The Donald Trump that Africans Don’t Know
The first thing that springs forth from the mind of some Africans as soon as the 45th president of the United States of America, USA, Donald J Trump is mentioned is the impression that he does not like Africans, which is so untrue. And that wrong notion of president Trump disliking Africans stems from the fake news planted by his political opponents in the media and attributed to him such as: “Africa is a shit hole country.”
Although the statement is flawed in a fundamental way, most people who believe and therefore are not enamored by president Trump have not bothered to critically identify and examine the flaw.
And that is the reason emotions seem to have beclouded their judgement and why they have swallowed the falsehood hook line-and-sinker.
As we all know, Africa is a continent of 54 countries and not just one country.
So how could president Trump have made the comment attributed to him by his traducers: “Africa is a shit hole country”?
Since most Africans failed to critically scrutinize the comment because they were eager to believe all the vile things that the so called Never Trumps had to say, the flaw or illogicality of referring to Africa as shit hole country, whereas it is indeed a continent, has unfortunately been lost on some of them.
Apparently, those who are hell bent on generating friction between Africans and the 45th president of the US, had done a ‘good’ job as most people of black race have remained trapped in that mind-bending spell which l intend to dispel with this intervention.
Hopefully, by debunking the myths with how Mr Trump really feels about Africans and what he had done to elevate Black Americans and those residing in the continent during his tenure as president of the US, there would be a rethinking and resetting of Africa/ Trump relationship that would position the continent to benefit more from Mr Trump’s presidency of the US, if he returns to the White House as he plans to in 2024.
Not only because Nigeria has the largest population of black people on earth or by virtue of its being the biggest economy in Africa by GDP, but based on my personal experience as a Nigerian who has met president Trump one-on-one, I would like to use Nigeria as a reference point for assessing Trump-Africa relationship which is apparently currently foggy owing to calculated misinformation.
To put things in perspective, it may be recalled that it is in the first two years of Mr Trump’s presidency, that Nigeria’s president Mohammadu Buhari and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, notable African leaders were his guests in the White House.
In my reckoning that is a reflection of not just passing, but keen interest in the continent as opposed to disdain for Africa as some detractors have tried to portray the former US president’s disposition to Africa.
Adjunct to that, and very significant to Nigerians, it must not be forgotten that it was under Mr Trump’s presidency that the US agreed to sell to Nigeria critical military hardware such as the super Tucano jets and other military armaments that were needed to combat the terrorists that were gaining the upper hand in the northern parts of our country.
It is worth recalling that for too long, Nigeria was denied access to the needed military hardware to fight terrorism owing to the Leahy Doctrine which prohibits the sale of US military hardwares to countries that are deemed to lack the discipline not to use them indiscriminately.
That condition which is nebulous had compelled Nigeria under the watch of president Goodluck Jonathan to attempt to procure arms and ammunition from the black market which resulted in a private jet from Nigeria full of cash being intercepted in South Africa with consequential scandal that portrayed Nigeria in negative light.
Now, is it not striking and heartening that it was under Mr Trump’s presidency of the US that Nigeria on
president Buhari’s watch was allowed to legitimately acquire the attack aircrafts that have today proven to be highly useful in the prosecution of the war against terrorists in Nigeria?
There are more positive actions taken by president Trump to support Nigeria and indeed Africa during his four (4) years reign, but for now, it is in the light of the above, that l would like to implore and urge Africans to appraise Mr Trump by what he did for the continent as the 45th president of the US from 2016 to 2020,which is legion, and not by what he is alleged to have said about Africans via pranks planted in the mass media by his political opponents.
The above admonition is underscored by my belief that as the 45th president of the US, Mr Donald Trump prepares to return as the 47th president in 2024,l fervently believe that it is high time that we all got to the brass tacts about the real Donald Trump that Africans don’t know, so that we can all work out a more positive way to relate to him.
And I am of the conviction that if Mr Donald Trump returns to the White House one more time to complete the good work that he started in 2016 before he was derailed by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world and particularly resulted in the untimely loss of over one million American lives which is largely responsible for his not being re-elected, Africa and Africans would receive more than a passing interest particularly now that he is getting to understand the continent better with the marriage on November 12,2022 of his adorable Daughter Tiffany to Micheal Boulos, the hardworking son of Massad and Sarah Boulos who have had long association and huge footprints in Africa through their business conglomerate SCOA plc that has business interests throughout the continent of Africa, especially west and French speaking parts of the continent.
And l would like to commence the journey of discovery or excursion into who Mr Trump essentially is with respect to his relationship with Africans with my personal experience when l first met with the great American president and indeed one of the most consequential world leaders of all times who has been largely misunderstood by those who do not know him.
It was at the Trump Golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida USA that we met for the first time.
And the first thing he said to me when l was introduced by my friend Dr Massad Boulos to him as a friend from Nigeria was: your country has a lot of oil under the soil”. And l spontaneously responded in the affirmative. In my view, his comment indicates that he easily identifies opportunities wherever they are and it is a reflection of the fecundity of Mr Trump’s mind.
And it also reflects the fact that the former US president Trump has set high standards for himself and others which is that all opportunities should be optimally harnessed for the good of all.
President Trump is likely miffed that with the amount of oil under Nigerian soil, the citizens have no business being poor and no need to be migrating in droves to other countries particularly via risky routes that often end up in the death of a multitude of Africans in the Sahara desert or in the Mediterranean Sea through which they try to illegally get into European countries ,the US and other North American wealthy countries to eke out a living as refugees.
