Is State Capture Imminent In America?

Ude-Okoye Versus Treacherous PDP

Donald Trump, media personality and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States, returns today as the 47th president of God’s Own Country. Trump made a stunning comeback last November following his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in a keenly contested election. Bookmakers did not quite give Trump a chance in that election. Public opinion did not favour him either. People were quick to remember Trump for his brashness and uncouth displays. He did not quite fit into the neat mould of what the president of the world’s most powerful country should be. Trump, during the campaigns, struggled to find his feet. His toughest challenge then was the Kamala Harris effect. She had charisma. She exuded so much warmth. Her campaigns were simply electrifying.

She was one candidate that baited Trump in a presidential debate, leaving him and his boisterous ego completely deflated. But Trump eventually carried the day not because he was a better candidate but because Americans, particularly the white supremacists, could not come to terms with Kamala Harris’ quest. She is black; and she is woman. These attributes looked odd and unacceptable to a powerful section of the American establishment. Consequently, Harris was shot down. Her admonition to Americans to the effect that the fact that a particular thing has not been done before does not mean it cannot be done, fell on deaf ears. America, the naysayers may have imagined, cannot afford another black president, much worse a woman, too soon after the presidency of Barack Obama. But all of this now belongs to the realm of history.

After all the push and shove, Trump returns today as the president of the United States for the next four years. That is a settled matter. But what is far from being settled is the possible implication his return may have for America. Many of those who have a stake or interest in American affairs have approached issues around Trump’s return with trepidation. They see a racist Trump who will make life uncomfortable, if not unbearable, for immigrants. They believe that Americans of colour, going by Trump’s hateful pronouncements, are likely to get a raw deal. This is not to talk of his plan to tighten the immigration laws that will be unfavourable to immigrants.

But all these pale into insignificance when you consider the fears that have been expressed by the outgoing president, Joe Biden. In a farewell address by Biden last Thursday ahead of his handover to Trump, he urged Americans to guard against threats from oligarchs, disinformation and Artificial Intelligence under the Trump presidency. It is a well known fact that Biden’s worry here revolves around Trump’s ties with the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who largely influenced the presidential campaigns with enormous cash. During the campaigns, Elon Musk doled out stupendous cash at campaign grounds targeted at influencing the voting population to look in the direction of Trump. Concerns were expressed in American circles then on whether what Musk was doing was permitted by law. As it turned out, no big issue was made out of the obscene display of wealth. Musk went on with his cash largesse unchecked, and Trump, ultimately, had his way.

Biden is worried that this development is dangerous for the future of America. He fears that an oligarchy is taking shape in America through a dangerous concentration of power. He is worried as well that the ultra-rich around Trump, led by Musk and supported by other tech tycoons, represent a concentration of extreme wealth, power, and influence that threatens the entire American democracy. Google, a company promoted by American tech tycoons, is behind the new phenomenon called Artificial Intelligence which Biden said is the most consequential technology of our time. An unguarded deployment of this technology as a component of a tech-industrial complex could bring about a crumbling media. If this should happen, the people will be buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, leading to abuse of power. This is Biden’s forthright projection into the future of America under Trump. The picture Biden has painted here is that of state capture. Can the United States be a hostage to its monied elite? Biden has sufficiently alerted his countrymen. It is now up to them to take their destiny in their own hands.

Biden’s fears easily remind us of what Nigeria witnessed in the 2023 presidential elections that produced Bola Tinubu as president. In that election, Nigeria was sold to a powerful cabal led by the outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari. Even before the elections held, Buhari knew who he was going to hand over to. A web of conspiracy was cooked by the cabal, waiting to be served to the people. It was this poisonous ration that Nigerians were served on February 25, 2023. The election held on that day was a mere formality. But it had to hold so that the abracadabra will enjoy a modicum of credibility.
Unlike in America, where an outgoing president finds it necessary to deliver a farewell speech, Nigerian presidents sneak out of the backdoor on the day they are supposed to hand over . They just melt into thin air. The country and its people can burn to ashes for all they care. The Nigerian system has no place for human dignity. In Nigeria, the citizenry are easily expendable. The leadership owes the led nothing. Transparency and accountability are spoken of in the abstract. Here in Nigeria, it is everyone for himself and the devil for the last man.

But the major point of departure between America and Nigeria in the state capture scare is that while Biden is worried about the ultra-rich taking over the American presidency, the Nigerian presidency is a playground for the ultra-corrupt. The corruption here is not necessarily about amassing wealth, it has to do with oppression and suppression. Those who are holding tight to the Nigerian presidency see Nigeria as a fiefdom where the vassals have no stake or say. Therefore, while America gears up for the challenge that Biden has thrown at its doorstep, Nigerians have a responsibility to free their country from the hawks who want to subjugate them compulsorily.

QUOTE:
“The major point of departure between America and Nigeria in the state capture scare is that while Biden is worried about the ultra-rich taking over the American presidency, the Nigerian presidency is a playground for the ultra-corrupt.”

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