US presidential campaign tells us we might soon need to pray

For an African, meeting an American policeman for the first time, especially if you are somewhat lost in a “non-black area” is a very disturbing experience.

“Help you, son?” he will ask with a broad smile, but his eyes will be glacial pinpricks boring into yours.

His big fingers will be hooked in his equally expansive belt, not far from his weapon, which will no doubt show signs of regular use.

So you will mumble your explanations, your neck weighed down by your conference tags.

That was before Donald Trump ran for President. Trump has harnessed, nursed and inflamed America’s unfortunate racial tendencies that threaten to consume the world’s sole superpower.

For the first time in my lifetime, the words America and Banana Republic — not the clothing brand — are collocating in the same sentence.

The New York Times, possibly the world’s best newspaper, has made a compilation of the extreme and inflammatory language at Trump rallies.

Language like “Kill her! Trump that b---c!” and “Hang that b---c!” in reference to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee and Mr Trump’s rival and most likely the next president of the US.

The Trump crowds hate President Barack Obama — with some screaming “[expletive] that n----r”  whenever the President is mentioned, but it is nothing compared to their loathing for Mrs Clinton.

Trump’s threat to jail Mrs Clinton if he is elected, as many people have remarked, is unprecedented in recent American history where elections, though heated, are civil.

He has succeeded in bringing the US down to the same level as Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

What is alarming, however, is that Trump seems to be playing straight out of the Orange Democratic Movement’s 2007 playbook and the likelihood of the outcome being violence is real.

First, he is undermining the integrity of the election by claiming — without any evidence — that the election is rigged.

He has also been recruiting “volunteers” to go and “protect” the Republican vote, especially in minority neighbourhoods.

I think there is a precedent of Republicans using off-duty officers and sheriffs to suppress the minority vote.

In 2012 he called for a revolution and marches to overthrow Mr Obama when he won re-election.

WHICH WAY?
Trump’s wild claims will likely have two effects. First, they will discourage voters, especially minorities who hate Trump and would vote Democrat in large numbers, not to vote.

Secondly, it delegitimises Mrs Clinton even if she is elected fair and square.

I am sure many people are wondering where America will go after that.

But it is likely that there will be a movement fighting Mrs Clinton everyday of her life in office.

But by far the most chilling thing about this election is the involvement of a resurgent Russia and Vladimir Putin, its small but dangerous emperor, who seems to harbour the dream of defeating America and recreating the Soviet empire.

Trump’s vacuous adoration of Putin, to the extent of saying he might give the Russian a role in the transition (by meeting him before inauguration) if he wins, is very strange.

It appears that Russia has hacked the National Democratic Committee and the Clinton campaign and stolen 50,000 emails which it has, through WikiLeaks, been releasing by dribs and drabs every day, with the intention of harming Clinton and helping Trump get elected.

In Russia, folks are being mobilised to prepare for nuclear war.

And Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian lawmaker and Putin supporter of extreme right-wing views, warned Americans that choices have consequences: vote Trump or face nuclear war.

He is quoted as saying: “Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realise that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it’s war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere.”

America’s condition reminds one of Jeremiah’s wail in Lamentations: “O Lord, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.”

It is, perhaps, a good time for prayer for there could be things in the future that are more unsettling than the menacing manner of an American cop.

MY GRATITUDE

In this journey, we get kindness and help from strangers, especially in dark moments, and we have an abiding duty to express gratitude.

I must thank Mercy and her team of pretty ladies on the second floor of Princess Zahra Pavilion, Aga University Hospital, for taking good care of a difficult stranger.

Similar gratitude to the reassuring Dr Peter Waweru Munyu, orthopaedic surgeons Amer Karim and Parmenas Oroko, and Dr Jimmie Kabugi, the magician who puts folks to sleep in theatre.

And special thanks to my very own Maya Angelou, who must remain unnamed for now, for her wisdom and compassion.

And for my three lovely girls, thank you for the love, prayers, and endless soup.

As for my loyal brigade of family and friends, my gratitude for your capacity to cause a scene that would put a diva to shame. My foes: your enemy hath magnified himself!

[email protected]. @mutuma_mathiu