By Azu Ishiekwene
I understand wealthy US citizens and conservatives of the evangelical hue rooting for Donald Trump. The rich believe he would loosen regulations and protect them and their businesses from excessive taxation. Conservative evangelicals believe he is the bulwark against wokeism, especially the ultra-liberal variety. And white folks want their country back.
But Africans at home and in the Diaspora—what is their business supporting a guy who described their continent as a “shithole” and has worn his anti-immigrant rhetoric on his sleeves? It didn’t seem to make sense that anyone who saw Trump 1.0 would ever dream or wish for the second version. But now, he’s back. He even has the Supreme Court and the Senate in his Red corner as of press time.
With the media (especially the major networks) awash with polls indicating a dead heat up to zero hours, I became more interested in the pro-Trump sentiment among Nigerians. I also checked in with friends elsewhere on the continent, and the feedback surprised me.
Some friends told me Trump is just the man the US needs to purge itself of its hubris and arrogance. Once upon a time, the US was a moral force for good worldwide. Its exceptionalism didn’t often require bullying others to make the point.
It did many bad things during the Cold War, as did its arch-rival, the Soviet Union. But after that phase and with the fall of the Berlin Wall, many had hoped to see the emergence of a multipolar world, one in which, if you like, the lion and the lamb would lie side by side.
But that was not to be. From Cuba to Venezuela, Libya to the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, and right up........