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@ MarketingAfrica 02 MAL63 / 24 ISSUE
Marketing Africa
On Trumpism
‘ An indicted felon gets elected president’ shouted the headline of a major European newspaper. Thus, was reported the outcome of a hotly contested election in America, which was full of drama, suspense and intrigue.
Yes, Trump is back! And with his return America is once again the setting of a grand reality show which would be thoroughly entertaining if it wasn’ t for the fact that this self-absorbed clown also happens to be the face of democracy on the global stage.
Trump is such a showman that the whole world was rivetted on his antics during the campaign and unfortunately the circus will continue for the next four years. The world was divided between those dreading his return and those enthralled by his persona.
During the Biden era the world almost forgot America existed, not anymore. For Europe the bully is back, the treasonous ally. Africa hopes he continues to ignore it and for the rest the chess game is on with no holds.
Even before he is inaugurated Trump is already stirring controversy by his cabinet picks who are conspicuous for their criminal records and incompetence that one can only declare that the saying that birds of a feather flock together indeed has credence.
A key campaign issue was the mental acuity of the sitting president which eventually resulted in him withdrawing from the race but given the deranged rantings of the president-elect one wonders whether both contestants should not have withdrawn.
The key takeout from the just concluded election is that democracy is again on trial. Given that the two countries challenging America for global dominance, China and Russia, are both dictatorships, this does not augur well for democracy.
The world is also uncomfortable with Trump’ s openly dictatorial demeanor and his lack of respect for democratic institutions and has declared publicly his intention to disregard democratic ideals as laid down by the constitution.
He still has court cases in regard to his role in inciting the January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection which attempted to overthrow a duly elected president because Trump could not contemplate a loss and hence giving birth to the now infamous election deniers.
The oft quoted democratic tenet of separation of power between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary is beginning to blur even in America as a pro-Trump Supreme Court gave an unprecedented ruling giving the president questionable immunity.
If one does not interrogate the figures carefully, one would assume that Trump had a massive victory in the election but this is not true as Trump scrapped through on a razor thin margin while election fraud is still not discounted.
Given that he was up against a woman, a black woman at that, then one realizes that his victory was not all that impressive. The results of just one state would have swung the pendulum the other way round.
Which brings us to a peculiarity of the American politics. With fifty states voting the elections are determined by six or seven states that