By Abdu Rafiu
The outgoing President of the United States, Mr Donald Trump, has gone into the trenches fighting the battle of his life what he avoided going to Vietnam. The world predictably is watching keenly. I say outgoing because I have some Republican Senators to bear me out and these are important voices — among them Mitt Romney who faced Barack Obama in 2008 and Senator Susan Collins. Don’t mind Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State who is reluctant to remove the blinkers from his eyes because of his speculated ambition to fly the Republican Party flag come 2024. Indeed, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey representing Pennsylvania, one of the fierce battle-grounds did state: “We are on a path — it looks likely Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. It is not 100 per cent certain, but it is quite likely. So, I think a transition process ought to begin.”
Some other Republican Senators spoke in whispers upholding the victory of Joe Biden, Mr. Trump’s Democratic challenger who is now the President-elect. They are saying that no matter the tinkering with the figures, no matter the adjustments to the votes in the unlikely case of miscount, Biden will still carry the trophy in this election. In the swing and most decisive state of Pennsylvania, for example, Mr. Joe Biden beat Trump by 48,000 votes. Trump trails behind Joe Biden in Wisconsin by a distance of 20, 000 votes; in Georgia by 12,500 votes and in Arizona 14,000. The tally at the Electoral College is Joe Biden: 290 votes and Mr. Trump 214 votes. What is required to breast the tape are 270 votes. It is winning at the conclave that the Electoral College is at the blow of the whistle that is final, and that is where the uphill task is. Mrs. Hillary Clinton, for example beat Mr. Trump by 3 million votes in 2016, but lost to him at the Electoral College.
Biden has Republican House Reps of goodwill who are backing him and who do not want to be associated with the tantrums of Mr. Trump. Online newspapers have quoted Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger as saying: “We want every vote counted, yes every legal vote (of course). But, if you have legit concerns about fraud present evidence and take it to court. Stop spreading debunked misinformation. This is getting insane.” Other Republicans who have even gone as far as congratulating Biden are Reps Francis Rooney and Paul Mitchell. Indeed, the weightiest voice to wade in is Mr. George W. Bush, the former President of the United States. His intervention must have moved Mr. Biden miles closer to the White House by a former President on the platform of the Republican Party.
What is instructive for anyone who is desirous that there should be standards in the affairs of man, even more so from those who put themselves forward as mirrors of their societies, are the remarks from some Republican Senators. Cindy McCain and former Sen. Jeff Flake said they were confident that Mr. Biden would restore civility and honour to the White House. The point being made by these Senators in not many words is that Mr. Trump has dragged down the White House to what they see as his level, and civility and honour fled in the barrage of his assaults to decency and decorum. This is the testimonial Mr. Trump is leaving the White House with. This is further underscored by the position of a 2016 Presidential hopeful under the banner of the Republican Party, Carly Fiorina, the Hewlett-Packard CEO who in endorsing Mr. Biden said: “…while I don’t agree with everything Joe Biden believes, I don’t agree with all the policies of his party, I have been a Republican for all my life, I think Joe Biden is a stronger leader because he has demonstrated humility, empathy, the willingness to collaborate with others and the character that I think matters in a leader.”
It is thus little wonder world leaders have wasted no time in sending congratulatory messages to Mr. Biden, and speaking with him on phone, with the exception of Mr. Putin of Russia. Breeze of relief is sweeping through all lands and nations. Watchers of American politics across the globe, harassed people and nations that have encountered the rough tackle of Mr. Trump all heave a sigh of relief that he is exiting the White House and surrendering the attendant awesome power it wields. Republican Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts who said he voted against Mr. Trump has described him as “incredibly irresponsible.” Major newspapers in the western world are not any less severe. Indeed, The New York Times leading the pack said of Mr. Trump that he is the worst president of America in modern history. Heads of State and Governments who have sent congratulatory messages and pledging their readiness to work with Mr. Biden are British Prime Minister Boris Johnson; Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor; the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau; the French President Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister of Ireland and from Africa, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria.
The Prime Minister of Ireland said his country looked up to the United States to give leadership. It did not get this from Trump’s United States. It cannot, therefore, be far-fetched if the exasperation the Western world suffered in the hands of Mr. Trump was as a result of lack of leadership from the United States. Mr. Trump is unpredictable and insular, and narrow in his perception of what he sees as the role of America, thus diminishing the American influence in the eyes of those who preoccupy themselves with world affairs and countries who long to take shelter under the influence. On Mr. Trump’s lips always is the sing song America First. He pulled the United States out of Paris Agreement on Climate Change. He was going to pull the country out of NATO. In his unrelenting efforts to overturn the legacy of Barack Obama, most things and agreements entered into by the latter to promote peace, Trump dismantled — the nuclear agreement with Iran being a clear case, thus raising anxieties in saner climes.
