January 20, 2021, marked the end of the tenure of President Donald John Trump, the 45th president of the global leading and most liberal and strongest democracy, United States of America.
It was a great day when the world again witnessed a peaceful and smooth transition of power from one democratically elected government to another and one of those many occasions where the US often justifies that the will of the people remains supreme under a democratic government.
Bringing the end of President Trump’s dramatic tenure, this year’s event, specifically the structure of the elections to the transition process came with a lot of interesting but controversial and horrible yet strange and phenomenal developments that the whole world would continue to recount with great nostalgia.
Memories of events and scenarios, most interesting being the person of the Republican president, his jovial nature and idealism, and character and dreadfulness would overwhelmingly top the list of happenings and events that already stand to be greatly missed! His alien culture during the rounds of debates in the buildup to the elections with his Democrat challenger and now President of the United States, President Joe Biden, was, indeed, a watershed.
Contrary to the usual tradition during the debates, for instance, the session this time was derailed by a tormenting amount of insults and baseless criticisms that not only surprised millions of Americans but other nation states around the world who followed the development with keen interest. Thanks for the frequent interventions of the moderator to put especially Donald Trump on hold.
His arrogance, compounded by an outrageous behaviour, makes me wonder if he used to forget when he is on camera. It was for the first time, perhaps in many years of the history of the US democracy, that a sitting president would appear on the press with no substantives evidence to officially contest the results of elections and restate his position over and again even when they have been declared and certified by the Electoral College.
His zigzag on the novel coronavirus pandemic, accusations and allegations of institutions and organizations, especially the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the mantra of making America Great, were some of the greatest dilemma with him.
Interestingly, Trump is one of the media friendly presidents, always active on his Twitter handle and one of the few American presidents that has not entered a war with any country throughout his tenure. All hail Trump as he departs the White House. We pray he enjoys a happy life in good health and stronger energy.
Yusuf Mairiga Shekarau,
Yelwa, Plateau state
