What If Trump wins a second term? » Opinions » Tribune Online
Tunji Olaopa
Tunji Olaopa
Nuhamin Bekalu
On Sunday, September 29, 2019 at 5:09:15 AM UTC-4, Tunji Olaopa wrote:
Michael Afolayan
“The way forward is for Nigeria to become strategic in her foreign and international trade policy by actively pursuing an economic diversification policy that will redirect its attention away from oil to other significant national products. This will have to go hand in hand with a focus on the stimulation of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors in ways that will facilitate Nigeria’s growing visibility in trade, especially with the US. . .We all seem to know this already. What is lacking is the political will to see it through. However, while we wait and ponder our options, Donald Trump might win a second term in the White House, and the international world order founded on multilateralism might just get the last nail hammered into its coffin. We do not want to be left floundering while the wise states who have anticipated these incidences keep moving forward unscathed.” (Prof. T.O.)
Thanks, again, Professor Olaopa; as always, you did well. There is indeed nothing else to add to your submissions here. I just have two brief observations:
First, this call for a paradigm shift for our nation, Nigeria, to redirect its attention away from oil to a focus on other significant national products is an appeal that has long been hollered in the ears of the leadership of the nation a million and one times. I pray this your yet another of such hollering would be heeded. Our leaders do not have a history of understanding the salience of that paradigm shift. Do we, or any nation for that matter, in the 21st century need rocket science to inform us that this is not the age when any people should base its economy on extractive economy? We need to know that a nation which economy is oil-driven will (and should) someday drawn in the dangerous pool of oil. And unlike water, drowning in oil is always terminal! Seriously, a lack of this knowledge puts us in the kingdom of political and economic illiterates, and that is so sad!
Second, I believe those of us who did not vote for Donald Trump or wished the likes of him to rule over us or over our people are the only ones still entertaining and dreaming the prospect of Donald Trump as a one-term president of the United States. Those who brought him in are not winking in their formidable support for their hero! With more than half of my lifetime hanging out on that side of the Atlantic, I can comfortably say that he is a winner of a second term. I have placed a bet on that fact with so many people and I am reasonably sure I cannot lose that bet. However, I have always added a caveat to my bet: a miracle can happen, and none of us is in control of that, and besides, something cataclysmic could also happen, and I am not counting the impeachment prospect to it, since impeachment does not imply removal. Our friend, Bill Clinton, was impeached but was never removed and he left the office (the second term) more popular than all those who voted to impeach him. Contrary to the prayers of many of us, this man might still be coming back.Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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Chimalum Nwankwo
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Cornelius Hamelberg
The unnecessarily paranoid “What if” is predicated on the sound and sober realisation that there’s nobody in the desperate Democrats’ stable that’s strong enough to put up a decent challenge to the awesome President Donald Trump!
In other words, with their bag full of dirty tricks, understandably they are in the if we can't beat him lets impeach him mode, and their bag will soon be leaking, because they are all losers!
“Sleepy Joe” Biden can’t do it (he’s too old, he’s not as charismatic as his former boss Obama, and most decidedly, America doesn’t want Obama’s second-best entering the oval office through the back door (please, not four years more of him)...
Just as they didn't want “Lyin’ Hillary”
which would have meant “Slick Willy”
returning to the Oval Office
through the back door.
Bernie - hell no!
He’s too easily branded and burnt as “a Commie”
As the third choice, you may well ask, maybe America is ready for climate change and for a young and dynamic female as first woman president as the commander-in-chief of the US military and quite capable of making tough foreign policy decisions: but it’s unlikely that it will be the soft and sincere & slightly menopausal Elisabeth Warren, known to the big bad wolf as “Lady Pocahontas”
I could go on but I’ll pause right here
expecting you bray, to join in the fray
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O O
On Sep 30, 2019, at 2:29 PM, Chimalum Nwankwo <chimalu...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Harrow, Kenneth
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2019 9:05 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: What If Trump wins a second term? » Opinions » Tribune Online
Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
History Department, Central Connecticut State University
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2019 9:23 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: What If Trump wins a second term? » Opinions » Tribune Online
Please be cautious: **External Email**
Harrow, Kenneth
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2019 8:39 AM
Cornelius Hamelberg
Poetic (thoughts); “The ten commandments of logic” (smile)
What Bobby D prophesied (with his voice)a long time ago, still holds true for tomorrow:
“Come
writers and critics
Who
prophesize with your pen
And
keep your eyes wide
The
chance won't come again
And
don't speak too soon
For
the wheel's still in spin
And
there's no tellin' who
That
it's namin'
For
the loser now
Will
be later to win
For
the times they are a-changin
“
Has there ever been a US Presidential Election which the whole world has not been interested in? If they could, I’m sure that they (the whole world) would like to vote and thereby decide who the next US president should be.
Just imagine, in that case, if all of China, all of Iran & the Palestinians etc. voted against the incumbent, then Mr Trump would probably have to count on his foreign base comprising Israel, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, The Philippines. They say “good fences make good neighbours “- maybe Mexico and Canada too. At this stage, I cannot guarantee or testify for any of the so-called “shithole countries” since maybe in revenge, they could decide to vote solidly against the idea of Mr. Trump ever capturing the White House again.
