By Femi Aribisala
By the time you are reading this, the American presidential election would be on its last leg. November 3, 2020, is Election Day in the United States, except that 95 million people have already voted as I am writing this. That means the election must be already baked. And that means, as far as I am concerned, President Donald J. Trump is already on the way to ignominious defeat. I have been having a ding-dong with Nigerian Trumpkins ever since Trump became the American president against the odds. I pointed out that Trump actually lost the election in 2016 to Hilary Clinton by no less than a whopping 3 million votes. He only became president because he obtained a measly total of 77,000 votes in 3 midwestern states: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
But Nigerian Trumpkins would have none of that. Trump himself went as far as declare that his 3 million deficit in the popular votes in 2016 were fake votes. However, the 77,000 votes that awarded him the presidency through the antediluvian Electoral College system was genuine. Provoking Trumpians Then I raised the ante. I told them Donald Trump would be impeached. This prediction earned me a lot of insults on social media from Nigerian Trumpkins. They called me all kinds of names. Fortunately, I am immune to insults. I developed immunity as a teenager in boarding school. Three years later, Trump was impeached. Then I discovered that Nigerian Trumpkins do not even know what impeachment means. They assume it means removal from office, whereas, it is the prelude to removal. Of course, Trump could not be removed because his party controlled the American Senate; and two-thirds of the Senators must agree before he can be removed.
Then a few weeks ago, God told me Trump would be infected with COVID-19. When I again went public on this, I was roundly excoriated by the Trumpkins, who claimed I said God told me Trump would die of COVID-19 although he recovered from the disease. This is a classic case of calling a dog a bad name in order to kill it. I never said God told me Trump would die of COVID-19. For Trumpkins who can read the English language, this is what I wrote verbatim: “(God) said to me: ‘Donald Trump himself will catch the virus.’ I was not precisely sure what to make of this prophecy. Nevertheless, my immediate conclusion (PERHAPS EMANATING FROM UNCHARITABLE WISHFUL THINKING) was that Donald Trump would not only catch COVID-19 but would die of the disease.” Surely, a distinction should be made between my wishful thinking and God’s prophecy. But our dear Trumpkins refused to entertain that distinction.
I also made another statement that trumped them. I said: “while most pundits believe Biden will defeat Trump at the polls, God has determined that Trump will be defeated by the coronavirus.” The veracity of this statement will become apparent over the next few days. My prediction: So, this is my prediction, and it is not a prophecy from God. Nigerian Trumpkins need to be educated that a prediction is different from a prophecy. A prediction is from a man: a prophecy is from God. I predict that Trump will be disgraced in today’s American presidential election. He will not only lose; he will lose by a landslide. He will be roundly rejected by the American electorate. The whole world is tired of Donald Trump, except perhaps a smidgen of Nigerian Trumpkins. Trump is an assault on human beings everywhere. He is the man who ushered in the so-called “post-truth world” with his cacophony of lies and falsehoods.
The Washington Post tallies over 22,000 false statements emanating from Trump in his 4-year presidency; with a record of 189 lies in one single day. Nigerian Trumpkins believe Trump’s lies, including his current insistence that the United States is rounding the corner” with COVID-19, even though over 230,000 Americans have died of the disease. Indeed, just 3 days ago, on 30th October 2020, the United States reached a new milestone of nearly 100,000 new COVID infections in one day. So, you can understand my insistence that Trump will be defeated not by Biden but by the coronavirus. You cannot expect Americans to go through Trump’s abject incompetence in handling the pandemic and still expect them to give him another 4 years of continued incompetence in the White House. It is just not going to happen.
Donald J. Trump will be kicked out of the White House. Thereafter, he will be faced with lawsuits in New York that will end up with him being sentenced to jail by 2023 in Ricker’s Island. Trump fears this is why his chief strategy in this election is suppressing the votes. That is why he is already claiming the election will be rigged without coming up with any substantiation whatsoever. That is why his people have already filed over 40 lawsuits against the election before it took place. That is why he is saying the only result he will accept is that which declares him the winner. Short shrift However, the election should be over sooner than people think. In no time at all, it will be clear that Trump has been given the beating of his life. All Biden needs to do is retrieve Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania from Trump. These are the Democratic-voting states that surprisingly voted for Trump in 2016. Biden is well on the way to do that. All the polls show him in comfortable leads in those states, one even by double-digits. Early results from the American east coast should seal the deal.
If Trump loses Florida, the election is over. If he loses Georgia, then we are talking about a landslide. If he loses Texas, then it is not just a defeat but a disgrace. As I said, the election is already baked. An overwhelming 95 million Americans have already voted, the overwhelming percentage of these is Democrats. Young voters, between 18 and 29 years, who have never voted before, have come out of the woodwork, and they are mostly voting for Biden. Ditto suburban and women voters. Trump is not even doing as well as he did in 2019 among white voters. Trump’s drubbing will also be reflected down-ballot. Democrats should squeeze through a takeover of the Senate from the Republicans, no thanks to Donald Trump who is determined to bring his party-members down with him. Poor Trumpkins I would then need some rationalisations explaining Trump’s disgrace from Nigerian Trumpkins, who are foolishly in love with a man who is not even supported by blacks in his own country. They are in support of a man given to racist dog-whistles, who tells white supremacists to “stand by,” who calls Nigeria a “shithole country,” who has banned Nigerians from the American visa lottery, and who is consistently against the election of Nigerians to high positions in the African Development Bank and the World Trade Organisation.
I would need Nigerians to explain why a man they claim is a Christian champion and therefore ordained by God would then lose his ordination at the polls. Is God unable to prevent Trump’s defeat? This messiah of Nigerian Trumpkins is a man without a moral compass. He is a serial adulterer. He is a man not given to the truth but steeped in falsehood. Why should blacks in Nigeria believe in a man who obviously believes black lives do not matter. Why should Christians believe in a man who denigrates Christ and Christianity in private but holds up a bible in public just for a photo-up? Why should they support a man who promoted a policy of separating the children of immigrants to the United States from their mothers, with the result that it has not been possible to reunite over 500 children with their parents? Nigerian Trumpkins claim Trump has kept his promises. So, I ask where is the wall that Trump promised to build? When did Mexico pay for it? Where is Trump’s repeal of Obamacare? And where is his rebuilding of the American healthcare system? Where is the COVID vaccine that is supposed to show up before election day?
If Nigerian Trumpkins can believe these lies and more of Trump’s lies, then I have a mountain to sell to them. In the meantime, these friends of Donald Trump should cry me a river. They should also learn to debate issues and not easily resort to abuses. The Trump era is over. Thank God for that. Americans will ensure he never returns. Therefore, Nigerian Trumpkins now need a new champion. I suggest they use a little more commonsense in choosing the next one, if at all.