Unpopular side with Yinka Ijabiyi
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As President-elect Don Trump prepares to take over the reins of ultimate power from President Bar Obama, here are a few things those who had high expectations can immediately ‘unexpect’:
- Bill Clinton
Trump won a very divided and divisive election; perhaps the most divisive since some of us began following the US presidential elections in recent times. Trump pulled no punches. He went for everything. Nothing was sacrosanct or spared the bile of his rhetoric. He had a go at everything possible. It is a never before seen election tactic and it got him never before seen election results; the crown of the jewel; the US Presidency and almost by thin extension, presidency of the world. There is at least one thing Don Trump will not suffer, the ignominy of being accused of misappropriate behaviour against women. Unlike Clean Bill, Americans expect Donald to be dirty in the White House and turn it on its head. To undo the squeaky clean image of the WH in favour of a raucous pen where libido rather than rational policies will rule the day. Donald is no Bill. He will do it and own up.
- Obama
He will not be much different from Pres Obama; contrary to general opinion. He is a modern day president who is saddled with running the most structured and policy driven and guided nation in the world. He will no longer spew such hateful isms that marked his campaign for office. He will conform to the refinement, decorum and diplomacy his exalted office demands. As much as he would probably love to, his executive power would be curtailed by the checks and balances of his office. He may be calling the shots but he will be unable to act unilaterally. Except of course he surrounds himself with people like him through and through. And then there would be trouble for the world.
- Easy peasy legislation
The fact that the Republicans have control of both the lower and upper houses of the legislature will not mean a lot under Don’s government. He is not going to have his way through them all the time like we all expect. With a majority in both houses, still not every one of them will be aligned to his various policies or direction. He will try of course but he will not get every legislation sailing through congress like a piece of cake. There will be opposition from within his own party. There will be alignments and misalignments within both houses to deny him most critical approval and support he needs to be able to fulfil some of his more ludicrous campaign promises. Remembering the fact that he is no real Republican by any stretch of the imagination and that he is no real fire-breathing Christian in any sense of the word, true Republicans and Christians will soon be up in arms against his every excessive move.
- 3rd World War
Donald will not cause a 3rd world war. As much as he may desire it to tame the world and force his point of views and world views on others, Don the Trump will not achieve that. In fact I think his ways will be so obviously confrontational that it will ultimately be laughable. He will talk the talk and threaten to walk the talk but that would be enough to see conciliation happen at the end of the day. Trump is not the harbinger of the final war to end all wars. He will stir the waters very violently but he will be too much of a businessman and will know when to hold back on both his rhetoric and any proposed or threatened actions.
- Nuclear bomb
Hilary made a song and dance of putting a mad man with an unstable mind in charge of the most dangerous red button in the world; the nuclear button. I think she thinks he would turn it into a free buzzing session like Simon Cowell is favourite on the myriad of shows his franchise has spun off. But I doubt it. True power is most effective by the ever prescient nature of it. You can only press that buzzer once. That Don is the most inclined American president likely to press it in one of his ugly angry fits is enough to keep the world at peace. Talk is cheap but possibly resulting action is by no means child’s play; it is frigging surreal and end of the world ish. With his diverse investments across America and the world, and even in traditional American enemy land, Donald Trump will not up and destroy himself.
- Peace
Is another unexpected potential outcome of the Trump presidency. I am of the opinion that rather than misbalance the world order of peaceful co-existence that we have endured, save for pockets of violence here and there across the world to date, President Trump will be more pacifist than any other president in America’s recent past. He may have all it takes to fight and call to war the entire world thereby creating the instability that may or may not make his reign even more ignominiously memorable, Don Trump will choose peace in the face of war; rapprochement in place of confrontation. The price may be just too high for even the most savage leader to consider worth his narcissistic while. Don T is incapable of war. He may have seen some savage boardroom battles and come out sometimes beaten and beaten but on top but he has never seen political war and all that the internal bloodletting involved even before he steps out of his bedroom in the morning!
- Ban on Muslims
Sounded like a brilliant rhetoric and definitely struck a chord with the average American hilly billy at the time but achieving it is not as easy as it would appear. In recent times we have seen the Donald begin the recant process. He has taken down his threat to ban Muslims from entering the US down from his campaign website. You cannot ban Muslims from visiting your country or practicing their religion in your country. You can attempt to legislate against some of their practices but even then, good luck. It may be too late to do much about the “Muslim invasion” now Mr. Trump. It will probably be the case that in Making America Great Again (MAGA), Donald may be the greatest maga of all time. And he will need to work with the Muslims to make headway.
- Deportation and immigration
America is one of the world’s greatest countries. But it didn’t become great all by itself. It needed the blood and gore of the slaves, the sweat and toil of economic legal and illegal immigrants. It even needed the stolen commonwealth of nations across the world whose leaders sought political asylum after looting their countries blind and stashing them in American banks and institutions thus growing the American economy. And making people like Donald Trump extremely rich in the process. That will continue to be the case. Getting into America has always been extremely difficult. If it were any more difficult under President Trump, Americans, not the world, will suffer. Respect is reciprocal. So is bad behaviour. And if you make legal difficult, you will be making illegal easy. Mr. Trump knows that. He has benefitted from the system too much to not understand this theory clearly.
- Increased taxes
Even though he’s promised tax cuts, taxes may actually rise for the top 10% under Trump. Don’t ask me my why of this one though. I don’t know. But I do know that no nation can consistently take off the tax burden of its super rich and aim to make the super poor suffer it and still stand the same. Trump will offer tax cuts or whatever it is he terms it but he will look for new places to make that money back from the same group of people he conceded to. America may be great again but America must not stay broke for that reason. The rich also cry. The rich will cry o. They should go and watch out.
- Evangelical brouhaha
The evangelicals did their best in voting in a Trump/Pence ticket. Pretty good stuff. Pence is the holy man of God. Trump is his bad cop. The expectation is that the evangelicals and churchists have taken America back from the gay and lesbian lovers and the killers of the unborn child. Already, we are seeing Trump’s influence play out. As chair of the transition committee, it is becoming clear that Pence will not be a regular yes man in this dispensation. The church people are apparently determined to make this their finest hour. Woe betide p***y grabbers like Trump or naked women like his wife Melania who do not get with the church programme and rein in their love for excesses. I foresee a stormy and steamy white house with in-fighting and in-breeding being the order of the day. Sorry evangelicals. You’ve been trumped!
