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Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by fineboynl(m): 8:38pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
By Moses Ochonu Donald Trump has Nigerian supporters and they are very vocal on social media. They troll Nigerians and Nigerians in the diaspora who support and plan to vote for Hillary Clinton. They are hard to ignore because they are worked up over the election and are fanatically committed to hating Clinton or getting Trump elected, or both. I’ve been observing and studying their strange antics and have come to a conclusion about their varied motives. The following list is not exhaustive but it captures, in my opinion, the major strands of the Nigerian pro-Trump phenomenon. 1. In the first category are those who are simply ignorant of what the vile, racist demagogue stands for. It doesn’t help that there is a lot of falsehood on social media and on the Internet generally about what Trump has done and what he will do. I have even come across several items on my Facebook newsfeed about how Trump has promised to “actualize Biafra,” how Trump would crush Boko Haram, how Trump made this or that statement about Nigerians and Africans — all of them false memes generated by Internet junkies on fringe sits with political agendas targeting the uninformed and lazy. If you look hard enough you’ll find on the Internet that Barack Obama is an alien from another planet and that the moon landing never happened. Some Nigerians wittingly or unwittingly share false information from far-right and racist websites on Facebook. Some shares are from the conspiracy website, Infowars, which, among other outlandish claims, peddle the notion that the September 11 attack was the work of the U.S government and that the killing of Osama bin Laden was a hoax. These shares regularly appear on my timeline. To me they are a minor irritation; to others they are credible information. 2. The second category comprises Nigerians who know but don’t care that Trump is a bombastic conman, a narcissistic, know-nothing racist, and a sexist xenophobe to boot. This group is the most perplexing because it requires a measure of self hate and/or cognitive dissonance to support a guy who combines xenophobia with a long history of disdain for blacks and Hispanics. Given the disdain of some Nigerians for research and history, it is possible that some in this category are simply not aware of the depth and span of Trump’s racism, xenophobia, and sexism, or his propensity for mocking the disabled and for petty insults and infantile tantrums. 3 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by fineboynl(m): 8:39pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
3. Category three is made up of
Nigerians who identify with Trump’s
strongman, fascistic tendencies and
pronouncements. Some people are
seduced by braggadocio and bluster.
Some of these Nigerians won’t admit
it but they see themselves in Trump.
Others see a world in turmoil and
yearn for a measure of order that
they assume only a tough, Mafioso
type leader can provide. This
phenomenon is playing out in
several parts of the world. In an
unstable and uncertain world,
citizens of several countries have
embraced tough-talking, rigid,
extreme political figures that several
years ago would probably have been
dismissed as unviable candidates.
India’s Modi; Egypt’s el-Sisi;
Nigeria’s Buhari; Turkey’s Erdogan
— these are all so-called strong men
whose firm, if counterproductive,
certitude and showy display of
nationalistic fervor have catapulted
them to, or consolidated them in,
their countries’ presidencies. The
same potent mix of ultra-nationalist
sentiment and a cult-like belief in a
strongman’s capacity to restore the
nation’s pride and solve its
problems is at work in certain
sections of America that fanatically
support Trump. Ironically, many of
Trump’s Nigerian supporters never
supported Buhari. Conversely, many
Nigerians who supported Buhari
because of his strongman
nationalist posturing against the
“weak” Jonathan are opposed to
Trump. This last position is not
necessarily an inconsistent one as
people in this camp of Buhari-
supporting but Trump-opposing
Nigerians are likely to be Muslims
who are turned off by Trump’s
Islamophobia, or people repulsed by
his racist rhetoric. 2 Likes |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by fineboynl(m): 8:40pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
4. The fourth category comprises
Nigerians who, as embarrassing as
it is to admit it, actually agree with
Trump’s Islamophobia, his Muslim
ban, and his blustery talk about
“Islamic terrorism.” Here, in this
category, you will see some
Nigerians who are using the prism
of Nigeria’s bitter religious politics
to cultivate an attitude toward the
US presidential election. For them,
Trump is the solution to the global
problem of Islamist terrorism and
extremism, never mind that the
candidate is woefully uninformed
about Islam, the Middle East, and
the Islamic world generally and
knows even less about antiterrorism
policy. Some Nigerians in this group
channel their antipathy towards
