The mourning after

It was not supposed to end the way it ended. I mean Hillary Rodham Clinton was supposed to be the one receiving the congratulatory call and not conceding the election. But like many things America, those of us non-Americans still cannot understand it. Few people in their wildest imagination ever contemplated the idea of a President Donald Trump as the leader of the United States of America, however, politics is a strange game which can swing anywhere at any moment.

The election started for me when I accompanied a friend and my host to his poll site in north Bronx. A Nigerian American, another lingo I picked up on this trip, he was excited to vote in a presidential election for the first time. His wife refused to vote saying she knew who would win in New York. The site was a high school gymnasium temporarily closed for citizens to perform their civic duty. It was orderly with volunteers directing people and clear signs in English and Spanish telling them what to do. I observed more elderly folks than young people and in less than 15 minutes, my friend was done. He voted for Clinton and thereafter proceeded to work. Voters had been classified using the first letters of their surnames to six sections for easy identification and accreditation. There was also a section for those with a complaint.

After visiting some other sites, I headed downtown Manhattan for Sahara Reporters studios where I had been invited to be an analyst with others on the election. I deferred my exploration of the downtown till later in the week especially since I learnt that ground zero has been rebuilt with a shopping mall, that common feature of American capitalism; now stand there with other monuments. It was a near carnival-like atmosphere save for a procession, at Sahara Reporters with food and many drifting in and out after each session. Omoyele Sowore, in a somewhat clairvoyant take, implored us to eat, as many might not be able to bear the result when released. Many, expectedly, in this bluest of blue states, scoffed at the idea. My session done, I lingered to monitor the election on the television screens in the office.

Since the two candidates’ base were close by, I toyed with the idea of proceeding to one and watch the acceptance or concession speech but accreditation requirements terminated my plan. It turned out a blessing in disguise later. As my hosts and I kept vigil monitoring the results, the reality of a Trump presidency dawned on us and my friend suddenly became sad with the pain visible on his face. The wife, a Trump supporter, was ecstatic and clearly pleased with the results trickling in. How did she become a Trump supporter was the question whirling in my mind?  So this man’s rhetoric could resonate with someone I know and consider a friend? A Nigerian born in America and raised in Nigeria supporting Trump? It dawned on me that there were many things we did not understand about the November 8 election. Fortunately, I had reconciled with the fact Americans alone will determine the leader they want and it was left for the rest of us to accept their choice.

And that was the same mistake Democrats and some journalists failed to grasp. Poverty is no longer a preserve of Africans and Latin Americans, but real in some parts of rural America. Quite a sizable number of Americans have become increasingly disenchanted with their politicians and folks in Washington are ranked lower, in some cases, than animals. The flurry of campaigns by President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the election eve was a pointer that all was not well as the result confirmed too. The effects of this stunning and unbelievable upset will become clearer as the days go by, but some of the fears of a Trump presidency are justified. In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes yesterday, he outlined his immigration plans, which will see three million people deported. He said: “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally.”

There have been protests in some cities across US against the election outcome but the Democratic Party lost the election, simple. The furore over popular vote and electoral vote, to say the least, is misguided. This is not the first time a candidate will have a lower popular vote than his opponent even when he had more electoral vote and still became president. In 2000, George W. Bush won 271 electoral votes to Al Gore’s 266 even when Gore had 50, 999, 897 to Bush’s 50, 456, 002. But we need to be more concerned about the far right gaining power across Europe in the forthcoming elections particularly after Brexit. The next four years will be challenging on many fronts, not only for Americans, but for the rest of us as well. As Nigerians, we need to reflect more on how a political outsider rose from relative obscurity defeating political machines within his party and in the country in the process. That, for me, is the crux of Trump’s victory.