The world was stunned. Some wondered if this was what American democracy means.
I was watching the results with about 10
people having breakfast at a food and beverages joint in Moshi. There
were friendly arguments as to who would win but many were rooting for
Clinton.
When Trump was declared winner, all hell
broke loose. Within minutes the place was packed. Bad news travels
fast. People came not to eat but to confirm what they just heard on
Chaga Street.
I know shock when I see it. Some patrons
requested a change to another channel like Aljazeera, CNN or BBC. Maybe
the local channel we were watching got it wrong. One man was very
happy, declaring that now his sister will come home.
Apparently she lives in the USA and has
not returned to Tanzania for a long time. He just wanted his sister back
and was looking forward to president Trump kicking out 11 million
undocumented immigrants.
I was amazed at how so many ordinary
citizens were interested in the outcome of the US elections. Moshi is a
small municipality situated about 600 kilometres from Dar es Salaam the
business capital of Tanzania. And if the world was in shock, can you
imagine what Hillary Clinton supporters were going through?
I think they needed a morning after pill
to just get by, but pharmacists have not invented a pill that would do
the trick yet. Later in the day I visited the CNN website to check full
results. Trump had garnered 289 electoral votes to Clinton’s 218.
More than 59 million Americans had voted
for the Donald. Clinton had scored higher votes overall but that is not
how their system works in America. I remember things those who came to
the eatery in Moshi said.
Americans are racists like Trump. So
many people voted for him because they agreed with Trump’s sentiments
about Muslims, non-whites, women and minorities. Americans do not care
much about the rest of the world.
Her chance of occupying the White House
had evaporated forever. There was so much red on the electoral map you
would think the Democratic party had been hit by a nuclear missile
borrowed from Kim Jong Un.
After all, Trump had promised to allow
any nation to develop nuclear capability. According to data from polling
stations, only 56% Americans voted. Why did so many stay at home? I
have my theories.
The young and reckless had wanted the
young-at-heart Bernie Sanders for president. Perhaps many ordinary
Americans were disgusted by the name calling and mudslinging that went
on for months so they did not bother to turn out for voting.
So here is a country which has perhaps
as many as 200 million eligible voters and less than 120 million
bothered to show up, abstaining rate of 44%. I think boycotting
elections is counterproductive.
Why? It is like Tanzanians
parliamentarians choosing to stay on the sidelines during budget
deliberations because they did not like the way the chair was handling
issues. While they were out of the daily legislative duties, others
continued to deliberate and approve the national budget.
The business of the parliament did not
cease. This is similar to what some wives and husbands do when they have
disagreements with their lawfully wedded spouses. For months and
sometimes years, they abstain from spousal duties, thinking it will
force the other party to beg on bent knees.
I have breaking news for such spouses.
Nature abhors vacuum and so somebody else will step in, eventually. Or
the love and affection will break down so much a spouse in boycott can
find herself out of the relationship permanently.
The Donald is not one to sit on the
sidelines so the world is expecting to see how he will make America
great again by building the largest monument ever of his presidency. I
am talking about the planned great wall of America, I mean Mexico.
That will be something to watch. It will
create many manual jobs, which most young Americans do not want to do.
Unless he uses immigrant labour, that wall will never get finished. Oh, I
almost forgot.
He wants to kick out all illegal
immigrants especially the rapist and drug-dealing Mexicans. I feel for
the Yankees who did not vote for him and those who stayed at home and
now they are stuck with the result of their complacency.
Like the Britons who abstained from
voting during the EU referendum, they are stuck with a president they
may not be proud of for the next four years. The Brits are struck out of
the EU, forever.
Trump has a long laundry list of things
to do so the best Americans can do at the moment is to give him time.
Hopefully the protests going on nationwide do not extend for long.
Otherwise the ghosts of the Arab spring could visit USA and lead to an
American spring.
Why was it good for the Tunisia, Egypt
and Yemen to have popular uprising and not USA? Or is it just a bunch of
professional protesters biased against a DJT presidency? How do men and
women in uniform feel about their soon to be anointed
commander-in-chief?
If you were a Muslim captain in the USA
army, would you obey his orders willingly with a clean heart? Would you
put your life on the line for a country that elected him to the highest
office? Trump has his work cut out for him.
A commander in chief who has said bad
things that would offend females in uniform, he has a mountain to climb
before he can ever be role model in chief. What things have American
school children learned from their president elect?
I think angry and frustrated fathers
will hold their support until they can figure out what the hell is going
on with Trump’s America.
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