When Sista Gloria sez, “Putin has every reason to see him win the election and China every reason to see him lose”, she is of course, only giving two obvious examples; also true, too many cooks spoil the broth and in addition to obvious actors such as Russia and China, there’s the UK currently under Her Majesty and Boris Johnson who Trump has promised “an exceptional new trade agreement with the UK that will bring tremendous benefits to both of our countries”, when Brexit is complete.
Perhaps, if Trump were to make a similar promises to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un on condition that Kim denuclearise immediately and solemnly promise to relinquish nuclear weapons forever – and if Trump was to make a similar promise, simultaneously to the Almighty and to the Supreme Leader of Iran that if Iran’s Supreme Leader and executive solemnly swear to completely renounce violence, then not only would he (Trump) unilaterally lift all sanctions immediately, he would also “stand ready to complete an exceptional new trade agreement with Iran that will bring tremendous benefits to both of our countries!”
But, back in the ol' man trouble Middle East, Saudi Arabia would not be too happy about that – for sure, Saudi Arabia would like to see continuity in the White House for Brother Trump but would not like Brother Trump to be friends with their arch-enemy IRAN. Whereas , if Trump did make such a smart move - of course he would completely isolate Israel and Bibi Netanyahu as a bosom friend, not only that, as Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib know, for a surety (talking about patronage/ interference/ influence/ friendly foreign powers etc.) AIPAC would completely withdraw their backing for his new presidential bid, Trump’s pilgrimage to pay homage at the Kotel would be cancelled, whilst both North Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran would be desperate to do whatever they can to see Trump re-elected – or do you think that they would prefer to throw their weight behind someone like Elisabeth Warren?
In any case, when did foreign policy play an important role in the US presidential elections at a time when the economy is said to be booming?
About the storm in the teacup ( about “impeachment”) a good question to consider is, who can exert more of leverage on Ukraine: Russia or the United States. Behind the scenes, your guess must be better than mine ( This evening I attended the gala opening of Cinema Africa in Stockholm and tomorrow, most importantly it’s Russia expert Stig Fredriksson talking about his book “ Russia without Putin” // http://www.carlssonbokforlag.se/produkt/ryssland-utan-putin/
Should Donald Trump’s policies be rolled back, just as Barack Obama’s policies are still being rolled back by his successor?
From now until November next year when Trump’s term will be up for renewal I’ll be following the many twists and turns ahead right here : Real Clear Politics
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Cornelius Hamelberg
First of all L’Shana Tova / a Happy New Year (5780) to everybody, especially to the beleaguered President Trump, His First Lady & the White House Family!
If wishes were horses
then Warren would fly
at which point Trump
could cry a tearful cry
No American prophet, seer or prognosticator am I, maybe that’s why I take everything that Professor Kenneth Harrow has to say, seriously, until his last hope-filled pitch about Trump’s Lady Pocahontas which comes as an anti-climax to reality:
“when the dems have a candidate, and if she runs a strong campaign (i am hoping it is warren), there's every chance she can pull it off.”
The pundits say that the fallout from this impeachment frenzy is going to energise Trump’s base. and even make a martyr out of him (I suppose that American presidents ask others for all kinds of favours – I wouldn’t judge that if Brother Buhari requested some help from Trump or from the CIA or the FBI to investigate and repatriate some looted funds, he should be impeached - or charged with treason)
Since Sleepy ol’ Joe Biden is going to emerge from this whistle-blower thing much more damaged than Trump (all that Ukraine money corruption) and since it will not be easy to sell Bernie as a Commie, then it’s gotta be somebody else for the Dems...
Fact is, whether we like it or not, the United States is not yet psychologically ready for Elizabeth Warren as the next potus and America’s First Female President.
What she has going for herself is that thank goodness she is not at all like Trump’s “Crooked Hillary “or like her husband, Slick Willy who was impeached for a thing like that - and that’s a big plus.
As a good American mother figure the Negroes in Detroit could vote for Elizabeth Warren and the Negroes in Georgia too, even if they would much prefer someone like Big Mama Stacey Abrams. I say “good mother figure” mindful of Brother Ishmael Reed’s portrait of “Lyin Hillary” in his Ma and Pa Clinton Flog Uppity Black Man.
Otherwise, from this distance Elisabeth Warren strikes me as being too gentle Jesus, meek and mild for the Oval Office. She might be sincerely soft on guns (that the mentally ill should not have any - but that’s as far as she can hope to go in dispossessing her fellow Americans of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms...)