The New York Times reviewing the imbroglio in the aftermath of the US elections, has described Mr. Trump as the worst President in modern history. It will not come as a surprise if later the newspaper in triumphal, yet regrettable sense of déjà vu says to Americans, “We told you so!” In 2016, the Newspaper warned America about why Mr. Trump. In an editorial captioned “Why Donald Trump should not be President”, the paper argued that the reality star-turned GOP candidate’s views “were matters of dangerous impulse and cynical pandering rather than thoughtful politics. He has attracted throngs of Americans who ascribe higher purpose to him than he has demonstrated in a freewheel campaign marked by bursts of false and outrageous allegations, personal insults, xenophobic nationalism, unapologetic sexism and positions that shift according to his audience and his whims … His right to spew nonsense is protected by the constitution, but the public doesn’t need to swallow it.” The paper said it would explain in subsequent editorial why it believed Mr. Trump to be the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history. The influential newspaper said the nomination of Mr. Trump to fly the Republican flag was a trek into the Darkness. When it came back as it promised, The New York Times wrote: “…The best case for Hillary Clinton cannot be, and is not, that she isn’t Donald Trump. The best case is, instead, about the challenges this country faces, and Mrs. Clinton’s capacity to rise to them …A lifetime commitment to solving problems in the real world qualifies Hillary Clinton for this job, and the country should put her to work.” The paper criticised Trump for having made “117 distinct policy shifts on 20 major issues since he announced his presidential candidacy in June 2015.”
The Washington Post on its part wrote in an editorial titled “It’s beyond debate that Donald Trump is unfit to be President”:
“Even if Trump manages to conduct himself ‘presidentially’ for an hour and a half, that could not undo the many, many instances … in which he has insulted, acted out, lied, and countenance violence beyond even some of the most rough and tumble precedents of modern American politics.” New York Post did not explicitly recommend any of the gladiators to the readers, but said: “Resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue. By all means vote, just not for Donald Trump.” The Cincinnati Enquirer, breaking from a nearly century-long tradition said in its own editorial endorsing Hillary Clinton and disapproving of Mr. Trump: “This is not a traditional race, and these are not traditional times.”
Chicago Sun-Times, too, reversing a 1912 decision to stop making a presidential endorsement, explained to its readers that “the best way to avert a train wreck is to wave a warning flag as soon as possible.” It also disapproved the candidacy of Mr. Trump.
I have gone this length to show that the world press, the British and the American newspapers in particular, warned American voters to steer clear of Mr. Trump. The newspapers have, it would seem, been proven right. The Americans licking their wounds have said, no more; the deal with Mr. Trump is over. But then, it is noteworthy that Mr. Trump pulled a huge followership in the election. The two flag bearers can be said to be equally matched. Mr. Biden polled 76 million votes and Mr. Trump 70million. That is certainly not a crowd Mr. Biden or any nation for that matter can ignore. The issue to interrogate then is why such a mammoth following behind Mr. Trump despite what is considered by several others to be his poor record in human relations, ruthlessness and no consideration nor empathy. He fired many of his aides without batting an eyelid. What are the fears of his supporters in the hands of Mr. Biden, and which they believe only Mr. Trump can disperse? They love Mr. Trump and believe in him. They are drawn to him powerfully. They see in him certain qualities others are not seeing. They see in him unorthodoxy, as their bulwark to protect their land from hordes of immigrants thronging America, and the separatists in parts of the world see in him the defender of their aspirations. They see Mr. Biden as a liberal.
The US election is an event that calls for deep reflection by Mr. Biden as well as Mr. Trump. There are lessons for Mr. Trump to learn from the election. The result shows something that is deeper. It is undoubtedly a clash of decency versus indecorousness, a clash of refinement versus coarseness and warmth versus coldness; love versus lovelessness and brashness. The clash has its origin in the waves of separation that are to sweep through the whole world today, driven by the currents of the abundant power of the Holy Spirit pouring into the world in these times — the Age of the Holy Spirit. The out-streaming of the Light Rays accounts for the intensification and acceleration of events and inner awakening in us human beings, in all parts of the world, each moving towards his own kind in the incorruptible and self-enforcing Law of Similarity and to his own level according to the Natural Law of Gravitation. In the revelation of the higher knowledge spreading on earth today, man’s eyes are opened to see that wrong is being separated from right and evil and good must go their separate ways. In homes; among friends, in and among nations, the Law is inexorable. It is of the Lord!
The Guardian
