What the heck is going on in the USA? – Tony Okoroji

COSON chairman, Tony Okoroji.

Donald Trump is swearing, cursing and wagering his fingers at everyone. He does not like Muslims, cannot stand Mexicans, is railing against the Chinese and loathes Nigerians. On the other side, 74-year-old very angry Bernie Sanders is barking and running down everything that America has achieved.

Listening to these guys each of whom wants to be the next President of America, you would think that the United States is on the brink of disintegration and has been a monumental failure. Yet, in nearly every country in the world, almost every young man or woman is dreaming of life in the USA. To these young people, forget what the preacher says, heaven is America!

Few months back, no one gave Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders the slimmest chance of getting anywhere near the White House. The pundits said that each of them was a joke. The media wrote them off and no one would bet a cent on any of these men in any of Donald Trump’s casinos spread across America.

Now, everything has changed. In the just-held Republican presidential primaries in New Hampshire, Donald Trump dumped all the other candidates. The next republican presidential hopeful did not even get half of Trump’s votes. Pan to the Democratic primaries and you will see the unthinkable.

Hilary Clinton, former First Lady of the state of Arkansas, twice First Lady of the United States, former US Senator representing the great state of New York, former United States Secretary of State and an unquestionable icon of the Democratic party is crushed by little known Senator Bernie Sanders from the little known state of Vermont, who is in the Senate not even as a Democrat but as an Independent!

You may want to ask: What is your own with what these crazy Americans do with their crazy elections? The truth is that with all its imperfections, I love Nigeria. I am however fascinated by what happens in America not just because when America sneezes, the rest of the world gets the flu.

The USA is like no other country in the world. I doubt if there is any village on earth that is not represented in America. Go to Times Square in New York on a summer day and you will hear every language spoken in every little corner of the globe. Of course, a few blocks down the road stands the imposing Headquarters of the United Nations where every nation in the world has a representative.

We may not have the figures but I have reason to believe that there are many thousands of families in Nigeria who have breakfast, lunch or dinner because they have someone in America. That is why Western Union is the main stay of many in our country. We therefore should be concerned about what happens in America.

For many years, I have closely followed every step of the real life drama that is the American presidential election process. I followed the era when the Democrats lost their way and lost elections every four years to the Republicans. Ronald Regan and George H. W. Bush drove President Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale from the White House in 1980. Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro lost to Regan and Bush in 1984 and Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen were wiped out by George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle in 1988.

Then came 1992 and the smooth talking Bill Clinton shook off the challenges of the likes of Paul Tsongas, became the Democratic nominee and restored the pride of the Democrats. In 1992, Bill Clinton and Al Gore broke the hearts of many Republicans as George H. W. Bush and Dan Quale were sacked from the White House, a defeat for which the Republicans hate Bill and Hilary Clinton till tomorrow.

In 1996, Bill Clinton and Al Gore held on to power knocking off Bob Dole and Jack Kemp in a landslide. In 2000, after eight years, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman were expected to keep the Democratic good times rolling. They made the fundamental mistake of distancing themselves from Bill Clinton following the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The election ended in a cliff hanger in Florida that was decided by the courts in favour of George W. Bush, the son of George H. W. Bush and Dick Cheney who became Vice President. The Republicans were back in power and in 2004, the duo crushed the two Johns of the Democrats, Kerry and Edwards.

In 2008, it took Barrack Obama, a black guy whose father was born in Kenya to bring back the Democrats to the White House with his mantra, ‘Yes we can!’ His tag team partner was Joe Biden. Four years later, Obama and Biden fought off the onslaught of Republicans, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. OMG! The Republicans hate Obama.

It is 2016 and the battle is raging again but not in any way that I have seen before. The ongoing electoral process in America is delivering an important lesson to the world on how the democratic process can easily be hijacked in the new world by any con man who is social media savvy. Donald Trump, reputed to be a billionaire is doing very little paid advertising. He is not giving any of his big money to the media which he is manipulating to spread his nonsense everywhere. He has shown how you can take over the world using a smart phone. All Mr. Trump has done is to send out mischievous tweets now and again and laugh as the media rushes to amplify his obscenities.

Hold your breath! It is no longer a joke! The next President of the United States may very well be a trash talking Republican egomaniac who spews obscenities as much as he openly sprouts hatred, a guy who has run his companies four times into bankruptcy and has been married to three different women, the latest being a stripper whose stark naked photographs are everywhere for everyone to see. What a first lady she will make!

What the heck is going on in the USA?

by hotdropz

What the heck is going on in the USA? – Tony Okoroji

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healthandwealth Pada 18:22 Komentar

Saturday, 13 February 2016