In the immediate aftermath of his stunning victory in the recently concluded US presidential election, Mr. Donald Trump, was the recipient of congratulatory messages from around the world. Many were literally fawning over the newly minted head of the the world’s most powerful nation.
One message caught my attention; it was that from the NPP presidential candidate, Mr. Nana Akuffo Addo, who was so effusive in his praise of Trump that, I for once, thought Mr. Addo has a special place in Trump’s circle of friends, or he had been given a rousing welcome at the Trump Tower, like the British rabble rouser, Nigel Farage.
In his message to Trump, Mr. Addo was not shy about highlighting the warm relations between the NPP and the Republican Party. He, in fact, called the Republican Party, a sister party of the NPP, by which he meant they both share the same political philosophy and ideas. I was stunned, indeed taken aback by this naked adulation of Trump.
I just don’t get it; why Nana will bend over backwards to heap praise on Trump, a man who has no qualms about disparaging minorities, Hispanics, blacks, Muslims, women, and the disabled and shows a callous disregard for those who don’t see eye to eye with him, is simply befuddling.
Why the association with Donald Trump? Perhaps, Nana desperately wants to be counted as one of the friends of the “DONALD.” But he Nana ought to be told that Trump is not a bright mind; he is someone who hates to read, and therefore in all likelihood knows little to nothing about the African continent, much less Ghana, a small, insignificant country tucked away in the corner of West Africa.
During the campaign, Trump paid little attention to Africa and only mentioned it when he was referring to the 1998 Al Qaudea bombings of the US. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Trump has numerous businesses scattered around the world, but none is located in Africa. Go figure.
With his election, Africa stands to lose a lot in its relations with the U.S. For example, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a preferential trade agreement between select African countries and the US. which was renewed by the US Congress in 2015, may be scuttled, completely abandoned altogether.
Why? Because Trump has threatened to undo many of the trade deals the US has with many countries across the world. And he has just told the whole world that he is pulling the United States out of the TPP, the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade bloc that involves 12 countries.
And the party he now leads, the Republican Party, to the dismay and consternation of many within and outside the party, is not exactly your grandfather’s political party.It is a party that, since the passing of the civil rights act in the 1960s, has had a frosty and hostile relations with minorities, and has over the years tried to gut government programs geared towards poor Americans.
Look, there are good people in the Republican party; former president George W. Bush is beloved across the continent because of his Emergency Plan for Aids in Africa which has saved millions of African lives.
But, unfortunately, the party is dominated by racists and bigots who will love to stop migration to the United States altogether. Yes, Trump said several times during his campaign stops that he will ban Muslims from entering the U.S., and even though he has retreated a little on this, there is already talk by some of his key allies of a Muslim registry, which is a complete violation of the US constitution.
If the Republican had their way, but for the stubborn resistance of the Democrats, they would have put an end to the visa lottery program which has enabled thousands of Ghanaians to move to the United States in the last thirty years.
With this background, I wonder why any Ghanaian politician will want to have anything at all to do with Donald Trump and his Republican party. No one is telling Nana how to choose his friends, but if he elects to be in the same room with a bigot and a party that has such absolute disdain for people of his race, then God help us all.
