?

    Only in Fayoseland of vile demagoguery and mischief, powered by sweet ignorance!

    Besides, the Fayose triumphalism — over nothing, really — is not unexpected.  What did Awo say?  Only the deep can call to the deep!  But flip that:  only the shallow can call to the shallow!

    So, if the  Ekiti governor foams in the mouth, in his infantile triumph, it is because in President-elect Donald Trump, he has found a kindred spirit, across the Atlantic, in uppity America, in political buffoonery!

    Eight years after Bush the Son, and his presidential contagion on the globe over eight calamitous years, if the global bastion of presidential democracy still elects a Donald Trump, it just shows the direction they want to take their country.  That is perfectly legitimate and democratic.

    Still, Trump’s election is perhaps the first in American modern history to face angry protests, ala the Third World, with many, in rage, reportedly calling him “not my president”.  But again, Americans’ funeral!

    At the end of the day, whoever the Americans elect is their business — to enjoy or to endure.

    Ripples’ business — and that ought to be every thinking Nigerian’s — is what lessons Nigeria can learn from the American choice.

    Over the ages, there has been a roaring debate over the core of man: good or evil.

    The Scot, T. M. Ballantyne, in The Coral Island (1858), voted for the innate goodness of man, with the excellent and civilizing conduct of three British school boys, survivors marooned, after a ship-wreck, on a coral island, off the Pacific Ocean.

    But two World Wars later, Englishman and Nobel Prize for Literature winner, William Golding, pushed a counter and darker narrative, in Lord of the Flies (1954): that the core of man was evil, given the way some British school boys, despite their elite education, descended into savages.  They too were trapped on another island, following a crash-landing.

    This ultra-dark side of the American psyche, it would appear, the Trump phenomenon has tapped and awakened: racism, bigotry, dictatorship, xenophobia, misogyny and nativism — all Trumpian monsters that threaten to turn America’s vaunted utopia into a stark dystopia.

    From the noise and fury in American streets, spanning 25 cities as at the last count, is it then morning yet on the Trump debacle day?

    Still, something dire always awakens the human monster, so conventionally hidden.

    In the fictive Lord of the Flies, a grim locale shred the conventional veneer of civility, to expose a rotten core of sheer savagery.

    But in real-life Trump’s America, it is globalization (euphemism for investor greed), savagely gobbling its own.

    Down the ages, Western thinkers always came up with a deodorizing philosophy, to veil the extant evil playing out.

    During colonization, it was Christianization, and its sacred imperative for missionary trips.  But that only hid Europe’s criminal greed; and its abhorrent culturicide against non-European peoples.

    Perhaps it was sweet coincidence that slave trade, in the British Empire, exited in 1846, after the Industrial Revolution’s triumphal entry, between 1760 and 1840.

    But it should take no especial acuity to figure that slave trade only exited because labour’s primacy in the production chain was dwindling.  Yet, some smart Western minds insisted its abolition was due to their high minds, and not the low profit — if any at all — trading in slaves was posting.

    “Globalization” is the latest of those buzzwords, intended to hide the cruel greed of “capital” (euphemism for ultra-greedy investors).  However, this time round, this was a  Western coup against the West; a coup by an infinitesimal few, against the bulk of their people.

    It is this elite greed that would make America toss its factories to Mexico and China, and assume it is chic; and crow its people are cool about a so-called post-industrial age.   Trump clearly shows they are not.

    With that new dogma, America must “import” what it could produce, simply because its capitalists are scouring the globe for “cheap” labour, and less exacting environmental laws, to maximize profit!

    That irrational philosophy birthed the irrational rage that birthed Donald Trump and consumed Hillary Clinton, and her otherwise golden history as Uncle Sam’s first female president, after Barrack Obama, its first Black president.

    But the real tragedy here is not America settling for chaff instead of solid gold: for Mrs Clinton would appear the most prepared, if not the most qualified for that job, in American contemporary history.

    It is rather the Nigerian elite that parrot, without thinking, the so-called “globalization”, as some canticle of merry self-destruction, by pathetic house negroes, desperate to be counted in metropolitan economic orthodoxy!

    You could see it in an Okonjo-Iweala counting the beans and cooking the books, while the real economy went comatose.  You could see it in a Soludo theorizing and be damned on NEEDS and SEEDS. You could see it in the glum orthodoxy of the Olusegun Obasanjo years.  Merry destination?  This present reality of economic death!

