WHEN WILL AMERICANS SAY TO DONALD J. TRUMP "YOU ARE FIRED!"?
I did not think that a man with the obvious character flaws of Donald Trump would ever be elected President of the United States of America. I thought that Americans are too smart to fall into such a hole. I was wrong.
Let me confess that the election of Donald Trump left me devastated. It made nonsense of everything I thought I knew and I was terribly confused. For weeks, after that crazy Tuesday in November 2016, I refused to watch any TV news channel and weaned my addiction to my once favourite website, politico.com. The idea of seeing Donald Trump addressed as President elect of the United States was too much for me to bear.
I am an event organizer and love big theatre. Which theatre in the world is bigger than the inauguration of the President of the United States of America? Which show has ever attracted a live audience that big? Which big sporting event attracts a worldwide TV viewership that massive? I did not watch the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. For the first time, I was not interested in big theatre.
You are damn right if you say that I was acting like a jilted lover. True, the Americans jilted me. I was going through that kind of pain and emptiness you feel when the one you love deeply suddenly walks out on you. I love America. I am inspired by their ability to manage their diversity and use their coat of many colours to produce the most beautiful garment the world has ever known. I love the boldness of America that screams at you, "nothing is impossible!". I am awed by the intricacy of the New York Subway, the audacity of the Lincoln Tunnel, the sheer dizziness of the Manhattan skyline.
I have been to Hollywood and marvelled at the depth of thought that conceived the gargantuan Universal Studios and the almost indescribable Disneyland.
Today, I spend practically all my time promoting the Nigerian creative industry and daring it to be bold. That surprises a lot of my family and friends who know that in WAEC I had 'A's in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Additional Mathematics. They do not understand how I ended up making music for a living. You think I understand it?
The truth is that despite all the metamorphosis in my life, I remain a great believer in empiricism. I am a plus this minus this equals this kind of guy. If you cannot explain it to me, I do not believe you. That is why I am convinced that 'juju', 'jazz', 'ogun', 'otumokpo' and all their brothers are all a big scam, a scam that has warped the thinking of Africans and left us bewildered as the rest of the world is splitting atoms, querying genes and probing Mars. In Africa, we still want to eat omelettes without breaking eggs.
You may then understand why I am shocked that people as smart as Americans could not see through Donald Trump and understand that this guy is the king of 419. If thousands of miles away, I could see that this guy lies and lies, practically every time he speaks, why did Americans think that he would tell them the truth? If I could see that there had to be a sinister reason why this guy would not present his tax returns to his people, how come the brilliant Americans could not see it? If from Lagos Nigeria, I could see that this man-child who cannot keep his fingers off his smart phone, is a danger to everyone, how did the Americans come to the conclusion that they can trust him with their nuclear codes?
As Donald Trump turns the once proud White House into the set of a permanent reality show, even the Russians, the mortal enemies of America are openly laughing and openly mocking America. Vladimir Putin must be having a time of his life as he plays Donald Trump like an acoustic guitar. Donald Trump is fighting everybody around him and firing everyone who does not agree with him. This apprentice in the Whitehouse without the intellect to understand diplomacy, thinks he is on TV.
I hope the world has learnt a critical lesson. The skills required to earn a bag full of money are different from the skills required to lead a free people in a democracy. The profit motive is driven by extreme self-centeredness, the kind that the Donald has in abundance. To lead a free people, you need to have extreme selflessness, the kind that Nelson Mandela had in abundance and which Donald Trump cannot understand. It has become clear that when Donald Trump says 'America First' what he really means is 'Donald Trump First'. With his massive ego, everything on his way must be torn down. Today, he has set a new record. The longest shut down of the American government in history now belongs to him. Don't doubt it that someday he will boast about the shut down!
Within a few weeks, Donald Trump has sacked his Attorney General, his Secretary of State, his Secretary of Defence, his Chief of Staff and many more. He is in a dog-eat-dog war with the American media, openly insulting the American congress and his hatred for his predecessor, Barack Obama who spent eight years in the White House without a whiff of scandal, is legendry. To remain the last man standing, this man-child is set to destroy every institution that has made America truly great and long after he is gone, Americans would wonder how they brought this nightmare unto themselves.
The Donald Trump problem however is not just an American problem. It is a challenge to the entire humanity. How did this guy with absurd ego and obvious lack of self-control come to be in control of the world's biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons? If it does not bother you, it bothers me.
My question: when will the Americans, Republicans, Democrats and Independents realize that they are in deep sh-t and look at the Donald in the face and say, "you are fired!"
See you next week.
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