Americans have been duped by their own president

In one of his many speeches, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is on record warning Zanzibar separatists that their hunger to have an autonomous Zanzibar anchors on the fact that the archipelago was still part of the United Republic of Tanzania. He warned that it would be a serious mistake to alienate themselves from the Union.

A similar scenario helped US President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 elections. Trump managed to make Americans loathe Hillary by depicting her as a person who was not fit for the White House. In his opinion, Rick Newman notes that Hillary Clinton’s six-figure Wall Street speechmaking, her shifty explanations for violating government policy by using a private email server and the money flowing into the Clinton Foundation from shady dealmakers undoubtedly hoping for favours once Hillary ascended to the White House, were some of strong points which Trump used to warn Americans about his foe in the presidential run.

But the recent meeting in Helsinki between Trump and long-time US foe, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has exposed Trump. If many other issued bedeviling his presidency failed to make Americans understand what sort of a person they have elected to be their top leader, the meeting in Helsinki helped them to realise that.

What transpired during the talks has, to a great extent, unveiled the real Donald Trump to Americans. Republicans and Democrats alike lashed out at Trump, depicting him as the most selfish president that US has ever had.

In his article, Newman notes also that Trump’s knifing of American law-enforcement agencies, while on a podium at the Helsinki summit with American enemy Vladimir Putin, visibly raised the possibility that Trump might sell out his own country to appease a ruthless dictator who at this moment is working to manipulate the upcoming US elections.

Commenting through a statement issued shortly after the Helsinki meeting, Senator John McCain said: “Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory… The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.”

Trump came into power with a promise to change the way US practice its politics. He posed himself as a person who will tremendously revolutionaries politics and end a system which gave politicians a up hand in running the country affairs. But it was just a matter of time before he started to show his true colours and that what he intended to do was not different from what he rebuked during the campaigns. In the place of politicians, he bloated his government with fellow millionaires and it was just a matter of time before scandals started to haunt them. As we speak, several of them have already resigned.

This should have served as indication that Trump does not intend to defend US interests but self interests.

In the beginning, Trump’s jibe against journalists and the media, that they are bent on discrediting him through fake news because they were fond of the status quo, might have been trusted. But, after his continued undermining of US intelligence organs, climaxed by his much-criticised remarks at the Helsinki press conference, Americans should now start to seriously question what Trump is up to, especially after his close friends and people who are supposed to back him, have also started to distance themselves from him.

Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 in part because he depicted his opponent, Hillary Clinton, as a dishonest, self-dealing phony. But judging from what he has accomplished, people have started to see the true Trump. In fact, his comments before Putin has made people believe that Hillary would make a better head of state compared with Trump.

And his intelligence people, including FBI director Christopher Wray have continued to also discredit him. The intelligence chief has remained firm on the US election meddling scam: “Russia attempted to interfere in the last election.”

More so, speaking at the annual Aspen Security Forum recently, Wray made comments to certify that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Russian efforts to meddle into US election, and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, is not a “witch hunt,” as Trump has called it so many times.

Contradicting his boss, Wray commented: “I can tell you what my view is. The intelligence assessment has not changed, my view has not changed, which is that Russia attempted to interfere in the last election, and that it continues to engage in malign [activity].”

Wray warned that Trump’s remarks gives Russia the opportunity to identify divisive issues inside America and then use fake news and propaganda to “spin people up on both sides of the issue and then watch us go at each other.”

Trade war

Earlier this year, Trump raised the stakes in a trade war with some US allies when he announced new tariffs on some imports. He justified his decision on grounds that he needed to rectify the prevailing trade imbalance tilted against US. Apparently, this was part of his ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign’.

Several weeks ago, the US government started to implement these tariffs, amid widespreads concerns by his own people.

The tariffs decision is counterproductive, an analysis done by the White House Council of Economic Advisors shows. And according to US media, the findings of the analysis contradict Trump administration officials who claim that the president’s approach to trade would be massively good for the US economy.

While trade tariffs are generally meant to protect local manufacturers and markets, in the case of the tariffs which President Trump has imposed on several countries, experts warn, its a different story. In the long run, they might end up lowering GDP, wages and force many people out of employment. The tariffs will also make the US tax code less progressive because the increased tax burden would fall hardest on lower- and middle-income households.

China decided to retaliate on this move by imposing tariffs on US products. This would make US products costly in China, a market which US depends on very much for its manufactured goods.

The worst thing about this is the motive behind the tariffs. Instead of negotiating with his trade partners to arrive at amicable agreements, Trump has acted like a bully who looks at other countries as underdogs. This kind of behaviour does not serve US very well. Worse still, it is not only on the trade front where Trump has disparaged US long time allies.

Nato financing

Several US trade partners have responded with their own tariffs, including close allies such as Canada and Mexico. The European Union is also preparing retaliatory measures.

But while other countries are pondering on what to do with the tariffs, Trump pulled another gig this time targeting Nato members.

In his recent tour of Europe, Trump launched fresh attacks on Nato’s failure to raise defense spending to match what the US spends.

Trump them went to UK where his remarks over Brexit also created a turbulence, leaving relations between the two countries a bit strained. From the UK, he went to Helsinki where he met Putin and issued comments which shocked many Americans.

Trump is devoid of diplomatic etiquette. He abuses the US supremacy, and doesn’t seem to understand that as far as diplomacy is concerned, each country has rights which do not supersede rights of another country, its economic might notwithstanding.

Peter Nyanje is a senior editor with Mwananchi Communications Limited