    Their victorious, if tragic, whoop?  Firm out this, out-source that!  Even despite producing crude oil, you must shun refining but import processed fuel.  With massive land, you must also import your food since you have cash to sell yourself short.

    Your universities?  They are infra-dig for your scions.  Send them to American universities.  Send your wives — and girlfriends — to deliver in American maternities, and come back with Baby American Citizen to crow, in high but empty conceit, about how you — and your baby — are American!

    Well, it’s Trump country now and the game is up!  America may well decline by voting Caveman Trump.

    But maybe that shock therapy would force the Nigerian elite to know you don’t solve your problems by fleeing from them.

    If only that singular lesson is learnt, maybe the Clinton loss and whatever it forebodes for America may well be good for Nigeria.

    Perhaps after all, there is something good in globalization trumping its own; and Trump’s America receding into its nativist, racist (and maybe fascist), misogynist and xenophobic mode!

  • Trump’s nationalism

    If Donald Trump, the president-elect, of the United States of America (USA) lives up his campaign-rhetoric as president, the gains of democracy across the world may witness a retreat. Indeed, unless he recants some of his ultra-nationalistic campaign promises, the USA under Trump may willingly give up most of that country’s reputation as the world police for the advancement of western liberal democracy. That scenario is made even more possible with the recent Brexit which also turned USA’s most important ally, Britain, away from the world, starting from her own family organ, the European Union.

    So, could the recent triumph of the British and American nationalistic political tendencies, emblematized by Brexit and Donald Trump, signal the beginning of a new world order? Most likely. In the words of Michael Dorning of Bloomberg, “Trump’s agenda is blunt-edged and dramatic, a tonic to right a country gone astray, in the eyes of his voters: Build a wall. Deport undocumented immigrants. Ban immigration from many Muslim countries. Renegotiate trade deals or abandon them. Make NATO allies pay more toward their own defence and make America great again”. No word about advancing democracy around the world, take less of sparing American resources or occasionally her soldiers’ blood, to push the frontiers of democracy.

    In the eyes of Trump and his supporters, their leaders had gone astray chasing the advancement of a phantom world-order at the detriment of making America great for Americans. For them, the time has come to reclaim their America and to do that everybody should stay in their own country. And if need be, they would invade other countries or seize their national assets if that would help to make America great again. According to Daniel Lippman, of the Economist: “A Donald Trump presidency poses a top-10 risk event that could disrupt the world economy, lead to political chaos in the U.S. and heighten security risks for the United States, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit”.

    Lippman wrote further: “Trump’s controversial remarks on Muslims would be a gift to “potential recruiters who have long been trying to paint the U.S. as an anti-Muslim country. His rhetoric will certainly help that recruiting effort,” said Robert Powell, global risk briefing manager at EIU”. According to the report, one of Trump’s promises while campaigning was that if he wins, he would invade Syria in pursuit of ISIS, take over the oil resources of the country which the criminals use to fund their insurgency and forcefully use the proceeds to pay his country’s costs for fighting the Muslim extremists.

    That rhetoric is quite similar to his threat to build a wall along his country’s border with Mexico, the cost of which he would force Mexico to bear. Of course he has promised to either abrogate or renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement, (NAFTA), which allows for free trade with Mexico and Canada. In the run-up to the election, he had heaped America’s economic woes on NAFTA, particularly on Mexico, whose citizens he rails at, for taking American jobs. But in 2015, the US Congressional Research Service summarized several studies this way: “In reality, NAFTA did not cause the huge job losses feared by the critics or the large economic gains predicted by supporters.”

    The research went on to conclude: “The net overall effect of NAFTA on the US economy appears to have been relatively modest, primarily because trade with Canada and Mexico accounts for a small percentage of US GDP.” But President-elect Trump is not interested in such statistics, as he has already indicted his intention to meet the Mexican president. While he is elected to protect American interest, pushing an agenda that may result in xenophobia is worrisome. Indeed, there is the report that if Trump pushes his agenda on NAFTA, Canada and Mexico may go into an economic recession.

