One may fault the United States’ brand of democracy for many other things but not for the regularity of its presidential election that occurs every four years. This November 3rd will be the 59th presidential election. It is sometimes said that when Washington sneezes, the world catches a cold. To some extent, that cliché is true because of the USA’s enormous economic and military presence across the globe. As such, a US presidential election has consequences which go far beyond its borders. This year the expectation is even greater when one considers that the incumbent is the controversial real estate mogul, Donald Trump. Here, I will confine my comments to the effect of the election on Africa only.
In his article in this issue of Nile Journal, Jonathan Power laid out the measures of whether President Trump or President Putin is a dictator and left it up to readers to decide. He also guessed that a vast majority of the world wants Trump to be defeated on November 3rd. Predicting elections is a hazardous exercise as lots of people were proven wrong in predicting a Trump loss four years ago. Nevertheless, I concur with Johnathan’s prediction here and I will tell you five main reasons why I think President Trump will not be re-elected.
If one were to ask which country is run by a dictator: United States or Russia, the familiar answer would, of course, be Russia and not the United States. However, the reader would be better served to examine how President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin have been governing their respective countries before answering the question. It is even a more important question for American readers because of the upcoming US election.
The presidential candidates, incumbent President Donald Trump and his challenger former Vice President, Joe Biden, clashed in a televised debate on a right-wing Fox News TV station on September 29, 2020. The debate was moderated by a well-known journalist, Chris Wallace. It was truly a terrible event to watch. Such a debate raised high expectations not only for American voters, but also for us non-Americans. It was abysmal theater in which President Trump talked over his opponent with whom he was supposed to debate.
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