Femi Akomolafe

Pan African Digest

“If half the country has decided that Trump is qualified to be president, that means they’re not reading any of this media, and we’ve lost this audience completely,” the executive said. “A Trump victory means mainstream media is dead in its current form. And the question is, what does it look like after.” - https://conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/media-executives-trump-victory-death-mainstream-influence.htm

“Giant Electoral Asteroid Strikes America's Intellectual Class, Which Fails to Notice.” - Matt Taibbi.

These are probably the two most critically discerning verdicts on Donald Trump's reelection, the man that Woke legacy media and scholars have all written off.

As Americans conclude and celebrate the charade that pantomimes a democratic election, let us attempt to shed some light on why we think the election went the way it did.

First, listen to HL Mencken: “The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

“The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” H.L. Mencken.

As we often say in this column, we do not have a dog in any fight in foreign (read non-African) lands. We are committed only to the cause of Pan-Africanism. When discussing non-African issues, we do so solely to enlighten and shed light on how such events or issues impact our lives and affairs in Africa.

With that declaration under our belt, let us examine why a man like Donald Trump overcame all obstacles (including assassination attempts) to stage a comeback to the White House.

Anyone who has read George Orwell’s prophetic classic 1984 and follows contemporary affairs will be baffled by the author’s prescience. The book’s theme rhymes nicely with contemporary happenings.

Donald Trump's first term was as chaotic as it was devoid of coherence. It was characterized by relentless scandals, chaotic policy shifts, frequent clashes with traditional media and political elites, an abrasive approach to critical voting blocs (women especially), inflammatory rhetoric on issues of race, policing, and public health, and unprecedented impeachment trials.

In 2020, American voters decided they had enough of their erratic leader. They opted for the elderly, almost senile Joe Biden, a virtuoso Establishment Figure.

Trump did not take his loss kindly. With his encouragement, his supporters stormed the Congress, paving the way for more scandals and legal battles. Out of office, he continues to face court battles over business practices, alleged misuse of classified information, and multiple indictments connected to his supporters' alleged insurrection.

Some of these are still ongoing. We look forward to seeing how American political scientists will rationalize having a convicted felon occupy their White House—even as they gallivant around Africa to teach, lecture, exhort, and cajole.

Despite his loss and all the scandals and lawsuits, Trump maintained his grip on the Republican Party. He used it to craft his comeback masterfully.

A populist by nature, rather than relying on legacy media like CNN, NBC, Fox, etc., Trump chose the alternative media as his sanctuary and used them to appeal to his reverential supporters as a persecuted Messiah, stoically carrying the Cross of the Downtrodden, the Discontented, the Oppressed, the Unemployed, the Marginalized, and other adherents who will buy into his BS.

Platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and podcasters like Tuckson and Joe Rogan joined forces to craft a narrative of institutional distrust, freedom of speech, and anti-establishment rhetoric that mirrored Trump’s own abrasive, brash, and facts-be-damned messaging.

It was a marriage made in Paradise. These platforms provided Trump with a direct line to his adoring supporters.

Legacy media did not help matters as they increasingly became totalitarian and mercilessly and relentlessly pushed their very narrow-view ideological views and attempted to shove them down the throat of humanity.

In a manner that would have pleased Orwellian Thought Police (Thinkpol in Newspeak), they banned and deplatformed everyone who disagreed with them.

No one told us why some faceless coders at Google and Facebook suddenly invested themselves with the power to tell us how to think, but they did and abused it.

I abandoned Facebook the very first time it sent me a warning. A reptilian-looking character like Zuckerberg does not have the qualifications to instruct me on how to think.

The tragedy, unacknowledged by the Fascist wannabees like Google and Facebook and the lying pundits on the BBC, CNN, and the rest of the legacy media, is that the train has left the station.

We would never know why the delusional talking heads and the insufferable stenographers who masquerade as journalists at the BBC and CNN and the entire Western media ecosystem never realize that most rational human beings have abandoned their lying platforms and are getting their news and information from reasonable and intelligent people who proved themselves reliable.

In my case, I search for Alastair Crooke and Dr. Gilbert Doctorow on geopolitical matters. I collaborate their analyses with official statements from direct sources - websites of the governments of Iran, China, and Russia. On Military matters, I defer to the inimitable Andrei Martyanov every time. On economic issues, I look up to the redeemed Professor Jeffrey Sachs.

Unlike his opponent, who enjoyed uncritical, even fawning adoration from the legacy media, Trump was helped by high-profile endorsements from figures like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson.

This is clever because, unlike mainstream outlets such as CNN, ABC, and NBC, which struggled to maintain viewership, those platforms experienced exponential growth.

For example, Joe Rogan’s podcast regularly pulled in millions of listeners per episode, easily dwarfing the viewership of legacy news networks. Carlson’s news show on X boasted audience figures that often reached beyond 10 million views per episode. No legacy media even come close.

It remains a wonder how the Establishment could be so blind as not to notice in 2024 that Alternative Media, reaching millions, has become many people's only trusted source of information.

Unlike Kamala Harris, who is encumbered by the burden of the establishment and did not dare stray too far from his boss's disastrous policies (endless wars), Trump appeals directly to his supporters with his flamboyant and often outlandish bombasts. His raw, emotive grandstanding reached an almost mythical level among his supporters, many of whom view him with near-religious reverence.