    What started out as a joke for Americans in June 2015, when Trump declared to run for the presidency, may yet turn to the world’s 21st century nightmare. According to Sam Stein of Huffington Post, the list of what Trump promised include: “sell junk to Saudi Arabia, since the goods we send them are blown up anyway; turn off that spigot of sending money to China (in the form of debt payments) by taxing them “until they behave properly”; call up the head of the Ford Motor Company and tell them they are going to be taxed at 35 percent for every car coming from Mexico until they decide to nix their plant in Mexico City and find the General Patton or General MacArthur from within the U.S. armed forces to “make it really work” in the Middle East”.

    So, the language of Trump from day-one has been that of an ultra-nationalist, who would be willing to do anything, whether legal or illegal, as long as it serves his promise of making America great again. With Trump boasting openly that he will deal underhandedly with militarily strong nations like China, neighbours and economic partners like Mexico, and even more ruthlessly with countries like Saudi Arabia, there is justifiable fear that Africa, nay Nigeria, may feature very remotely in the group of people he has any interest in their welfare.

    While he is entitled to wish all Africans out of his country, he has not paused to contemplate how his great grand-fathers became Americans. He has also not considered the impact of globalisation, championed by World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other multi-lateral agencies and ruthlessly promoted by America and its allies, on the economy of third world countries like Nigeria.

    Unless President-elect Trump doesn’t give a damn about what happens to the human race, his ultra-nationalistic tendencies may lead to the first real world war, because the first and second world wars were originally European wars, which later ensnared America and the rest of the world. For it is difficult to see how Trump will pursue his dubious election promises without rousing nationalistic movements across the world, with all its consequences. If Trump pushes his agenda, then there may be no need for the United Nations (UN) as the chief organ for mediation in world politics and trade, the primary causes of war. If Trump pursues his predisposition to military might, instead of projecting moral leadership to the world, there is the possibility that by the time he entangles his country in several conflicts at a time, he will end up weakening instead of enhancing American leadership.

    Again, how the Trump challenge will impact on weak democracies particularly in third world countries needs to be studied. Many so called third-world democracies, in my view, would fail, if America’s influence and pressure, which acts as deterrence against anti-democratic forces wanes. But the political leadership in a weak democracy like Nigeria could also rise to the occasion, by organising itself and re-inventing a realistic democratic model, to accommodate the divergent centrifugal nation-states, searing at its seams.

  • Lessons of Trump whitelash

    Lessons of Trump whitelash

    Days after the phenomenal whitelash of November 8, I came across an article by Simon Jenkins in The Guardian of London. It was something of a prognosis of Trump presidency. Titled “Be Calm: trump is not the worst and won’t go unchallenged”, he had written: ‘This is not about sanitising the unthinkable. It is about adjusting to a new reality. Trump is not the worst candidate to become president. He has to beat Andrew Jackson, Warren Harding and Richard Nixon for that title. He is unknown and unqualified rather than proven to be incompetent’.

    By no means a consolation to the throng out there who, unable to find any redeeming grace in the prospect of a Trump presidency have come to see it as the modern equivalent of Armageddon, rather, it sought to draw attention to the infinite power of the country’s institutions to rein in a wayward president.  I guess the throng would include the allies of the world’s sole superpower, whose leaderships, assailed by his nativist instinct and jarring demagoguery, are forced to recalibrate their position in the wake of the emphatic victory of the individual who not only swore to make America great again but has promised “to bring our country back”.   The exceptions of course would be the Nigel Farages and Marine Le Pens of this world whose far right positions are fast changing the face of European politics.

    Howbeit, the reality is that the world is today stuck with a man who not only defied the books but broke every known rule in his journey to the White House. A man who proposed to ban Muslims – albeit temporarily – from entering the United States; an individual who derided Latinos, Africans and who promised to deport some 11 million illegal immigrants; who not only promised to scrap the Trans-Pacific Trade pact but to build a wall along the Mexican border – is now president-elect.

    Need we say more? A man which Washington Post’s celebrated right-leaning columnist Charles Krauthammer once described as “authentic” but “unelectable”; of whom he had painted an unflattering character sketch days after he attacked the Gold Star family: “I used to think Trump was an 11-year-old, an undeveloped schoolyard bully. I was off by about 10 years. His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied. He lives in a cocoon of solipsism where the world outside himself has value — indeed exists — only insofar as it sustains and inflates him…Most politicians seek approval. But Trump lives for the adoration. He doesn’t even try to hide it, boasting incessantly about his crowds, his standing ovations, his TV ratings, his poll numbers, his primary victories. The latter are most prized because they offer empirical evidence of how loved and admired he is…”

    That is the newly elected leader of the so-called free world.

