Barely 10 days after Donald Trump stunned bookmakers and political pundits with an overwhelming Electoral College victory, in the United States presidential election, the world is still wondering how this happened. Even United States citizens appear not to have come to terms with this, explaining why protests against the president-elect’s triumph at the poll subsists. Indeed, the Trump political success is a feat beyond comprehension for those who never gave him a chance or who swore that he would never be president. It was a victory, which defied all political calculation, a victory, which has rewritten the political history of the United States.
Indeed, for a man, who was vilified and written off by his opponents, who was rejected and shunned by members of his political party and who was viewed with suspicion by the international community to rise from the ashes of disdain to snatch victory from, figuratively, the jaw of a lion, is something that does not happen every day. It is something out of the world. Yes, the elite United States citizens played God in the presidential election. The contempt with which they held Trump was unbelievable. President Barack Obama, first dismissed Trump’s aspiration, saying the presidential race was not a “reality show.” He later poured scorn on the Republican Party, saying for the political party to pick Trump as candidate showed how low it had sunk. Hillary Clinton was not charitable either. She, most times, talked down on Trump, as if the president-elect was a moron. Bernie Sanders swore that Trump would never be president.
To be sure, nobody gave Trump any chance in the primaries of the Republican Party. But he won from one US states to another, until all the other aspirants threw in the towel. Even when he was the only man standing in the race to pick the party’s ticket, some Republicans mooted the idea of drafting another aspirant, a third force, to clinch the ticket. But Trump prevailed. In the campaign for the presidential election, the majority of the elite saw him as a fool, not fit to occupy the office of president. His past was dug into and unearthed. He was presented as a sex pervert, sexist, racist and stupid. Many even suggested that he could not be trusted to handle the US nuclear “football” or security. All these did not stick. Trump not only picked the Republican ticket but also won the presidential election.
The transmogrification of Trump from villain to hero, therefore, is a lesson in God’s omnipotence. Whether the world believes it or not, God used the US presidential election to underline the fact that power belongs to Him and that He gives it to whoever He chooses. God simply decided that the will of man would not prevail in the US. I do not know why God allowed Trump to win the election, whether it is to lift American to higher glory or to punish the country and the people. But one thing that is clear is that Trump’s victory is not by accident. It is a vote of no confidence in the United States’ elite, who appear to live in their utopian world oblivious of the feelings of the ordinary people. Trump’s victory is also a vote of no confidence in President Obama, who came to power on the crest of populism, but now bowing out with a lot of misgivings and reservations in the minds of many United States citizens.
Obama came to power with mass support, but he was sucked into politics and, therefore, thought more of political gains than a good name. His fixation for political convenience made him go into the ignoble crusade of gay marriage, for instance. Indeed, it is incomprehensible, that a man who is supposed to be of African heritage, who, though, born and brought up in United States, but of an African father, would pursue policies, which are inconsistence with the core African value. How is it that Obama became the chief campaigner for same sex marriage, a practice that is unAfrican and unpresidential? This gay marriage mess, indeed, eroded the Obama pedigree. And it could have played a role in the loss that the Democratic Party candidate, for whom Obama strongly campaigned, in a country where the population of Catholic, Mormons (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), protestants and Africans, who would not support sodomy, is significant.
Trump needs to learn from Obama’s mistakes. He should know that a popular man today could become not only unpopular but also hated tomorrow because of his actions and inactions. Obama came to power with a groundswell of support and acceptance by the majority of United States citizens. But owing to some policies of his government and performance, he is leaving office not so popular. Trump, on the other hand, will assume office with many people afraid of what he would do and with protests across the country. However, he could worm himself to the hearts of more people, including those who oppose him now, by doing things right in office.
Personally, I do not think that he would be an irresponsible president, as his critics would want the world to believe. He may be a maverick or an iconoclast. Now, he is president-elect and by January 20, 2017, the president. There is something responsibility does to a man. A United States president or any president, for that matter, is required to comport himself. There is no room for frivolities. Besides, the United States democracy and government have been so entrenched that the system would take care of any president, who goes out of his way to desecrate the sanctity of the office. This is what Trump must know.
I am impressed by what has happened in the US since the election was concluded. For one, no topshot in the US, ever since, has used a derogatory language against Trump. Obama, Clinton and others, in congratulating Trump, have dumped the belligerent posture of the campaign to a posture of respect. They have pledged cooperation with the incoming president. They have put the country first. They know that the United States voters have spoken. They know that democracy has prevailed, as the voters chose Trump as president. They know that the respect for voters’ wishes is the hallmark of democracy. They know that it does not matter where one belongs or who one voted for. They believe that it is all about the United States and that the nation is bigger than anybody.
For Trump, he should be humbled by his victory. The election could have gone either way, but fortunes smiled on him. He should, therefore, see himself as president of all US citizens, by words and action, as he had promised. He should do things that would benefit the majority. He should respect the fundamental rights of migrants, Muslims, Blacks and others. He should unite the country, which has been broken by the bitter and divisive politics of the last one year. He should rise above the frenzy of conquering his political opponents to task of addressing the primordial needs of the people.