Boko Haram and towards Nigerian
Muslims they believe share the
blame for the rise of Boko Haram
into supporting the candidate they
see as being tougher on terrorism. I
should add here that many Nigerian
urban households now get the Right
Wing US news network, FOX News,
which is essentially an arm of the
Republican Party and of Donald
Trump’s campaign. Their attitude to
the election has been partly shaped
by FOX News. It was during the
2012 that I came to know about
FOX’s presence on Nigerian cable
TV offerings. A few weeks before the
election, an Obama-supporting
prominent Northern Nigerian
journalist frantically called a
Nigerian friend of hers in Atlanta
asking if what she was hearing on
FOX News about Obama was true
and almost tearfully asking if it was
true that Obama was headed for
certain defeat. This friend spent a
great deal of time lecturing her on
the political loyalties of FOX, on its
genealogy and ideological
commitments, and on the true
picture of the election campaigns. It
was a big relief for her, a relief that
Obama’s victory confirmed a few
weeks later. In the same period, a
cousin of mine also relayed what he
had been hearing on FOX News to
me, but in his own case, he said he
was suspicious of the network and
wondered why they were so biased
against Obama and so intent on
smearing him. Because he was
already a skeptical watcher of FOX
it didn’t take me long to confirm his
suspicions and point him in the
direction of more objective coverage
of the election. 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by fineboynl(m): 8:40pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
5. Category five contains Nigerians
whose attitude to the US
presidential election is refracted
through the lens of Nigeria’s
politics, specifically the lingering
emotions of the 2015 presidential
elections. In this category are many
supporters of former president
Goodluck Jonathan and detractors
of president Buhari, who detest the
Obama administration’s cold
disposition toward Jonathan and its
barely disguised support for
Buhari’s candidacy. In the calculus
of these Nigerian Trump supporters,
it is payback time, time to humiliate
Obama by defeating Hillary.
6. The sixth category is populated by
gullible, impressionable Nigerian
Christians who listen to and watch
American right-wing radio and TV
broadcasts. Most of these
misguided Christians are from my
own Evangelical/Pentecostal
constituency and are naively drawn
to US Evangelical political rhetoric
without acquainting themselves with
the political and cultural roots of
such rhetoric. They are drinking the
Kool-Aid of the American religious
Right. To these Nigerians, Clinton
(and by extension Obama) is too
cozy with Muslims and not
sufficiently Christian, precisely the
rhetoric of the U.S. right wing.
Conversely, for reasons that are
known only to them, and contrary to
all the available evidence, they
regard Trump as a warrior for
Christianity, the savior of a
supposedly endangered Judeo-
Christian civilization. This is an
expansive category. My first
introduction to this strange
emotional alliance of Nigerian
Evangelical and Pentecostal
Christians and the U.S religious
Right was during the 2012 election
cycle when a relative of mine called
me to ask if it was true that Obama
was the antichrist and had begun
forcing Americans to be implanted
with 666-numbered chips on their
foreheads to signify their allegiance
to him. A quick search on the
Internet gave me the source of his
misinformation, which apparently
had spread in his church and in his
Christian circle. The fictional
nonsense emanated from fringe,
extremist Right Wing and Christian
Right websites, and from a dark part
of the Internet that is now
associated with white supremacy
and he Pseudo-Christian politics of
the so-called alt-right. I spent at
least one hour on the phone
reeducating and disabusing my
relative of the falsehood. In Nigeria
today, thanks to the relative
democratization of Satellite
broadcasting technology and the
globalization of mass media, many
households have cable TV packages
that come with several American
Evangelical and Christian Right
channels, including CBN, TBN, and
others, where they are fed a steady
diet of politicized gospel,
apocalyptic nonsense, and anti-
Obama, anti-Clinton talking points
and inventions. They regard this
information as gospel truth and are
too lazy or too loyal to their TV
Evangelists to verify what they are
being told or to crosscheck the
outlandish claims against the Bible
in their hands. 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by fineboynl(m): 8:41pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
7. The final category comprises
Nigerians who, far from being
repulsed by Trump’s reputation as a
con artist, artful tax dodger, and
serial scammer, actually admire him
for precisely those reasons, for what
Trump himself says are a mark of
his smartness. Unfortunately, some
Nigerians, like some Americans,
actually admire Trump for being a
slick, litigious, and shady
businessman who has managed to
avoid getting into serious legal
trouble despite operating outside or
on the edge of the law for decades.
