Over 104 million black people support United States President Donald Trump, at least according to the annual Pew Research Center survey on global attitudes to the U.S. and its president, published on June 26.
Newsweek reports, Of the six sub-Saharan African nations surveyed by Pew, Nigeria was the most confident, at 58 percent, that President Trump would do the right thing in world affairs. This figure was actually the joint-second highest overall—level with Vietnam and behind the Philippines on 69 percent—and Nigerians expressed more faith in Trump than in Germany’s Angela Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. More than half of Nigerians said relations between the two countries would improve under Trump, while 55 percent of Nigerian respondents thought of Trump as “caring about ordinary people”—the highest among all the countries surveyed. By contrast, 23 percent of Canadians expressed the same sentiment.
Nigeria is the largest black country in the world with over 180 million people. According to data, one out of every four black people on the Earth is a Nigerian. There are approx. seven to 10 million Nigerians living in America, according to data blended from the United States Census, and United Nations.
On the surface its easy to see why 104 million Nigerians support Donald Trump. Nigeria is a very entrepreneurial country, and The Donald is one of the most respected entrepreneurs in the country. Donald also has a strong base with Christians living in Nigeria and America, a group which shares similarities with evangelical America, and comprises of about 90 million Nigerians.
On Nigeria’s obsession with Donald J Trump, Matthew T Page said this in a Quartz article about the Trump Nigeria phenomenon, “Indeed some see Trump as a political icon. Even though Trump has said little to nothing about Nigeria, these groups see in him a powerful figure sympathetic to their aims.
“It goes without saying that Nigerians’ reaction to Trump’s 2016 election victory was muted compared to their response to president Barack Obama’s historic 2008 win. Over the course of his presidency, however, Nigerian goodwill toward Obama faded, hurt by his decision not to visit Nigeria, his support for gay marriage, and perceived unwillingness to supply arms to the Nigerian military. Former president Goodluck Jonathan even accused the Obama Administration of clandestinely supporting president Muhammadu Buhari’s candidacy, claiming U.S. actions during Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election amounted to interference.”
Social media users in Nigeria where barraged with a lot of disinformation about Donald Trump’s alleged racism during the 2016 campaign and some of these messages still circulate. For example here is an excerpt from Nairaland, the most popular forum in Africa “The fact that blacks and Arabs look like human beings does not necessarily make them sensible human beings. Hedgehogs are not porcupines and lizards are not crocodiles because they look alike. if God had wanted us to be equal to blacks and Arabs, he would have created us all of a uniform colour and intellect. But he created us differently. Whites, blacks, yellow, the rulers and the ruled. intellectually we are superior to the blacks and Arabs. That has been proven beyond the reasonable doubt over the years.”
The mainstream media has been out to get Donald J Trump since the campaign and his victory landed him in double trouble. Nigerians have a way of rooting for the underdog, people who are treated unfairly, and seem to be facing persecution for challenging the status quo.
Corruption has been a way of life for decades in Nigeria, so the average Nigerian knows what it means to be oppressed by the elite. The same way President Trump is the victim of mainly the media and political elite who are in bed with interest groups affiliated to the main opposition party, and members of the ruling Republican party who have one political or other expediency to align against POTUS.
Victim claiming is not a game for men, in the popular HBO series Game of Thrones, everybody loves the fighter and seeing Trump pushback against all the force of the establishment is scintillating. One begins to think of him as the show’s main protagonist, Jon Snow and pray he achieves success against the powers that be.
On November 14th 2003, rapper Jay Z released his eight studio album, The Black Album. Would anyone imagine that on the album Jay Z claimed would be his last album that he would shout out a racist white supremacist in usual braggadocio terms. Well on the 3rd track, Jay Z shouts out businessman Donald Trump’s Trump International hotel with these lyrics, “Hova the God nigga blast for me/I’m at the Trump International/Ask for me.”
The question begs asking, “Was Donald Trump not a white supremacist racist in 2003 when Jay Z spoke on him, basically marketing his brand?”
No he wasn’t. Trump did not announce a presidential run in 2003, so there was no need to call him a racist. However Trump had been trying to be President since 2000, however he was never seen as a serious contender back then. Trump did become a big problem when he ran against Obama and then Hillary. It was tactical to call him a racist, and any other vile name in order to win political power.
Did Trump become a racist when he accused former President Barack Obama of not being a natural born citizen of the United States? Well it is common knowledge that political opponents will try to do everything to win a campaign including smearing their opponents. And there is evidence that the initial query of Obama’s birth place came up with staffers in the Hillary Clinton camp, when she ran against Obama.
According to several news sources including the Washington Times, the birther movement does indeed have Democratic roots, long before Mr. Trump ever brought it up and made it an issue.
Hillary Clinton was the darling of the liberal media, even receiving debate questions in advance in addition to favorable coverage virtually 24/7/365. Nobody in the Hollywood controlled media wanted Trump to win, so they painted him as the villain, but in doing so they energized his base.
The thing with telling lies to people using the media, is a lot of folk are now aware of media manipulation. And should the Democratic party continue to employ this method, they along with their friends in Silicon Valley will realize too late that it is subject to failure. Russia also will not work as an excuse for failure in future elections. So it is up to the leadership of America, across bipartisan lines to try and see some of the good that is in President Trump and make America stronger; remember America’s enemies unburdened with internal squabbles are growing stronger and will surely be more predatory over time.