    I have read Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter, his 100-day anchor designed to restore prosperity to America’s economy, security to communities, and honesty to government. Undoubtedly, the document which purports to speak to the primacy of America’s interest merely taps into the anger and deep frustrations of a class of Americans left behind by the forces of globalization. In the context of the anti-immigration sentiment sweeping through Europe and America, it seems the perfect setting for the toxic brew of isolationism championed by Brexiters and now Trump.

    I don’t think it’s time for the world to mourn. There would be enough time in the coming months to bewail what happened to America. What the world should brace for at this time is a presidency that would be defined more by symbols than any real substance in the long run. For a good number of the voters who jumped on the Trump train which promise of the good life, it seems only a matter of time before they discover that the smooth-talking billionaire, who obviously thought it was chic to exude raw power, and who believed that it was a smart thing not to pay federal taxes, actually conned them.

    There are however positive lessons to take from the Trump challenge. Topmost is his idea of putting his country America first. Never mind America’s claims about being the global policeman, Trump obviously understood that his charity should begin right from his front door. Obviously, if the president-elect thought little of the trade deals which, in his view, disadvantaged his country, he has practically no patience for the open trade promoted in the guise of globalization which has turned swathes of manufacturing complexes into abandoned warehouses while the country turns to China and Mexico for imports. A country like Nigeria whose leaders, apart from pretending to be more catholic than the Pope, are known to perennially whine over issues of trade to the extent that landscape which once boasted of vibrant manufacturing concerns have now become empty storehouses, it seems there is some lesson they can take here. I think one of the greatest tragedies of leadership on the continent is the penchant to pander to interests other than those of the electors. Again, our leaders could do with some basic lessons on how to connect with the people from the American president-elect.

    Like in trade so it is with security. Trump for instance, would have NATO understand that the burden of security would henceforth be a shared one. To the Russians, he would rather find common cause rather than embark on adversarial moves that have proven to be quite often, needless and unhelpful. Thanks to Trump, it seems obvious now that the NATO security framework would have to be overhauled at some point. In a country where money and materials come before strategic thinking, our leaders could do with a page in the Trump manual to understand how to put the nation’s strategic interests first. It seems about time our leaders begin to properly articulate the nation’s interest in the sometimes complex matrix of global politics.

    There is no better time than this, in my view, for the Nigerian government to reclaim our country back – for us.

  • It’s going to be America first, says Trump

    It’s going to be America first, says Trump

    What kind of a first lady do you think Melania’s going to be?

    She will be terrific. She is very strong and very confident, but she’s very warm. And I think she’ll have a platform where she’ll really be able to do a lot of good. And that’s what she wants to do.

    Did you ask Melania sort of, for permission, in a way, to run for president? Did you get her approval?

    Well, I actually sat down with Melania and my whole family and we talked about it. Don, Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany. Barron to a lesser extent, but Barron too. Um, because in a way, he’s affected every bit as much. May be more. And so we all had a dinner and I said, “I would like to do this. I think I can do a great job.” And I wanted to get, number one, a consensus and number two, ideally, their permission. And they all agreed.

    Are you prepared, both of you, for the lack of privacy and the intense scrutiny?And you know, first ladies are really criticized if one little hair’s out of place. Are you both prepared for this?

    I will say, it is on a different scale now, ‘cause I’ve had a lot. But I’ve never had anything like this

    FBI director James Comey. Are you going to ask for his resignation?

    I think that I would rather not comment on that yet. I haven’t made up my mind. I respect him a lot. I respect the FBI a lot. I think…

    Even though they leak so much?

    Well, there’s been a lotta leaking, there’s no question about that. But I would certainly like to talk to him. And see him. This is a tough time for him. And I would like to talk to him before I’d answer a question like that.

    Sounds like you’re not sure.

    Well, sure, I’m not sure. I’d wanna see, you know, he may have had very good reasons for doing what he did.

    Are you gonna release your tax returns?

    At the appropriate time, I will release them. But right now I’m under routine audit. Nobody cares. The only one who cares is, you know, you and a few people that asked that question. Obviously, the public didn’t care because I won the election very easily. So, they don’t care. I never thought they did care.

