For reasons that are clearly sentimental and not backed by evidence on the ground, Africans have a penchant to back the Democrats whenever there is an electoral contest in the United States. That attachment reached fever pitch a few years ago when Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the United States. By the time Obama was campaigning for the second term it had become clear that Africa was nowhere near his priorities.
And by that time, for many Africans, the initial euphoria and excitement to see a black man in the White House were giving way to disillusionment. Obama is and has always been as American as they come and he has not even pretended to be anything to the contrary. It was the Africans themselves who were excitable and even reckless to associate him with Africa, Next week the Americans are electing their president for the next four years. As is so often the case, American elections are a big thing for Africa and indeed the world. During last week’s presidential debate, the question of who between Joe Biden and Donald Trump has done for African-Americans came up.
Biden has been in politics for close to fifty years. And that is not a guaranteed positive. Trump reminded him how the laws he had supported as a senator had put more young African Americans in jail than any other community. Biden had his back against the wall and said he would be correcting that once elected president. Trump was not having any of it. Biden had been vice president under Obama for eight years and did not correct that when a black president was in charge. This is just one example of liberal duplicity and hypocrisy in American politics. The polls are out. Some are already predicting a Biden slam dunk. But pollsters are themselves scared of speaking above their whispers. Trump victory in 2016 embarrassed the polling industry. Many of them had said there was no path for a Trump victory.
Hillary Clinton was supposed to make a home run. And when Trump won, from day one pollsters and the media joined hands with the anti-Trump brigade to undermine him. A year later pollsters faced yet another moment of disgrace. They said the Brexit referendum would be won by the “no” vote. We all know that did not happen! Today the Democrats are once again playing a narrative that Trump cannot win without cheating. The more uncharitable among them are even saying he is likely to refuse to concede after losing to Joe Biden. The truth though is that just like in 2016, Trump is likely to surprise all of us by winning without cheating. A path for his victory still exits. And when that happens, once again there will be tears.
Over the recent past there has been a rise in reference to “shy” Trump supporters who because the liberal media has successfully cast him as racist, many people, even those who do not believe it are ashamed to show their allegiance to him when asked by pollsters. Political correctness is soiling American politics. Some people are accused of simply being white. And when they defend themselves against such charges, they are then accused of racism. When they deny it, they are further accused of having supported slavery. It is ridiculous. Democrats and many of the establishment elite cannot understand just what could drive any American to vote for Trump.
The assumption is that anybody who votes Trump is a racist, or worse a moron who cannot think. That is the same lack of touch prevalent among globalists the world over. The truth is that people who vote for Trump do so for a reason. These are people who desperately want to take back their country. They hate it when their country is made a policeman of the world. They resent it when their country has to underwrite the security of all countries inside Nato, many of which they have not heard of. Trump, to be honest is a beneficiary of resentment. Americans see their country being taken for a ride, and they hate it. For, example Trump has promised to bring back the American soldiers from Afghanistan and all of the Middle East. That is a big deal for ordinary Americans.
They hate the fact that their country continues to fight endless wars in faraway places. Judging by the fact that he has not started a war since coming into power, many ordinary Americans are happy to give Trump a chance to finish what he has already started. Americans are war-fatigued. And that feeling should not be taken lightly. No American president has been able to stand up to China the way trump has done. That too has not escaped the attention of ordinary Americans. Notwithstanding all the polls, Donald Trump is still in with a chance. He still has an opportunity to win these elections free, square and clean.Covid-19 has however presented Trump with many big and real challenges. Too many Americans have lost their lives as a result of covid-19.Trump has made some fatal mistakes, especially at the beginning. Covid-19 has also denied Trump an opportunity he had counted on, which was to run on a strong economy.
He has failed to show empathy to families that have lost their loved ones. He has also stubbornly refused to own up to his mistakes. Donald Trump is not a perfect guy. He has brought all his imperfections to the White House. He can be hyperbolic. He decimally fails to stay on message. And is generally an expansive guy. But he has also, unlike many politicians kept his word. As he promised ahead of his election in 2016, he has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Change Accord. He has taken China to task over its unfair trade practices, over its disrespect for patent rights and over its aggression in the pacific. He has withdrawn America from the Iran deal and perhaps most crucially for his voters, he has relocated the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Other Nato members are now contributing their fair share instead of leaving United Sates to do all the heavy weightlifting.
