By Owei Lakemfa
Unto us, a man-child is again born by the United States, US, electorate. Donald Trump is actually a reincarnation sent to upset the world.
Friends like the European Union and neigbouring Canada are jittery for he is unpredictable and, foes like China are girding their loins. Trump is the weird one the incompetent and visionless Biden administration has given a smooth ride back to the White House.
The re-emergence of Trump once again raises the question: is it true that the Western democracy that produced Adolf Hitler is the best humanity can offer? This democracy, rather than concentrate on the qualitative development of society based on the greatest good for the greater majority, emphasises a lot on the ballot, and letting the votes count. This is equated with the will of the people and is sacrosanct.
My earliest reading of the power of the ballot was in the Holy Book when the state had to grant pardon, and there was a ballot between Jesus who was preaching salvation, honesty, good neighbourliness and righteousness, and Barabbas, said to be a robber and notorious prisoner. Barabbas won that election by a moon-slide (Matthew 27: 15-26).
This November 4, 2024, Americans were, like the Biblical Jews, asked to vote for two contrasting candidates. Where Kamala Harris was an attorney and minister in the temple of justice upholding the law, Donald Trump was a crooked businessman already convicted for falsifying his business records and had even carried out treasonable felony. Where the former has a record of bringing criminals to justice, the latter already had 34 felony convictions. Where Kamala was for human rights, justice, equality and respect for women, Trump has no affinity with human rights, justice or equality, nor respect for women.
A total 76,962,889 Americans voted for Trump, giving him 312 electoral votes to Kamala’s 226 electoral votes.
Previously, in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton with 65,845,063 votes or 48.2 per cent of the total vote, lost to Donald Trump with 62,980,160 votes or 46.1 per cent of the votes. These are the unique qualities of the American democratic system and the preferences of its electorate.
Trump had threatened his European allies that if he won the election they would have to “pay a big price” for not buying enough American exports. A panicky British government sent party strategists to openly work for Harris.
So, when Trump won, French President, Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, warned that he might be a danger to Europe. The latter said: “The European Union must stand close together and act in a united manner.”
Trump, even as President-elect has gone to work, doing what he is best known for: unsettling an unsettled world.
This Monday, November 25, 2024 when Trump threatened China, Canada and Mexico with trade sanctions, the latter, Australia, Turkey, Indonesia and South Korea under a coalition called MIKTA, were engaging Nigerians in Abuja. So, while the US is playing the usual politics of the big powers, those countries are jointly trying to build a global structure of middle powers that can balance out the world.
A boastful Trump had bellowed that when he returns to office on January 20, 2025: “I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 per cent tariff on all products coming into the United States. This tariff will remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular Fentanyl and all illegal aliens, stop this invasion of our country!” He added: “Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. It is time for them to pay a very big price!”
Trump also declared: “We will be charging China an additional 10 per cent tariff, above any additional tariffs”, until it cracks down on fentanyl smuggling.
China responded by warning the man-child that a trade war would harm all. Its embassy in Washington declared: “The idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality. China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. No one will win a trade war or a tariff war.”
Canada took a different path, pleading with Trump. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a phone call tried to shift the blame on Mexico. He said compared to Canada, most of the illegal immigrants Trump is complaining about, cross through US-Mexico border.
But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was defiant. She warned Trump: “For every tariff, there will be a response in kind.”
She told the bully: “It is not with threats or tariffs that the migration phenomenon will be stopped, nor the consumption of drugs in the United States. Seventy per cent of the illegal weapons seized from criminals in Mexico come from your country. Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours.”
The Leader of the Mexican Senate, Gerardo Fernández, in supporting President Sheinbaum, asked: “What tariffs should we impose on their [America’s] goods until they stop consuming drugs and illegally exporting weapons to our homeland?”
This promises to be a bruising war as the three countries being threatened account for about 40 per cent of the $3.2tn of goods US annually imports.
The five-country MIKTA alliance founded on September 25, 2013 said in Abuja that they are working for a different trajectory for the world.
Their ambassadors met a cross section of Nigerian industrialists, technocrats, politicians, diplomats and mass media influencers to talk about their mission, explain how they developed, present opportunities being offered by each of them, and inviting Nigerians to do all-inclusive businesses with them.
Australian High Commissioner, Leilani Bin-Juda, said her country’s commitment to sustainability and green energy is an example for other countries. She informed that Australia’s contribution under the Paris Agreement is 43 per cent reduction from 2005 levels to net zero by 2050. The plan, she said, includes an 82 per cent target for renewable energy by 2030. Australia, she said, is offering Nigeria technology that allows remote and rural households to be electrified.
South Korean Ambassador, Kim Pankyu, talked about his country’s journey from a war-torn, impoverished and authoritarian state into a developed one. Ambassador Hidayet Bayraktar of Turkey said his country had emerged as a vital trade and investment hub, and bridge between Europe and Asia.
Ambassador Alfredo Miranda of Mexico informed that his country has become a manufacturing powerhouse and global leader in electronics, automotive and aerospace production.
Indonesian Ambassador, Usra Hendra Harahap, said his country’s success in balancing security efforts with economic priorities would be beneficial to Nigeria.
It remains to be seen how such alliances would operate in a world under the shadow of Trump.
