By Austin Isikhuemen
America, the United States that is, has been regarded as the beacon of democracy for centuries. Never mind that ancient Greece was actually where democracy originated and Britain, that taught America the democracy they eventually modified, is hardly given its due when democracy’s foundation is being discussed or taught. After all, everyone quotes Abraham Lincoln’s statement in his Gettysburg speech when defining democracy – Government of the people, for the people and by the people.
The Greek never defined democracy, they just practiced it in its purest form. The British on the other hand did not have someone with Lincoln’s iconic sound bites and wide reach aided by the power of enormous military power. So, despite the world acclaimed oratory of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his predecessors, a definition of democracy was not ascribed to them. Even from the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, I can only remember her response when asked what will happen if the United Kingdom lost the Falklands War against Argentina. Her crisp response was “We lose? The possibility does not exist!” So, we have come to associate America with the pure form of democracy over time.
Recent happenings, from Trump’s first win and ‘reign’ as President, the Biden interregnum and now, the Royal 2nd epoch facilitated by Elon Musk, have brought America’s democracy under intense scrutiny. Things previously thought as impossible in “God’s Own Country” have become so commonplace that people have started to wonder if that God should not be spelt with a small ‘g’! Some so-called Banana Republic leaders now point to America’s recent leadership methods and practices as a good example of what they have been accused of doing that made then acquire that infamous sobriquet.
Did the Donald not attempt to steal the elections that Biden won by trying to corrupt an election official asking him with his Presidential voice to find some votes for him to enable him win an election he had lost? Yes, their “INEC” official held his ground and his integrity but that that attempt was made at all was evidence that the country may also be going bananas! Did the same man not attempt to get his VP Pence, as head of Congress, to sabotage the final election collation (electoral college vote tally) and when that failed, resorted to strong arm tactics worse than seen in the third world? With lunatics and hooligans mobilized and dispatched wielding clubs, cudgels and baseball bats, some wearing hoods and cow horns, to attack the Washington DC Capitol and overawe the people’s representatives, what more than this do African despots do?
Did we not witness the use of unbridled racism against Blacks and Hispanics even in the last election? Were some Americans not considered by a Presidential frontrunner as unfit to be called Americans? At a point, he said they were eating the cats and dogs which he apparently considered more American and deserving to be treated better than George Floyd and Mexican immigrants. How is this better than the tribal bating some do in these parts? Same goes for name-calling and body shaming that the West taught us was anathema. But it became a singsong in an election in the world’s beacon of democracy and can therefore be copied and pasted by the rest of the world!
Lie telling and deployment have become a selling point again since Biden left the Whitehouse. The Oval Office has been fouled up by Elon Musk’s antics that turned the hallowed space into his kid’s playground. Down here in Naija, we have begun to use what is called “Executive Orders” since Trump popularized it during his first incarnation. Obasanjo never used it, or at least I cannot recall such being used from Shagari’s Presidency till Buhari’s era ended. Now, it is being deployed too. Afterall, did we not copy the US-type Presidential System of government after jettisoning the Westminster style which has taken India, the world’s biggest democracy, to great heights?
We have seen now that what a man says when campaigning does not have to match what he does once he acquires power. Morality and integrity do not matter anymore. No, I was not talking of Nigeria. I mean in Trump’s America. A man who accused the Democrats of being war mongers and pledged that he will never go to war just sent the next deadliest bombs after nuclear to destroy Iran nuclear sites in a matter that he pretends to be a peace broker and honest negotiator. Is this going to be a peace talks or a capitulation signoff? There is going to be an uneasy peace because one side has been badgered into seating at a round table with Goliath and David on the same side against the mullah from Lilliput. It is like a peace talk between Yoweri Museveni and his defence minister on one side and Bobby Wine on the other!
Have you seen the deployment of Presidential pardons in Trump’s America? Those who fought to dethrone democracy, televised live across the world, tried and found guilty through the constitutionally prescribed judicial processes and legally jailed, have been given pardon. It did not matter that this was setting a dangerous precedent. What mattered was that their idol, who sent them on that ignoble and treasonable errand four years prior, was now in the Oval office. That’s the equivalent of releasing someone jailed for coup plotting and giving him a Distinguished Service Medal. What they did is now what young Americans can aspire to and African despots will imitate.
Have you seen how diplomacy is played by Washington these days? A Vice President can now tag along and humiliate a foreign head of state in the presence of his own President! Oh yes. That is an overt sign of unquestionable loyalty. A demonstration of a team that works in uncouth, abrasive and might-is-right diplomatic synergy. Not for them old fashioned respect for visitors otherwise called hospitality, except maybe they think that applies at hospitals. Zelensky, a comedian turned statesman and courageous wartime commander-in-chief had to be bullied and humiliated for holding his ground and asking civilized questions of his uncouth host. All these on behalf of another superpower that America used to consider as an adversary! Should Nigeria too not humiliate Sierra Leonian President because we are big and they are small, following the example from big, sorry, huge, America?
I have also watched Cabinet Secretaries stall and refuse to ask pertinent questions asked by congressmen and senators carrying out their oversight functions. They do this because providing the right answers would be uncomfortable, even disgraceful. Because they do what is unconstitutional, against settled democratic traditions or even against morality. They talk with so much disdain for law makers in their country. Not many such appointees are yet able to muster such foolhardy brashness in these parts. Not that they would not want to, but many live inside Ghana-must-go bags and only a few can ask probing questions. They can only whisper in darkness and tell their constituents that their hands are tied! Trumpism may yet replace democracy in African countries, if courage evaporates.
Lagos, 25th June 2025.
