Trump's claim shows elections are routinely rigged, never won

Former U.S. President Donald Trump. [Reuters]

The Donald Trump and Joe Biden camps should be pained at contested election outcomes. Why?

Trump, former US President and presidential candidate for the 2024 elections, says unequivocally that his election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden. He has repeatedly made the claim, which he has upped as the US election primaries start.

Trump has spiced his claims a bit more. The US has become a Banana Republic. The US has become a Third World, yes you have read it correctly, a Third World: filthy, mismanaged, leaders kill their own people at will and so forth, thus says Trump.

I am one of those people who have always cited the US as one of the best examples of how we should practice democracy because its institutions and systems of governance are founded and sustained in law.

The US, I have always believed, has a very strong electoral system that Americans have trust in because every vote counts. Well, Trump has crushed my belief in these institutions and systems of governance. He has mercilessly deconstructed the US I had built in my head.

To consistently claim that his win was stolen is quite a statement on what he thinks of the US electoral system. It is manipulable. There are "bad, sick people" as he calls Biden's Democrats who allegedly rigged his win.

Isn't it ironical that the powerful country that has toppled leaders in the world it classifies as dictatorships such Saddam Hussein in Iraq, is struggling to close the chapter of the 2020 presidential election outcome? Was the election fair, free and credible?

If Trump has the guts to consistently argue that his election was stolen, it creates the perception that he could be having a point after all. He has millions of followers one cannot just ignore. He speaks to this constituency in a language it understands, appreciates and approves.

As a non-US national who knows very little of what could be going on in a country I have had most regard for, I have no strong basis to doubt Trump's claim ; that he won the election. A wrong man could be in office. After all, the US, time and again, goes out of its way to legitimise controversial election outcomes in Third World countries.

Biden is all over the world supervising elections while Trump is crying foul in his own country as if to confirm that indeed, the US rigs elections in favor of whoever it wants.

What if Trump is just a bad man using his massive influence across the US to intimidate institutions and systems of governance in his country so that he ascends to power with, or without a majority win of electoral college votes?

Of course, this would be the concern of Democrats and other parties that do not buy into Trumpism. In this case, we learn that political candidates with lots of money can buy anyone on their way to power. Plus, voters are gullible.

Additionally, there are many voters who melt at the sight of a rich political candidate. Wealth is power and appearing to be generous with money is more power. Moreover, Trump appeals to several business moguls across the world. He epitomises an opportunity to make more money. Who doesn't want to exploit a window of opportunity to make more money?

Has the US become a Banana Republic, a Third World country? Beyond and behind these words lies the image Trump has of Third World countries. He has never shied away from telling us, Africa is a shithole, and that our elections are nothing but a sham. And, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, agreed with Trump on these controversial remarks that the White House denied were uttered.

Although he acknowledges that Africa has huge market potential because "I have many friends who go to Africa to get rich", comparatively, he has such a condescending attitude towards Africans, particularly migrants. Several elections have taken place in Third World countries and I don't think the Biden Presidency has often stood for free, fair and credible elections. Trump has more fodder against Democrats.

-Dr Mokua is the executive director of Loyola Centre for Media and Communication