The agony of having allies in ‘boorish’ Johnson and Trump

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. PHOTO | JIM WATSON | AFP

What you need to know:

  • A Mr Trump in the White House might find much more in common with Mr Johnson across the pond than that which divides them.
  • That a man who has openly expressed his disdain for Africans and other non-whites could win appointment to an office where he must, of necessity, deal with leaders of people he openly detests, is very telling.
  • Trump is keen to pursue an ‘America First’ policy that would demolish the very institutions and rules that have helped maintain the global economic and security balance of power.

With new British Prime Minister Theresa May appointing racist Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, and maverick real estate tycoon and reality TV star Donald Trump now standing more than an even chance of clinching the United States presidency, Kenya may have to review relations with its closest western allies.

I imagine it would be extremely uncomfortable for President Uhuru Kenyatta, or any other African leader, to share diplomatic pleasantries with a proconsul who has expressed openly racist views.

This is the fellow who would be trying to sell you the British agenda, while thinking of you as a dim-witted piccaninny, or as a savage cannibal who, at best, deserves to be recolonised.

Now, these are not the views of some ignorant British yob forever whining and blaming immigrants and non-whites in general for his spectacular lack of achievement.

Mr Johnson is a very sharp and well-read upper-crust Tory. He may be freewheeling and unconventional, but he is part of the aristocratic establishment and must be taken to represent the majoritarian view.

That a man who has openly expressed his disdain for Africans and other non-whites could win appointment to an office where he must, of necessity, deal with leaders of people he openly detests, is very telling. It is a blatant British insult that must not be allowed to pass.

Would Ms May have appointed a known neo-Nazi and anti-Semite as Foreign Secretary? Certainly not. Africans, however, can go to hell.

To be fair to Mr Johnson, he seems to be in disdain of everyone: Russians, Chinese, French, Americans, Turks, and even one Donald J. Trump.

The British Foreign Secretary has had some unflattering things to say about the GOP flag bearer, and neither has he spared Mr Trump’s rival for the US presidential elections in November, former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Even President Obama has been a victim of boorish barbs.

IRRATIONAL FEARS

However, a Mr Trump in the White House, God forbid, might find much more in common with Mr Johnson across the pond than that which divides them.

Mr Johnson led the rebellion within his own Conservative Party to pull Britain out of the European Union, a referendum result that displayed a country growing increasingly insular, inward looking, isolationist and afraid of all things ‘foreign’.

Those are exactly the same irrational fears that propelled the rank outsider, Mr Trump, to a stunning victory in the Republican Party primaries.

He has not won the presidency yet, but the runaway victory for a major party ticket is itself proof that a large percentage Americans buy into his divisive, angry, rhetoric.

He is against free trade pacts, the United Nations, globalisation, and multilateral agreements. He is keen to pursue an ‘America First’ policy that would demolish the very institutions and rules that have helped maintain the global economic and security balance of power.

He represents an ignorant and tunnel-vision white supremacist ideology that is even incapable of digesting that its promoters are actually of immigrant stock themselves, not native Americans.

Republicans in the White House teaming up with Conservatives cousin already entrenched at 10 Downing Street obviously would force us to re-evaluate relations with their countries.

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Rachel Shebesh started the trend in the run-up to the last elections with her ‘Manzi wa Nai’ slogan, and was handily elected as Nairobi woman representative in the National Assembly.

Now a bevy of comely young lasses borrowing from the Shebesh playbook are falling over each other’s stilettos in coining catchy slogans that emphasise sex appeal over policy platforms.

Ms Karen Nyamu calls herself ‘Bae wa Nairobi’. Ms Millicent Omanga is ‘Msupa na Works’. And there is Ms Wangui Ng’ang’a who is ‘Miss B Tosha’.

The race for Nairobi woman representative will certainly be spiced up as younger aspirants take the battle to the now battle-hardened Ms Shebesh.

At this rate, even our infamous social butterflies known only for carrying great futures behind them, the likes of Huddah Monroe and Vera Sidika, will not want to be left behind.

But will the Nairobi wenches be asking for our votes or auditioning for the catwalk?


[email protected];@machariaGaitho