What made US presidential transition unusual

United States President Barack Obama (right) with President-elect Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC on November 10, 2016. PHOTO | JIM WATSON | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Although President Obama, the top American political 'celeb', was there to 'hand' over the presidency, he too was not happy with Trump’s victory.

  • Obama and Trump disagreed on many policies including approaches to great powers.

  • Trump started dismantling Obama’s policies before his inauguration and Obama vowed to continue speaking against Trump policies if he thought they were violating fundamental American values.

  • Trump appeared fixed on annoying the Chinese but Obama seemed determined to fix the Russians. All these made the Obama-Trump transition unusual.

Events in the United States attract global attention because it is big and influences other countries. The crafters of the American constitution were anti-democratic elite who designed an electoral system that occasionally is at variance with, and negates, the collective wishes of the voters. This leads to socio-political discomfort within the United States and amusement in other countries. The election of Donald Trump was one of those amusing electoral outcomes, a consequence of American elite designs to limit democratic choices. The inauguration was itself strange because of the tension and acrimony, rather than celebrations, associated with the transition from Obama to Trump.

The Trump transition is not the first but it is recent and probably the most problematic. In the 1800 Thomas Jefferson transition, some Federalists considered persuading their electors to vote wrongly but Alexander Hamilton saved the situation and Jefferson became president. The anomaly was evident in 1824 when John Quincy Adams won despite being second to General Andrew Jackson in popular and electoral votes. This stimulated, four years later after 1828, the emergence of a Jackson led Democratic Party with a donkey to represent ordinary people as its mascot. There were also problems in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln, and his newly created Republican Party, won because the Democrats were split. His inauguration, in the midst of a split country, was tense and was preamble to the Civil War. With Jeb Bush as governor, an electoral dispute arose in Florida in 2000 that was decided by nine Supreme Court judges in favour of brother George Bush. Although there are some similarities in terms of electoral contention between Trump with Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and Bush, Trump stands out because it is so fresh and so amusing.

BULLDOZING COUNTRIES

The amusement is in the fact that the United States has a habit of bulldozing other countries to copy its political behaviour. Although that behaviour was not exemplary in the 2016 presidential election, it is as American as the “apple pie” and is by design the American way. Should politicians in countries like Kenya emulate competing American elites in Hillary Clinton and her supporters in the party of the donkey or in Donald Trump and his political brigade in the party of the elephant? The establishment ignored Trump and assumed that the victory was for Hillary long before the votes were cast. On his part, Trump understood “the system” better than those in the establishment and he turned tables by being obnoxious and paying attention to the fears and wishes of rural voters in selected critical states.

The result was that Trump turned tables as his elephant trampled Clinton’s donkey. The reaction was unexpected and damaging to the orderly image of the United States. This included “post-election violence” or PEV, Kenyan-style, in different American cities with some supporters of the losing side implying that it was “stolen”. Kenyan wags wondered whether they should send an Annan-like “mediation” team to force “power sharing” on “warring” Americans. And there were efforts to persuade Republican electors, as had happened in 1800, to “go rogue” and deny Trump his election.

ORGANISED PROTESTS

Many “celebs”, particularly angry that Trump won, did the unexpected. Instead of attending the inauguration ceremony, they organised anti-Trump “protests” within and outside the United States. They chose to “humiliate” the new president by denying services. These included dress designers declining to “dress” Melanie, Trump’s wife, and musicians refusing to sing in the Trump inauguration ceremony. Georgia Congressman John Lewis declared that he would not attend the inauguration because he questions Trump’s legitimacy. He was joined by more than 40 legislators in boycotting the inauguration. African “celeb” Nigerian poet Wole Soyinka was so furious that he reportedly ditched his “green card” in displeasure.

Although President Obama, the top American political “celeb”, was there to “hand” over the presidency, he too was not happy with Trump’s victory. Obama and Trump disagreed on many policies including approaches to great powers. Trump started dismantling Obama’s policies before his inauguration and Obama vowed to continue speaking against Trump policies if he thought they were violating fundamental American values. Trump appeared fixed on annoying the Chinese but Obama seemed determined to fix the Russians. All these made the Obama-Trump transition unusual.

Prof Macharia Munene is a professor of history and international relations at United States International University - Africa.