American Notes: Trump welcomes his “worst nightmare”

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump never ceases to amaze us. No, I’m not talking about his off-the-charts drubbing of Hillary Clinton that dazed critics and pundits all over the world. I mean, never since Muhammad Ali rumbled over George Foreman in Zaire and James “Buster” Douglas busted Mike Tyson in Tokyo have global pundits been so wrong about the outcome of a contest in sports or politics.

While critics are still trying to pick their jaws off the ground, Trump is now confounding not only critics, but even his legion of die-hard supporters by nominating some of his harshest critics to serve in his cabinet, pending Congressional approval. One of such nominees is Nikki Haley, governor of the state of South Carolina, best remembered for ordering the controversial Confederate flag removed from South Carolina Statehouse after a self-confessed racist murdered nine African American worshipers in a historically black church.

During the GOP Primaries, Trump said Haley was a disgrace, but Haley didn’t pull punches, hitting Trump back with some harsh words of her own. Needless to say, Haley didn’t support Trump, but the president-elect has tapped her as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. While that has surprised many, it pales when compared to Trump’s consideration of fellow GOP millionaire businessman Mitt Romney for the prestigious cabinet position of Secretary of State, Nigeria’s equivalent of Foreign Minister. Mitt Romney? Yes, the GOP presidential candidate who lost to Obama in the 2012 elections that gave Obama his second term in the Oval office.

During the last primaries, Trump took the unconventional steps of lambasting Romney, saying he choked in an election he had every opportunity to win. Romney did not just fire back with some off-the-curb reaction. He had a prepared speech and used almost an hour to berate Trump over legions of his failed business ventures – Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump Magazine, Trump Casino in Atlantic City, and a host of others.

As if those were not bad enough, he stuck a dagger into Trump’s reputation (or whatever was still left of it) by calling him “a phony, fraud, a con man.” Simply put in Nigerian terms, Romney said Trump is “419.” Romney was Trump’s worst nightmare. He dealt with Trump more that any of his opponent could. If Trump was just another politician, the Romney “revelations” would have forced him to withdraw from the race.

Romney stood up against Trump just like Femi Fani Kayode stood up against Buhari during the latter’s 2015 successful campaign to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan. In your wildest dream, do you think Buhari would have asked Fani-Kayode to serve in his cabinet? Not a chance! Well, unless in a dream besieged by malaria. That’s exactly what Trump did days before Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday.

The “con-man” invited Romney over to the “Con Tower” in New York, and Romney honored his request. “The “phony” reportedly discussed with Romney about serving as Secretary of State, and Romney is said to be seriously considering it and discussing with family members about it. Holy Smoke! Romney didn’t mind accommodating the invitation of this “fraud,” he might even accept the offer.

Good grief! Imagine if I took a page from Romney’s playbook and called Buhari a “phony” or a “con-man” simply because the exchange rate is not yet (and might never be) N1 to $1 as Buhari promised during his campaign – guess how wonderful the SSS might receive me the next time I’m sighted at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport? You guessed right – no amount of screaming “Sai Baba!” would spare me from a nice chat with the security agents.

Now, as magnanimous as Trump’s gesture to Romney appears to be, it is also possible that Trump could be luring Romney to extract payback for the humiliation Romney hurled at him. How? Well, as future President Trump’s cabinet member, Romney will serve only at Trump’s pleasure and Trump can fire him at anytime for any reason or without reason. Just playing devil’s advocate, folks.

Los Angeles vote to fight homelessness

In case you thought there are no homeless people in America, think again. From New York to Los Angeles, many major American cities have to deal with homelessness. Just that Los Angeles – yes, the famous City of Angeles – now have more homeless people than angels. My take is that angels fled the city decades ago when they saw how L.A. police beat up Rodney King as if he stole from Onitsha Market.

At the just concluded November 8 elections – yes, the same night Donald Trump ate Hillary Clinton for dinner and became president-elect, voters in Los Angeles overwhelmingly passed a $1.2 billion bond issue to build 10,000 apartment units to accommodate homeless people in one of America’s finest cities. Yes, 10,000 housing units to be built 1,000 per year, to fight a chronic problem that has plagued L.A.

The concern now is how soon this can be achieved, considering that due process must be followed, unlike in Nigeria where that could be conveniently bypassed (oops! Did I say that? My bad!). For instance, it could take from three to five years to acquire land, obtain all relevant approvals and then build the apartments. That means, homeless people in L.A. would have to continue making use of tent encampments now scattered across the city.

I bet Lagosians can now breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that homelessness is not peculiar to this commercial capital of God’s own country – Nigeria. No pun intended here.