Trump’s America, Nigeria and the world

The American democracy has always been the model for the Nigerian media, and by extension the country Nigeria. The U.S. is too important to be ignored. It’s the only empire straddling the globe with power and might, with all the appurtenances of super privileges. They can’t be wrong dispensing democracy, an acclaimed representative governance system; foisting it on some weak countries and enforcing it on some ragtag leaders. 

It beggars logic that Nigeria was colonised by a Parliamentarian United Kingdom, but fused into the American presidentialism. It’s no brainer that an American president is the most powerful man in the world, and also deemed to be a bearer of freedom and diplomacy. 
 
I have been in journalism since 1987, in the days of Alhaji Lateef Jakande’s Lagos News, and I have seen the Nigerian media profess the American democracy as the pathfinder: A robust system with equally robust media and free press.
 
Since time immemorial, the Nigerian media had always glued to the international news media and worked the phones for expert opinions on each American election circle, drawing parallels with the Nigerian systems and spewing analyses on how those crooked systems could straighten up to the adorable advanced democracy. 
 
By the time Donald Trump settles in the White House, the United States would be grappling with democracy ideals and freedom of the press. Now is the time for the media and the political class in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa to change the narrative.
 
I was a recipient of the Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme (International Visitors Leadership Programme) in 2003 and a Fellow of the Washington-based Freedom House. Funded by the U.S. government, the programme enabled recipients to gain insight into the robust American democracy, civil society and the free press.

The programme would take you to a couple of states, civil society organisations, government agencies and some iconic American monuments like the Abraham Lincoln memorial, Smithsonian Institution, Statue of Liberty National Monument, the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court. All the Freedom House Fellows (as we were called and even had business cards printed for us) drawn from different countries had meetings and orientations with a couple of Congressmen at the Capitol, Under secretaries of State at the Department of State Building, the Press Centre, National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

There were also orientations in a couple of historic newspapers including the iconic Washington Post and The Hill which covered the Capitol. Some of us were scheduled for internship in media organisations. I did my own internship with The Hill in Washington DC and Seattle Times in Washington State. We were also embedded in white American families, to live with them for two months for cultural integration and appreciation of the American values. All these boil down to one point: perception management scheme; and the U.S. is good at it. We have an alumni group (recipients of Department of State funded programmes), and they include prime ministers and presidents of countries, leaders in global spheres.
 
During my own fellowship, as an intern with The Hill newspaper, I was with the editorial team at the Capitol to witness the congressional planeries and the beauty of representative democracy. We met Nancy Pelosi who later became one of U.S. longest serving Speakers, breaking the glass ceiling for women political leadership. I was at the 147-year old Washington Post for orientation on the history of journalism, the art of newspapering and news room management. 
 
Freedom House gave series of lectures on press freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of association. Freedom House, founded in 1941, is the oldest American organisation devoted to the support and defense of democracy around the world.

Fela’s music is in sync with today’s reality. Teacher don’t teach me nonsense speaks to the impending fall of the global hegemony from the Olympian Heights, and we need not look in that direction for democratic patronage or reverence any longer. 
 
At the return of Nigeria’s democracy in 1999, the U.S.’ two prominent political affiliates, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) converged on Nigeria to “support” the country’s fledgling democracy and teach its tenets.  
 
The NDI which prides itself as “Working for Democracy, Making Democracy Work”
supports and strengthens democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. Its counterpart, the IRI says “advancing democracy worldwide is about empowering individuals on a personal level….Once people can raise their voices without fear, and participate in a free and fair political process, they will finally have the tools they need to build a democratic destiny in the country they call home.”

The institutes committed so much in training Nigerian governors, National Assembly members, state legislators and the civil society organisations; ferrying these groups to the U.S. for exchanges and sundry political activities. Today, it is left to be desired if those efforts have paid off.
 
Donald J. Trump represents all that is undemocratic and apostate. In his book, The Age of Unreason, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, dwelt on the crisis in democracy and capitalism. The book examined the rise of “populist nationalism” embodied by Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential bid.

“Capitalism and democracy is in crisis. The West is in retreat. The forces of populist nationalism and prejudice are on the rise, amplified by new technology. The likes of Donald Trump say to people, what the hell have you got to lose. The answer is, a lot. Peace, prosperity and security.”

We have been severally warned by people of good conscience and leaders with foresight that Trump is not fit to be president; that he is fascist, vengeful and divisive. He is the first convicted felon to be elected as U.S. president. He is unabashedly nepotistic, a misogynist, and the only president in history condescending to ableism (making fun of people with disabilities or nursing prejudice against them).

Americans and the world might have been saved the ugly theatrics of a Trump losing the election, because he had built up an empire of ‘fake elections’ and ‘fake results’ prior to the election and refused to accept any outcome that did not favour him. The joke was on the U.S. electoral system, however robust it was in the past. From time immemorial, U.S. election monitors and sitting presidents had always admonished African countries, and other Third World to obey people’s wishes and refrain from electoral malpractices or violence; following up with threat not to accept results fraught with rigging in those countries or denying reapers of such electoral exercise access to the U.S.

Imagine civil societies in those countries admonishing U.S. to obey people’s wishes and refrain from rigging; and taunting that any U.S. citizen involved in rigging would be denied access to their countries? Ridiculous, you may think, but the U.S. 44th President Barack Obama may now redirect his admonition of African leaders: that Africa does not need strong men, but strong institutions. The truth is, Trump is a strong man attempting to weaken the country’s strong institutions.    
To be continued tomorrow.
Onayoade, Journalist and Brand Consultant, is a Freedom House Fellow.