by Ugochukwu Nnamdi Ukamba

It is a difficult pill to swallow but one that must be swallowed nonetheless –barring any unforeseen circumstances, Donald Trump would, in January 2017, be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States of America, having won the presidential election against Hillary in an election cycle that was filled with intense hate spewed by both sides!

So many persons never expected it and, perhaps, never prepared for that possibility.

His win presents a paradoxical problem of monumental proportion that has not been witnessed in the political circle in many ‘developed’ countries in a very long while. I am not referring to the possible conflict of interest that is bound to arise with his, seeming, inability to draw a proper line between his business pursuits and his leadership of the self-acclaimed “mother of modern democracy”. The paradox is something more “sinister”.

Ever so often we hear people say that politicians are scums and liars. That politicians are in the habit of making promises, during the campaign process, which they do not have any intention to honour when elected. We hear people say that if a politician greets you good morning, check your timepiece to confirm that it is actually morning. This vilification of politicians is one that I find funny because each time these politicians make their promises there are people at the rallies shouting themselves hoarse in support of the politicians. How come no one is taking the politicians to task at these rallies and asking them how they intend to keep the promises they are making?

I believe that most of us know, deep down in our hearts, that the politicians’ promises are mere “sweet-mouthing” calculated to cajole people into voting for them. I believe that most of us, deep down in our hearts, know that the bulk of those promises would not be fulfilled. I believe that most of us, when we eventually start crying wolves when the promises are not fulfilled, are looking for a scape goat to blame for our “stupidity” in believing those promises because it is easier to pass the buck than own up to the fact that we did not critically appraise those promises when we should have. So, when we call politicians liars, it is our defence mechanism to insulate us from the bad choices we have made. The politicians know this fact and exploit it to their advantage.

Enter Donald Trump.

Donald, like your typical politician, went overboard in making campaign promises. Some of his promises, are of egregious proportions and a tad bit scary to imagine their actual implementation. The promise to build a great, great wall on America’s southern border and have Mexico pay for the wall was made by Donald Trump. The promise to deport undocumented immigrants in the U.S (believed to be in the region of more than 11 million people) was made by Donald Trump. The promise to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S was made by Donald Trump. The promise to impose tariffs on goods made in China and Mexico was made by Donald Trump. The promise to repeal “Obamacare” was made by Donald Trump. I have just mentioned a few of some of his election promises.

Dispassionately appraising some of the promises, you will see the impracticability of achieving them but some persons actually voted Donald Trump on the grounds of those promises. This reinforces my earlier position that some electorate actually expect politicians to lie to them and most of the electorate do not expect those promises to be kept.

Here lies the paradox –as a politician, Trump is EXPECTED not to keep all (or most of) the election promises. Citizens, including those who voted him, are convinced that, as with other politicians, there would be some backtracking from statements made in the campaign phase. In fact, Roy Beck who heads Numbers USA, a group in Virginia that supports limits on immigration and efforts to reduce illegal immigration, said that “Politicians often make promises that they do not act on”. This is some tacit acknowledgment that Trump was merely “sweet mouthing” with his campaign promises.

On the other hand, and as a gentleman –I don’t mean this in the sense that Trump is gentle, far from it. I am referring to the time worn use of the word “gentleman” as a person who honours his word –Trump is expected to keep to all the promises he has made. It would mean that, regardless of its implications, Trump must do what he says he will do.

Trump’s biggest dilemma is that whatever he decides to do, he will be damned. If he decides to be a politician and renege on his promises, he will be damned because he will be called out as a two-faced (no, not our 2face) liar who has no honour. If he decides to be a gentleman and keep his promises, he will be damned. Imagine the logistic of building “the Great Great Wall of America”. Imagine the cost of apprehending and deporting 11 million undocumented human beings to several parts of the world.

Interestingly, Trump’s biggest dilemma is also America’s biggest nightmare. If they decide to insist that he must keep to his promises, they will be damned because the domino effect of so doing would affect every one of them regardless of whether or not they fall into the “endangered species” specifically mentioned by Trump. If they decide that he must renege on his promises, they will be damned also because they are, unwittingly, setting a precedent that openly supports the proposition that a politician is not bound by his campaign promises. Even though they tacitly acknowledge that a politician would not keep his electoral promises, this would change the whole dynamics. Future campaigns will be fraught with outlandish promises that are meant only as an “initiation to treat”. Again, imagine the domino effect of such proposition.

In any event, we, here in “third world” “Africa” have bought small popcorn, small data and small fuel for our generator to watch this “America Wonder” as it unfolds. We hope to learn one or two things from the “mother of modern democracy”.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Ugochukwu Nnamdi Ukamba is a Legal Practitioner based in Lagos. He tweets @NnamdiUkamba