Voice of Emancipation: Trump’s Presidency and the American Democracy

By Kayode Emola

America likes to pride itself on being a beacon of democracy, worthy of emulating as a model for governance worldwide. However, President Trump’s election has shown that what America practices is anything but democracy.

If African leaders copied the democracy of America, then I can’t see why a massive revolution should not happen across several countries in Africa. The African people themselves need to rise and fight against this totalitarianism sold to us as democracy. We need to forge a new path for ourselves, going back to the foundations of creation and seeing what worked for our ancestors in the past.

We saw how Trump was dragged through the court for several months in the Biden administration. We also saw many of the rioters of January 6, 2021, who were Trump supporters put in prison by the Biden administration. However, after Trump’s inauguration, in one fell swoop of an executive order, the rioters were freed and presumed innocent.

My question then is what does democracy truly mean? Does it mean that we the electorates are duty-bound to one man’s whims and caprice who sits as the President of the nation? How can the rioters be deemed as criminals because Biden is president and then deemed as innocent because Trump is the president?

This scenario beggar’s belief that the justice system depends on who sits on the throne rather than the rule of law. If America is not governed by the rule of law, which is a by-product of democracy, then one should wonder what America practices that it is calling democracy.

As Africans and especially Yoruba, we need to critically examine our political structure when rebuilding our new nation. This we must do so that we don’t import the European or America democracy that tends to favour only those in power or their supporters.

We need to build a system of government that is fair to all and not just to a certain group of people. If not, we may have failed to leave a legacy for our children who are looking up to us for inspiration.

If Nigeria has taught us anything, it is how not to run a country with the level of corruption this country is experiencing. This may not be far from the America system of democracy we imported which grants immunity to those who actively steal our monies yet we the people feel helpless in prosecuting them.

The worst is that they flaunt this ill-gotten wealth in our faces long after they have left office, and we feel helpless. If we don’t want to be perpetual slaves to these cohorts of treacherous politicians who think only of themselves and their cronies when they’re in power, then we need to always be on our guard.

We need to make sure that our new Yoruba nation rid itself of any remnant of the Nigerian corruption that may inhibit us from building a true democratic society. We must always be vigilant so that those who mean us harm fail in their evil plans.

As the world watches Trump’s administration and his raft of executive orders, we may be able to unlearn many of what we thought was democracy. If we did that, we may have a chance of saving our Yoruba nation from being a victim of democracy like it is practiced in many countries in Africa and around the world.