Donald Trump is back, fellow Africans. He will remind us he thinks we are a sh*thole continent. He will insult people who do not look like him in the US and elsewhere, ignite trade wars and introduce untold global economic uncertainty.
In the US, many businesses will do well in the short term. Business leaders will falsely proclaim “it is capitalism in action” as they use the cover of fascism to boost their plunder.
People like Elon Musk are rubbing their hands in glee, eyes watering in anticipation of unfettered influence and returns from government. His rocket-making SpaceX will surely take to Mars with more ease than would have been the case under the Democrats.
Through its space agency, the US government is already indebted to him for nearly $10bn. Musk could work in the government if he so wished or tell it what to do, having dunked more than $100m of his dosh into the Trump campaign. And the returns were swift. Trump singled him out in his victory speech: “We have a new star,” he declared. “A star is born — Elon!”
Trade tariffs will help some producers in the short term, but it’s not rocket science to predict with certainty that prices, and therefore inflation, will shoot up, affecting consumers and businesses in the US and most of the world. Musk and Trump will ride the surging wave on the stock market for a while.
Dollar-dependent exporters worldwide will enjoy the resurgence of the greenback as it boosts their business. Trump’s supporters at home and elsewhere think he will end the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine.
Ending of the wars might coincide with Trump’s second coming, but this would not be because of him. Russia has been crippled by isolation and Ukraine is exhausted. It is only a matter of time before both parties find a way to climb down from the aggression. It does not need Trump for that reality to sink in.
In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has celebrated the Trump victory: “Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America,” he posted on X (it’s so annoying having to call it X, instead of the perfectly fine Twitter).
This is what the second coming is about: a massive beast cashing in on votes from people disillusioned with economies that do not work for them.
Evil politicians in the far right across the world will feel the wind in their sails as populism gets a shot in the arm. Bigotry, fascist plundering, racism, and all the ugly elements of humanity will benefit in this environment
Trump’s fascism is not simply a campaign method to get into power. It is a deeply held undemocratic and anti-human rights conviction. It is not just nationalism. LGTBQ rights and many other civil liberties in the US could be under threat as this monster breathes its destructive fumes through the passages of the White House. Justice and the bureaucracy in the US will be cowed to make sure Trump does not go to jail. It’s goodbye to US democracy as we know it.
Evil politicians in the far right across the world will feel the wind in their sails as populism gets a shot in the arm. Bigotry, fascist plundering, racism, and all the ugly elements of humanity will benefit in this environment.
WB Yeats must have had such a moment in mind when he wrote about things falling apart, lamenting how “the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world/ The blood-dimmed tide is loosed/ and everywhere/ The ceremony of innocence is drowned.”
I have heard some of the most outlandish defences of this despicable man, with some saying there’s some good in him, and that he is good for the Americans. I do not know how a South African could make such excuses. I can imagine the same argument for colonialism, apartheid and fascism in Germany. Hitler had some good in him, right? He industrialised Germany, right? Might as well say Hendrik Verwoerd, the father of apartheid, was a clever man, right? Or colonialism was somewhat reasonable.
South Africans cannot relax and think this is happening only across the Atlantic. We have no obvious successor to our Dr Dolittle president, and when his departure comes, only God knows who’s next. We have the perfect recipe for populism, as our economy works only for a few.
As per Yeats: “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last...”
• Mkokeli is the lead partner at Mkokeli Advisory, a public affairs consultancy.
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