Tribute to Ex President Donald Trump

*By: Oluwole Osagie – Jacobs*

The notion of a tribute to ex President Donald Trump whom I consider as one of the greatest American presidents of all time would indeed be confounding to many people. This is in view of his perceived misdeeds and his recent transgression of sacred democratic norms. Why celebrate a split personality given to loony ideas? Why admire someone who is coarse in language and lacking the refinement of a statesman? Why adore a plain racist with a loud disdain for blacks? These are the questions that would agitate sensitive and informed minds.

As if it was an enchantment Nigerians exhibited an extravagant concern for the last United States of America presidential election. For about six months they left little space in their minds for any other thing. On my university alumni whatsapp platform, members nearly boxed themselves to death on Trump or no Trump. Many see Trump as a racist. I told them that the hate amongst Nigerians imbibed from Lucifer’s Sermon on the Mount is more deadly.

The anxiety to be abreast with political events in the US during this period was both unprecedented and phenomenal. The poor security situation in Nigeria, the killing, kidnapping and raping of innocent citizens by bandits took the back stage. Our traditional news media and the social media were preoccupied with the US election and I wondered whether we were US citizens. Our fiery journalists who tongue lashed Trump for inciting insurrection have been dumb on the violent coup in Myanmar which is more heinous and detestable. They have been silent on President Biden’s threat to sanction Nigeria and other countries that have legislated against homosexuality.

It is unfortunate that Nigerians see themselves in a failed country and have now adopted the US as a second home. This sense of entitlement is evident in their commitment in preserving America for Nigerians. They frown at Trump’s border control and strict immigration laws which cut illegal immigration by half. They have taken America as a redoubt, a land of opportunities and a toll free amusement park. Weak immigration laws allow pregnant women in Nigeria run to the US to give birth to American citizens. Many Nigerians have fainted at the US embassy when denied VISA. America is their home. Must the US exist for us to live?

It is bad news to tell those who are sore pained by the invasion of the Capitol that the US is one of the  most undemocratic, arrogant and violent country in the world. America mania has deprived our brains of reason. We are immersed in America’s solipsism, which is the belief in self as the only reality. It is hypocrisy in adulthood to bemoan the invasion of the Capitol and close our eyes to the undemocratic conduct of America in the international arena that has ruined established democracies. In this regard, many countries have been made desolate leading to the death of millions, forced emigration, poverty and the spread of terrorism. While it is ‘undemocratic and un-American’ to attack the Capitol, it is democratic and American to invade Iraq and Libya without a just cause. Iraq was invaded in defiance of a UNO veto. Libya, the only African country classified many years ago as middle developed has been completely ruined and made desolate by America. This is one of the cruelest acts of man since Cain slew Abel.

Many of these sanctimonious Congressmen trying to shoot down Trump were in Congress when America under President George W. Bush invaded Panama and abducted its leader, Manuel Noriega, and brought him to America for trial. This savage act was codenamed “Operation Just Cause”.  The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base had been used by the US to imprison and torture captured combatants from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran against the Geneva Convention. Many African freedom fighters were not spared of America’s terrorism. Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela were victims of the CIA. President Eisenhower wanted Lumumba eliminated for being a communist. The CIA Chief Allen Gules ordered Lumumba’s assassination as “an urgent and prime objective”. Democracy is a pristine concept. It is duplicitous to be a democrat inside and anti democrat outside. To say that America is a bastion of democracy is pure malarkey.

Donald Trump came when America needed to be reinvented. At the time, security, economy and jobs were in dire straits. These he promised to address while Hillary Clinton based her campaign on spurious inclusiveness and human rights which hid deadly realities. She was talking of gay marriage, building bridges between racial divides and the right to terminate unwanted pregnancies.  She was blind to the fact that Americans were out of jobs every day. For political expediency, she downplayed the devastating effect of rising terrorism.

Previous to Trump’s presidency, the US had lost its hold on world trade. Many factories had closed shop and relocated to China and other Asian countries to enjoy low production cost. Trump imposed tariff on imported goods to protect American industries. He wondered why US should be importing Steel and Aluminum from China when it is home to these products.  He felt insulted by America’s importation of microwave ovens from China. 

Trump instituted a two trillion stimulus package to boost economic activities. The result was fantastic. Within two years the economy received its best ranking in twenty years. Seven hundred manufacturing jobs were created and household income was up $5,000, the biggest in history. He pushed for tax reform bills that reduced taxes for individuals and corporations. Under trump the US economy achieved the largest positive growth in history. It is pertinent to mention that the Trump leadership achieved the lowest unemployment for blacks in history.

Trump obliterated ISIS and eliminated the world’s number one terrorist. Trump is the American president in many years that did not create new wars. This is a great feat by any standard. Trump forged a peace accord that is unprecedented in the Middle East. The Middle East is now relatively calm in spite of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The result of Trump’s peace initiatives is more far reaching than the peace initiatives that earned Obama a Nobel Prize.

Trump was a victim of gonzo journalism by a hostile press which emphasized his racist tendencies and projected him badly. I am yet to meet a white American who is not a racist. The Washington Post, New York Times and the CNN downplayed President Biden’s remark that he would not allow his children to be in the same school with black children which he called a racial jungle. The same way they downplayed his calling black people super predators. The hostile press and Democrats criticized Trump for placing a temporary ban on immigrants from COVID19 toxic countries including China which is the source of the virus. They unashamedly turned round to blame him for poor handling of the corona virus pandemic. 

Trump came to recover America for Americans. Trump knew that without strict immigration laws America will become a no man’s land and Americans will become a minority in their own country. He felt the US shouldn’t be committing huge funds to world organizations; NATO, WHO, WTO etc while America dies and China is on its heels to gain ascendancy. The WHO, funded mainly by the US, was tardy in sanctioning China on COVID19. Trump had the bad luck of the COVID19 pandemic which downplayed his achievements. It is pertinent to note that after Biden took the presidential oath of office the CNN stopped its hourly update of COVID19 deaths. Posterity will celebrate Trump for the large funds committed to the development of vaccines of which the whole world is now a beneficiary. Trump failed in character and not in deeds.

One of his legacies is birthing a consciousness that will define US politics in years to come. His great achievements are safe in the hands of instructed people.

*An Economist and Chartered Accountant*