We will never know how a billionaire pulled it off, but Trump’s fans see him as one lone ranger fighting for them and their cause. They view him as a protector of “traditional” America, a symbolic force fighting against a liberal agenda by Woke Ideologists who know no boundary as they relentlessly push their distorted version of biological and cultural realities.

Trump’s rallies, live-streamed and shared by millions online, feel more like revival meetings than political events. Supporters chant, “Trump! Trump! Trump!” and hold signs that read, “God Sent Trump.”

Trump speaks brashly, even profanely, which certainly resonates with voters who feel overlooked by Washington elites who speak down to them and cannot articulate anything beyond one-liners.

It helped Trump that his cackling opponent had an IQ not high enough to light a Christmas tree bulb. What the managers of the Legacy media asked of us is to suspend our memory, shut down all our thinking facilities, and pretend that we never see how abysmally Kamala Harris performed during her initial presidential run in the 2020 Democratic primary when she was underwhelming, and was marked by inconsistent messaging and lackluster polling numbers. She quickly faltered as she failed to maintain a cohesive platform that resonated with a broad base of voters. Her support peaked at around 15% in mid-2019 and quickly dropped to around 3-4%. She folded her tent before the primaries.

Trump’s cause was certainly not hurt when, on the eve of the election, Joe Rogan, the nation’s most-listened-to podcaster, announced that he was endorsing the former President, “Rogan, in a post on X promoting his interview with Trump supporter Elon Musk, made a compelling case for the Republican presidential nominee and said, “I agree with him every step of the way.”

“For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump,” he added.” - https://time.com/7172132/joe-rogan-trump-endorsement/

One of today’s wonders is how anyone with a brain could fail to notice how far from reality the leaders and the media in the West have become.

Visiting Europe and watching the news there these days is quite an experience. Europeans chose to create and live in their parallel universe, millions of miles from reality. It does not help matter that unelected EU bureaucrats have hijacked almost every aspect of life. These EUcrats banned Europeans from watching alternative news media.

It baffles greatly that Europeans sheepishly went along.

America mercifully did not descend into the levels of Europe before they decided to act.

As we said at the onset, we have no horse in American presidential races.

However, the country's importance will continue to affect our lives deeply.

Let us conclude this piece with two observations: one American, “End of Empire? Trump’s Return and the Mirage of Peace,”: “Trump’s don't call it a comeback, coupled with GOP control over the Senate and House, is being hailed as a “people’s revolution.” The headlines scream it’s a rejection of woke ideology, an overturning of the malignant neoliberal order. But here’s the real question lurking beneath the confetti: could this seismic shift mean an end to America’s forever wars, or will it be just another chapter in the empire’s well-rehearsed script?

Visiting Europe and watching the news there these days is quite an experience. Europeans chose to create and live in their parallel universe, millions of miles from reality. It does not help matter that unelected EU bureaucrats have hijacked almost every aspect of life...

Let’s remember, during his first term, Trump flirted with the idea of scaling down America’s military footprint, inciting the Deep State’s ire at every turn. He talked about “America First” while the war machine, entrenched in its addiction to foreign intervention, clawed at his ambitions. Now, he’s back. The Republican sweep is a mandate, but is it a mandate for peace? Or merely a permission slip for the military-industrial complex to pivot toward new, more profitable theaters of conflict?

Consider the stakes. America’s multi-trillion-dollar adventures across the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia haven’t spread democracy or freedom, they’ve cultivated proxy wars, shattered economies, and filled the coffers of defense giants. Under Biden-Harris, the empire doubled down on NATO expansion, funneled billions into Ukraine, and heightened tensions with Beijing and Moscow what feels like milliseconds to doomdsday midnight. The military behemoth stayed fed, while America’s own infrastructure crumbled. And yet, here we are, being asked to believe that the empire will voluntarily shrink?

The real test lies not in Trump’s rhetoric but in his willingness to dismantle Washington’s holy grails: the CIA, the Pentagon, and a State Department dripping with interventionist zeal. If he’s serious, he’ll have to untangle America from the web of alliances and proxy wars that have propped up its global reach for decades. But the GOP’s hawkish underbelly looms, and history tells us that even the loudest calls for “peace” can be diluted into controlled populism.

Meanwhile, the world is no longer waiting for the U.S. to grow tired of its own empire. From BRICS nations championing multipolarity to regional blocs asserting autonomy, the Global Majority is already building a new architecture, one where Washington’s veto power is waning. They’ve seen the puppet show before, presidents promising “peace” while signing defense contracts behind closed doors. If this era is truly different, America would need to turn inward, choosing roads and bridges over drone strikes, diplomacy over dominance.

And so, as Trump prepares to reclaim the Oval Office, the stakes are existential - not just for his legacy but for America’s very identity. Is this the twilight of empire? Or is it yet another flickering illusion in the theater of endless war?” - Gerry Nolan @TheIslanderNews

The second is by the astute Russian economist Sergei Glazyev:

©️ Fẹ́mi Akọ́mọ‌láfẹ́

(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, and Social Commentator.)

My latest book, From Stamp to Click (it’s still a hello), is published and is available online at:

https://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/from-stamp-to-click-its-still-hello

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