    Now, for months, you were running around saying that the system is rigged, the whole thing was rigged. You tweeted once that the Electoral College is a disaster for democracy.

    I do.

    So, do you still think it’s rigged?

    Well, I won with the Electoral College.

    Exactly.B ut do you think it’s rigged?

    Yeah, some of the election locations are. Some of the system is. I hated….

    Even though you won you’re saying that

    You know, I’m not going to change my mind just because I won. But I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. There’s a reason for doing this because it brings all the states into play. Electoral College and there’s something very good about that. But this is a different system. But I respect it. I do respect the system.

    What about vacations? You’re not going to take any vacations? You’ve said that…

    We have so much work. There’s so much work to be done. And I want to get it done for the people. I want to get it done. We’re lowering taxes, we’re taking care of healthcare. I mean, there’s just so much to be done. So, I don’t think we’ll be very big on vacations, no.

    Are you gonna take the salary, the president’s salary?

    Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no. I think I have to bylaw take $1. So, I’ll take $1 a year. Do you know what the salary is?

    $400,000 you’re giving up.

    No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.

    I want to ask you all about something that’s going on right now around the country. A lot of people are afraid. They’re really afraid. African-Americans think there’s a target on their back. Muslims are terrified.

    I think it’s horrible if that’s happening. I think it’s built up by the press because, frankly, they’ll take every single little incident that they can find in this country, which could’ve been there before. If I weren’t even around doing this, and they’ll make into an event because that’s the way the press is.

    One of the groups that’s expressing fear are the LGBTQ group.

    And yet I mentioned them at the Republican National Convention.

    You did

    Everybody said, “That was so great.” I have been, you know, I’ve been a supporter.

    Well, I guess the issue for them is marriage equality. Do you support marriageequality?

    It’s irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done.

    So, even if you appoint a judge that—

    It’s done. These cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled. And, I’m fine with that.

    One of the issues that has come up in the campaign is your temperament.

    They spent $1 billion against me on the word “Temperament.” It was given by Madison Avenue. And they thought that, by temperament, they could maybe, you know, win the election. Obviously, it didn’t work because we’re here and they’re not. And I think my strongest asset is my temperament because I have a temperament where we win and we’re going to start winning again. We’re going to win on trade, we’re going to win at the borders, we’re going to knock out ISIS.

    You have said that you’re gonna destroy ISIS. Now, how are you going to?

    I don’t tell you that. I don’t tell you that. I’m not like the people going in right now and fighting Mosul and theyannounce it four months before they went into Mosul and everybody from the leaders of ISIS have left. Why do I have to tell you that?

    Troops on the ground?

    I’m not gonna say anything. I don’t want to tell them anything. I don’t want to tell anybody anything

    Yeah, but what about the American people.

    I wanna do the job. We have some great generals. We have great generals.

    You said you knew more than the generals about ISIS

    Well, I’ll be honest with you, I probably do because look at the job they’ve done. Ok, look at the job they’ve done. They haven’t done the job. Now, maybe it’s leadership, maybe it’s something else. Who knows? All I can tell you is we’re going to get rid of ISIS.

    Let me ask you about Obamacare, which you say you’re going to repeal and replace. When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with pre-conditions are still covered?

    Yes. Because it happens to be one of the strongest assets.

    You’re going to keep that?

    Also, with the children living with their parents for an extended period, we’re gonna—

    You’re gonna keep that—

    Very much try and keep that. Adds cost, but it’s very much something we’re going to try and keep.

    And there’s going to be a period if you repeal it and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose -no?

    No, we’re going to do it simultaneously. It’ll be just fine. We’re not going to have, like, a two-day period and we’re not going to have a two-year period where there’s nothing. It will be repealed and replaced. And we’ll know. And it’ll be great healthcare for much less money. So, it’ll be better health care, much better, for less money. Not a bad combination.

    Let me ask whether the campaign has hurt the Trump brand.

    I think what Ivanka’s trying to say, “Who cares? Who cares?” This is big league stuff. This is our country. Our country is going bad. We’re going to save our country. I don’t care about hotel occupancy. It’s peanuts compared to what we’re doing. Healthcare is making people better. It’s unfair what’s happened to the people of our country and we’re going to change it. As simple as that.

    Concluded