In the fights that Trump has started, to downsize unemployment, to better the battered American economy, the trade war with China, compelling other NATO members into paying a more equitable share of the costs of running that Alliance and in the interests of assuring a more sustainable future peace in the always volatile Middle East, instead of merely kicking the can further down the road, (it’s possible that it's Benjamin Netanyahu on his back and riding him and the Republican Party ever since Netanyahu’s address to the US Congress during Obama's tenancy at the White House) but Israel is and continues to be the US’s most reliable, rock-steady ally in that Middle East and it’s Trump that at least sees the necessity that for some time to come (all future-time?) it should be better that Iran is not in a position to continue to threaten either Israel or the oil fields of Saudi Arabia or in a position to dominate the Middle East by surreptitiously or otherwise becoming a nuclear power - if that is preventable by a re-negotiating of a nuclear deal that can be re-negotiated without causing any pain to anybody – instead of letting things slide too far, until one fine day Nuclear Iran says “ Voila!” - and then we have Iran’s new supreme leader in a position similar to that of Kim Jong-un test-firing ballistic missiles over Saudi Arabia into the Red Sea and over Israel into the Mediterranean Sea, and one day over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, foaming at their mouths and fanatically chanting after the Friday Jummah prayers in Tehran, “Allahu Akbar ! Yes, we can !”
(Of course the Mullahs say that they trust and depend on Allah only and don’t need nuclear weapons, that nuclear weapons are against Islam, but assuredly not against the pious Shia doctrines of taqiyya and kitman)
In the meantime, just like Tunji Olaopa, both the pious and not so pious Pan-Africans (the impious) must be expressing profound concerns (mostly economic) and asking, what about Trump’s “shithole countries”?
Of relevance: How did such countries fare under Brother Obama during whose tenure AFRICOM flourished as never before, in Africa.
Well, the three wise men said that God helps those who help themselves.
Hillel the Elder asked, "If I am not for myself, who is for me? And being for my own self, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?"
In my view a much more important question concerns the future of China in Africa…
The John Coltrane Quartet – Africa / Brass
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Emma R Wolfe
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Cornelius Hamelberg
This is the kind of deliberate but forgivable mistake usually based on the sort of ignorance that makes people like Cornelius Ignoramus wince and makes less sympathetic and less charitable Pan-Africanists take out their merciless sledgehammers to impart the correction:
“Throughout Trump's presidency, he has made many racist remarks that have often offended people, so much so that it has placed a strain on relations between the United States and other countries such as Africa” (According to one Emma R Wolfe)
By it’s very title Pius Adesanmi did provide the whole wide world with this correction:
You're Not a Country, Africa !
One would have thought that the heyday of USA- Africa relations would have been remembered as January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017, when Barack Hussein Obama II, said to be “the First Black President of the US”, occupied the White House, but as my good friend from New York (Harvey Tristan Cropper) told me, from day one, “Calm down. Don’t raise your expectations too high: Remember he was elected President of the United States of America, not president of Africa!”
Without being sentimental I’d say that the heyday of USA – Africa relations was the John F. Kennedy era, he created that ideal organisation the Peace Corps, engineered great cultural exchanges – all those jazzmen passing through town, for instance Charlie Byrd ...
And Brother Trump? Well, we saw how he came out strongly in defence of ASAP Rocky!
About Brother Trump’s alleged racism you could ask folks like Kanye West
More than anything else, such as demanding respect, or demanding that Trump wear “a cloak of decency”, Trump’s “shithole” remarks should be taken as a lesson from the forthright president about the virtues of self-reliance and not expect Uncle Sam to love Africa more than Africans love themselves, Africans should not expect Uncle Sam to do everything for Africa, and to praise Africa, to sing Africa’s praises, when Africans themselves don’t do it. Isn’t it about time that Africans start taking appropriate measures to reverse the brain-drain and the unending voluntary and involuntary migrations from Africa to the United States?
The current US- Africa relations is not so hot - not as hot as China- Africa relations and the extraordinary achievements of China in Africa. Such as the extensive - and massive infrastructure that China has built in most African countries since the time that Barack Obama took the oath of office to serve the United States of America... and lest we forget, did Obama invite Uhuru Kenyatta to lunch at the White House when he was in office? Well, Donald Trump did, perhaps because he did not want to leave undone one of the African things that Barack should have done….
Trump and “the rest of the world”? Will the rest of the world survive without Trump? Well, representatives of the US and of North Korea are meeting in Stockholm right now .
There’s Trump and Iran
Trump and the troubled Middle East
What about Trump and Greece ?
( About the impeachment bug – what could be wrong about investigating the former admin? Trump did not say, “ Please give me some dirt on Joe Biden ”, did he?
Emma
R. Wolfe, generally, in Africa, the new regimes investigate the old
regimes, for corruption. So,
I suspect that there must be tremendous sympathy for Trump’s
anti-corruption agenda ( If Trump were President
of Nigeria, he would have probably investigated
Atiku Abubakar for corruption, before the last Nigerian
presidential election
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Ryan McGauley
Lance Hanse
This article goes over how Trump being elected effects other parts of the world, specifically Africa. It focuses on some of the problems that Trump has caused, for example, undermining NATO’s power and interrupting the Brexit deal. I never really considered the impact of American politics on the world order. I always saw it as only affecting America. Disagreements between America and China, and power plays by Russia can significantly affect all the countries in the world. This article goes on to argue that the Trump administration does not take the multilateral economy into account. The point is then made about Trump's Unpredictability. Most have seen the Election of President Trump as a racist reaction to President Obama. Economically, Trump has disrupted the Nigerian Economy when the US stopped being the number one importer of Nigerian Oil. Overall the reelection raises questions about the world orders future.
