Again, God gives power to Donald Trump

The rattling result of the recently conducted presidential election in the United States of America shocked the world. Contrary to what many pundits expected, the outcome sped in the opposite direction. I read an online opinion of a Nigerian elder statesman who wondered what has become of America. The former Foreign Affairs Minister wondered: “What has just happened in the United States is a victory of crudity over refinement, a victory for all that the United States should now stand for. It’s a victory for what the whole world is not expecting from a country that says it is a bright light shining on a hill. I first went to the United States in 1962 and that America is not the America that voted for Trump yesterday.”

I’ll begin my humble response to the elder statesman’s expression of shock with a recall of this event in history. It was on the floor of the Old Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. George Washington and many nobles were seated. Then Benjamin Franklin stood up from among them filled with conviction that prayer to the Creator was necessary before the beginning of any business of the day. He then declared in a speech etched in the cervical spines of history till today:

“Mr President —The small progress we have made after four or five weeks of close attendance and continual reasoning with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many nays, as ayes—is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government and examined the different forms of those republics which, having been formed with the seeds of their dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have viewed modern states all around Europe, but find none of their constitutions suitable to our circumstances. I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.”

Readers, our God is in heaven, He gives power to whomever and gives authority to those we may think are not authorized. God does as He pleases. Allow me to stroll unpretentiously down memory lane. November 8th, 2016, during the US presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald J Trump, all odds were against the billionaire businessman. With six bankruptcies and multiple cases of rape and assaults on women hanging on his head, the election was Clinton’s to lose. Now came the election night, Trump did not prepare a victory speech. Winning that election was like a dream that would die before conception. He never thought he could win. But as results poured in, the finger of God began to show in the affairs of men. Trump became America’s 45th president. God gave power to Trump. He held on to it for four tumultuous years. Our God is in heaven, he gives power to whomever and gives authority to those we may think are not authorized. God does as He pleases.
In the run-up to the 2020 election across America, a few American evangelical leaders had prophesied a clear win for the sitting US President Trump. They said they had heard from the Lord that “Without question, Trump was going to win the election.” Rev Kenneth Copeland was also one among a legion of other evangelicals who said that God told them Trump would rule as President for eight years. But on election night; former Vice President Joe Biden representing the Democratic Party swept through the broken-down Blue wall of Wisconsin (my home State) and Michigan; both of which had been turned red by Trump’s victory over Hilary Clinton in 2016. Biden shattered the hopes and dreams of Trump remaining in the White House for four more years when he was declared winner. Almost 80 million Americans chose him over the sitting US President. The same God who gave power to Trump in 2016 pulled the rugs of power from under his feet four years later. Our God is in heaven, he gives power to whomever and gives authority to those we may think are not authorized. God does as He pleases.

On Tuesday, November 5th and against the analyses of professional pundits and analogue analysts on American TV screens, who just work their daily jobs to make a living, the man who was and remains a scarecrow to many Americans and nations around the world, won the presidential election in a close contest to defeat sitting Vice President Kamala Harris. Big guns in Kamala’s party including former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, dug deep into their campaign arsenals firing shots from all vantage positions. From temperament to character, present and past shady business deals, fraudulent tendencies and mammoth immorality, Trump was hammered on all fronts. He had no support from all living former presidents from both parties. Governors kept an arm’s length and politicians kept their distance. But he could boast of the hardcore support of adherents who saw in him what everyone else couldn’t. These tub-thumpers could shout, fight, punch, and kick on behalf of the man they now see as their deliverer. They were white people lurking in rural areas across America, black Americans in urban centres, and Hispanics that even Trump himself had called ‘rapists and killers’. They are embedded in and around small towns and villages in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. They were uneducated and Blue-collar workers whose jobs had been shipped overseas during the economic meltdown of the 2000s. They are Americans who believe that America is only for Americans. Trump has made unorthodox economic proposals, including blanket tariffs on imports, that may be costly for U.S. consumers and businesses, economists say. His plans to deport millions of people who are in the country illegally would upend industries and communities. Still, Trump gained with Hispanic voters and had easy wins in Georgia and North Carolina, states where Democrats thought they were competitive. Harris’ whirlwind campaign had banked on a theme of inclusivity in their messaging and stronger fiscal support for families to unify a winning coalition. But her commonsense promises fell on more deaf ears.

On Monday, January 20th, 2025, Trump will be sworn in for the second time in eight years. Millions of legal and illegal immigrants who are apprehensive of a possible Trump mass deportation must not fret. If you work hard and play by the rules; you will not be bothered by the law or President Trump. America has an entrenched process of governance and the rule of law that will not change. If you thought that Trump was not a politician, you may be right. But you are wrong if you believe that the New York Billionaire does not know the game of politics better than politicians. I declare this truth in conclusion. If our world will stop roaring in the noise of war and quit emitting eerie sounds from Tom-tom of belligerences; if there will be peace in the Middle East and tranquillity in Europe; if all men created by God and differing in colour and creed will begin to see eye-to-eye once again in love and unity; and if the reason God just gave Donald Trump power is to make all of these happen as Gaza groans in pain and pother; I say: “God, help Trump help this warring world.” Amen!
X-@FolaOjotweet