Many Nigerians are disappointed at the election results
in the United States. Many in the world are also very distraught and confused.
History was to be made at least according to the polls. Citizens in the land of
the free were to choose the leader of the free world to lead them for the next
4 years. Many Nigerians had expected Hilary Rodham Clinton the Democrat
candidate to win and the polls indicated she had a good lead until the days
leading up to the election. In fact, she won the popular vote but still lost
the election. How did that happen? Rigging?! Take it easy. Voter fraud is not
the case here but a system known as the Electoral College.
Unlike Nigeria, where voter fraud or electoral
malpractice is common place, incidences of the like are quite insignificant in
the United States. Just what is the Electoral College, you may ask. The Electoral
College is a process not a place. It consists of 538 electors who choose the
president. To win the presidency, 271 of those electors need to back a
candidate. Electoral College votes are ceded to each of the 50 states that make
up the United States based on their population. How these 538 people are chosen
is lecture for another day. Historically, candidates who win the popular vote
also win the Electoral College votes. However, on a few occasions the popular
vote and the Electoral College votes differed; 1824, 1876, 1888, most recently,
2000 and now 2016.
At nearly midnight on the 6th of November four years ago,
current President Elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to say "the electoral
college is a disaster for a democracy." Four years on, he profits by the
same Electoral College. Truth is, Donald Trump did not win the popular vote in
the United States on November 8, 2016. Yet he is president in waiting, unless “faithless
electors decide otherwise on December 12.”
Nigerians and the rest of the world have always followed
the American presidential elections. The US presidential election of 2008 was
followed with greater interest in Nigeria and many parts of the world. An
African American Barak Obama was the Democrat candidate. He was a first time
senator contesting against a long standing senator and experienced politician
John McCain. The African support for Obama was overwhelming. Not that they
cared about what he was saying, nor did the issues resonate with them, they
just wanted him to win because he had African roots.
In 20016 however, the campaigns are different but history
was also in the making. The Democrat candidate this time was a woman, an
experienced woman. Mr Trump was a
terrible candidate in frank terms. He said a lot of terrible things before he
got nominated and worse things after he surprisingly won the Republican
nomination. The opinion polls showed that he was unpopular and should not win.
I personally agreed with the polls. Truth be told, I have since come to agree
with the humorist who said “the poll that matters is the one that happens on
Election Day”. Trump astonishingly won.
He was a political joke. And the problem with political
jokes is they get elected. Now that we know how he won despite being a terrible
candidate, the question people keep asking is: why did he win? Well, the answer
or answers are not so easily put out but I will try.
A friend of mine, distraught at the result insisted
"America would rather have a proven molester and women degrader than vote
a vetted lady with 44yrs experience and tact and diplomacy who made a one
mistake." She believes the war for gender equality is still being lost. Was
it her character flaw, or her ethical mistake with the Clinton email scandal
which were re-opened 11 days to Election Day?
A US writer and movie director Michael Moore correctly
predicted the result with 4 months to the election. I read it then but
dismissed him. He turned out to be right. His reasons are thus:
The Electoral College
Trump to win mid-western states Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The Angry White Man – Old males not wanting the projected
left wing trend of presidents – Black man now, woman, next gay and probably
next an Animal for president. It had to be stopped.
The Hilary Problem - She's perceived to be untrustworthy and not commanding sufficient enthusiasm.
I personally felt that the FBI did her a disservice by
reopening the case. It has been revealed by a few news sites that she blames
her loss of those Midwestern states on that. However, post-election polls
suggest it was not her email scandal that led to the "republican
swing" in the Midwest. It was Trump's call that Clinton supports NAFTA
which took away their jobs that made them change their minds. Another poll indicates
that they already made up their minds to vote Trump in October.
To Clinton, she lost because the FBI did her a disservice.
I personally did not like either candidate. I did not
like Bernie Sanders either. Not that he was a bad candidate, but he seemed too
old to be president. In fact, I saw his contest as proof to my theory that
there was a conspiracy to make a “woman” president succeed the “black president”.
With Trump’s loud and outrageous
remarks, it seemed he was playing to the conspiracy “get everyone to hate me”
so that a woman must be president.
She has lost because he won. He benefited from the same
Electoral College he condemned 4 years ago. Come January 20, he will be sworn
in barring any last minute change of mind by “faithless electors” on December
12. Then he will take responsibility for America’s future. Like they say, the right to choose also
includes the right to wrong choices and the consequences.
Election results from the last 3 elections show that
young people did not participate in this election as much as they did for Obama
in 2008 or 20012. Bernie Sanders made this call correctly. Whatever, you do, do
not neglect young people.
The Americans have chosen a man who will get them blame
for the next 4 years after all; democracy is a process by which the people are
free to choose the man who will get the blame.
Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If
they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they
will just have to sit on their blisters. Abraham Lincoln
On another note, I’m kind of okay with the Trump victory.
Obama and Hilary played “God” on the international scene. Perhaps they got
served and cold. Americans chose Hilary but got Trump.
Comments