It is perhaps such perspicuity of Mr Trump that makes some Africans misunderstand him because going by the sympathetic look that l could spot in his face when we first met, the 45th president of the US and accomplished business Titan, is disappointed that despite Nigeria’s huge oil reserve(6th largest crude oil producer in OPEC) and abundant Human Resources in Nigeria,(in excess of 200 million people with 60% as youths) the country’s leaders have failed to capitalize on those critically important assets that the country is endowed with, hence Nigeria has degenerated to the extent that she has earned the odious title of being the poverty capital of the world( formerly held by India)with majority of her citizens wallowing in abject poverty and misery.
Which wealth creator and someone often associated with progress and success, that ex-president Trump personifies and embodies would not express indignation about the leaders and people from a country like Nigeria with abundant natural and human resources, yet mired in the bottom rung of socioeconomic development?
Arising from the circumstances described above, Mr Trump’s feeling of empathy and sympathy for Nigerians and indeed Africans May be justified. But owing to ignorance foisted by mischief makers, Mr Trump’s capitalist disposition or stimuli is being misinterpreted as racism.
Incidentally, that feeling of Mr Trump that the African continent is punching below its weight is validated by the latest National Bureau of Statistics, NBS survey report which has revealed that 63% which is one hundred and thirty three million (133m) Nigerians are living in poverty.
Given that an estimated four (4) of every African and five (5) black people of African origin are Nigerians, one can extrapolate the level of poverty in Africa and what might be driving what appears to the uninformed observers conclusion about Mr Trump’s palpable impatience with failure, transformed into frustrations with Africans which have been misunderstood as racist attitude by some of my compatriots in Africa and blacks in the diaspora.
As opposed to the orthodox approach of the so called prim and proper manners that technocrats in Washington DC which Mr Trump refers to as swamp would prefer, the hopeful 47th president of the US, rather talks straight from the heart which is evidential of the fact he has a profound mind with progress ,success and prosperity as fulcrum.
And it is from that prism that the actions and attitude of the 45th president of the US, (2016-2020) Donald Trump towards lazy or unproductive people, irrespective of their color of skin-black, Brown or white should be situated.
My reality is that contrary to being a racist as Mr Trump has been portrayed to some Africans, he likes to without exception, see and associate with success in all humans worldwide.
And he denounces failures equally, whether they are in the US, Europe, Africa or Asia, Christians or Muslims, Hindus or Sikhs or Buddhists.
Put succinctly, Mr Donald Trump simply can not stand failure hence under his watch he resisted the influx into the US those he termed dredges of society who he accused of being rapists, murderers and criminals of all hues and illegal immigrants and on which basis those that he denounced tagged him a racist.
Definitely, Trump is not referring to nation builders likes Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury Secretary of the US and the eight (8) legislators-Adeoye Owolewa, Carol Kazeem, Esther Agbaje, and Gabe Okoye as well as Solomon Adesanya, Phil Olaleye, not forgetting Tish Naghise all of whom are of Nigerian origin that just won their contests into legislative posts in the US during the recent mid term elections.
But being that there is a preponderance of failures amongst the Africans on the continent owing to prolonged colonization and forceful extraction of her rich natural resources in the past and the current neo-colonialist practices against the Africans on the continent on one hand, coupled with the systemic injustice perpetrated against the blacks in the US in the past several millenniums, till date; there is high tendency to believe that Trump is against blacks which constitute about 13.2 of US population, and represent a high proportion of about 23.8%of the poverty group in that country which is almost twice higher than the proportion of the general population, hence Mr Trump is wrongly deemed to be a racist.
As a reflection of his openness to welcoming immigrants which is as opposed to being a racist, in august 2020, Mr Trump held a naturalization ceremony in the White House for immigrants including black and brown people.
Although a symbolic gesture, it is evidential of the fact that Mr Trump is welcoming to those that can be productive and who wish emigrate to the US via proper immigration processes.
As a capitalist, it is typical that Mr Trump may not stomach or accommodate indolence of Africans and poor leadership defined by corruption which unfortunately is the hallmark of African governments resulting in Africans migrating to the US and other climes where the grass is believed to be greener and which in turn leads to resentment from the citizens of the host countries where the migrating Africans take refuge.
A good reference point is the recent xenophobic attacks against other Africans in South Africa and Ghana, particularly against Nigerians in those countries.
But if such happens in the US and Europe, it would be tagged racism, right?
The truth is that most folks irrespective of color of skin or creed are xenophobic or racist against people that they don’t know or understand.
Consider how Ghana repatriated Nigerians from their country in 1969 and Nigeria in turn expelled Ghanaians from Nigeria in 1983-a phenomenon tagged: ‘Ghana must go’.
In what appears to be poetic justice, and tit for tat manner, Ghana also recently sent packing Nigerians seeking greener pastures in their country, one more time.
Had all these inhumanities happened in Europe or the US to Africans, they could have been termed racism.
But since it happened within Africa between fellow Africans, it is termed xenophobia.
The goal here is that through our efforts at helping Mr Trump understand Africa better, and vice versa for Africans, the US under Trump’s watch in 2024 would help Africa become better.
My second take away about former US president, Donald Trump after we met is that his desire is to be associated with hardworking and high-performance driven people.
That character trait is apparent in his television game show- ‘The Apprentice’ where he would without mercy say to an intern pitching to him, but lack the correct energy and idea “you are fired”
In my personal assessment, Mr Trump has a fetish for seeking the very best in human beings.
If possible, he would like all members of the human race not to be in poverty or be experiencing misery.