Unlike in previous US presidential elections when parties nominated candidates who were in keeping with the long portrayed image of Western democracies as mature and civilised, the nomination of Donald Trump is a game changer. He stands in his own class.
Clichés such as uncouth, egoistic, unconventional, ill mannered, ill tempered, unapologetic racist, arrogant will not begin to describe the man who has every realistic chance to win the forthcoming election in the US.
The fact that Americans could even consider nominating Donald Trump to lead the Republicans has left western democracies in a rather uncomfortable position.
In Africa, the attitude to the forthcoming US election ranges from indifference to astonished amusement.
The question we in Africa should ask is not who will be the best president of the United States.
Our major concern should be whether world events will lead to a more equal world that will translate into direct benefits for the continent.
One reason Western democracies are scared of Donald Trump is that judging from his utterances, he seems to have his own mind and is likely to disrupt the world order.
The present world order is premised on the ideas of Western democracy working in partnership with Eastern dictatorships.
However, on a practical level, the present world order is dependent on western civilisation as protected by American military power through alliance systems.
According to the Washington Post, the United States has defence treaties with 69 nations, in which it is bound to defend those nations in the event of war. These nations account for a quarter of humanity.
Donald Trump thinks this is absurd. During the primaries he said of the defence treaty with Japan, “if we (the US) get attacked they won’t lift a finger, but if they get attacked, we have to go over there and start a third world war? How smart is that?”
With that statement, the Republican presidential candidate has altered and rubbished a treaty that has been the cornerstone of Japan’s security for over 70 years.
On America’s commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty organisation, the Republican nominee has viewed it more like a burden to the American taxpayer.
He has expressly stated that he will ensure a reset of relations with Russia, and will not necessarily defend the Baltic States against a Russian invasion (the very basis of NATO’s existence) and will recognise Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region of the Ukraine. For many years, the Democratic and Republican parties of the US have had shared foreign policy positions but only differed on the methodology.
For example, if the policy position was “Iran should not have nuclear weapons”, one party would perhaps employ diplomacy while the other would prefer force to meet the same objective.
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Where is Africa’s place in the present world order? I submit that the present world order shuts the door in the face of the African. He has no seat at the table where decisions that affect him are made.
It is crafted to benefit the people who live in the West and to a lesser extent, those who live in the East.
Everyone else is not welcome. Any disruption of the present world order will set in motion a new desire to create a more equal world in which Africa will benefit.
The election of Trump, if it comes into fruition, will have such unintended consequence. This is because he reminds us of another unconventional leader who rose to power in another Western democracy in 1933. Adolf Hitler.
Every vile description can be attached to his name but one thing that is rarely acknowledged is that it was because of the disruption he caused in the western world, and the wars he caused that destroyed the British and French Empires that the colonised peoples of the world were able to gain independence.
In the face of a changing world, especially the rise of China and other Asian Economic giants, the western world cannot claim world dominance for long.
How about Trump’s proposal to deport millions of illegal emigrants? Won’t that hurt Africa because of lost remittances? First of all, one of the greatest challenges facing Africa is brain drain.
Many young and smartest minds from this continent end up in the United States, often as illegal immigrants. The economic cost to the continent can only be equated to that occasioned by the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Unfortunately, this form of new slave trade has been encouraged by education systems all over Africa.
Isn’t it unfortunate that African governments spend billions of dollars educating people who end up building and developing the West?
Am I wrong to describe that as the new form of slave trade? Should Trump succeed in repatriating them, and we should hope he does, then those brains will return to help their countries.
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