It is the same kind of admiration
that some people have for mob and
mafia bosses and figures. Fortunately for those of us who live and work in the U.S, know what’s at stake, and have American children whose lives and futures will be impacted by the outcome this election, the vast majority of these Trump-supporting Nigerians cannot vote and in fact are simply cyber noisemakers who buy data and log onto Facebook from their abodes in Nigeria to snipe at Hillary and those of us who support and love her. 4 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by DickDastardly(m): 8:42pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Moses Ochonu read my lips slowly ..... F.V.C.K Y.O.U!!! 3 Likes |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by ojun50(m): 8:43pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Lady F pls am hungry wht on fire |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by fineboynl(m): 8:46pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by jerrywool: 9:14pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
How can you leave out those category of people who support Trump because they believe he will send many Nigerians back home to join in the recession party. 3 Likes |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by BiafraBushBoy(m): 9:20pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Most of them are Igbos, who have cultivated Hatred for Buhari and channeling it to support trump!! A man that is a known racist and advent hater of minorities. I wonder if they believe in the propaganda that trump will help bring biaf*a... bullshit!!! Trump might win, but it will lead to something more bigger... 6 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by carboblanko(m): 9:27pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Very apt. Some folks can really be gullible and never make an effort to verify some of the nonsense that is posted on the Internet. Yes people have choices. But Trump? I think not. 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by orimsamsam(m): 9:36pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
BiafraBushBoy:bro were are u from 1 Like |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by Nobody: 10:00pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Association of bad belles jerrywoolpost=50850098: |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by Nobody: 10:36pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
I AM WITH HER 1 Like |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by mensdept: 10:46pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Look at all the grammer the OP used to say basically nothing at all LOL. Trump may win and be the next Presido of Yankee. Probably then, "nigerians" will not be going there to give birth for blue passport for pikin |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by Nobody: 11:12pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
BiafraBushBoy:we have heard now gerrout! 4 Likes
|
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by PaulIdu: 11:42pm On Nov 07, 2016 |
Only very smart Nigerians would know that the greatest enemy Africa has ever had is Hillary Clinton..she has directly or indirectly funded Islamic terror groups on all continent for reasons best known own to her . She might end up winning the race but the the truth remains that a Trump presidency will pay Africa better on the overall |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by BiafraBushBoy(m): 9:23am On Nov 08, 2016 |
orimsamsam:Abum onye Enugu... 042 born and brought up!!! |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by 989900D: 9:31am On Nov 08, 2016 |
The foolery and ignorance of most pro-Drumpf commenters -- gosh! The only thing worse than Trump contesting for president is, simpletons who actually support the 'retarded-tax-evading-pompous-pussy grabbing-racist-divisional-deluded-bankrupt-lying-con'. P.S. Hillary wins today by at the minimum, 330 electoral votes (should/could be more, but some people would vote for the devil even, as long as he is contesting as a 'republitard'). ATEOTD, sane Americans won't just clown away their lives. 3 Likes
|
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by juman(m): 10:08am On Nov 08, 2016 |
Hillary going to win. Mama for president. Madam president. 1 Like |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by orimsamsam(m): 12:35pm On Nov 08, 2016 |
BiafraBushBoy:ur Igbo is different |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by neocortex: 12:52pm On Nov 08, 2016 |
PaulIdu: Yes conspiracy theorists believe they are smart and possess secret knowledge when in fact they are nothing but dummies who are easily fooled with baseless memes and rhetorics. 1 Like |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by Nobody: 1:42pm On Nov 08, 2016 |
All the OP wrote can be summarized as thus: All trump's Nigerian supporters are IPOB yoots. Simple |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by BiafraBushBoy(m): 1:45pm On Nov 08, 2016 |
orimsamsam: Enugu Igbo is always different.. Don't you listen to phyno?/ Anyi na enye nsogbu |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by orimsamsam(m): 1:55pm On Nov 08, 2016 |
BiafraBushBoy:lolz wht the meaning. |
Re: Unraveling The “mystery” Of Donald Trump’s Nigerian Supporters by BiafraBushBoy(m): 1:58pm On Nov 08, 2016 |
orimsamsam: We are Troublesome... Literally.. We dey give trouble We dey cause Trouble... Igbo Boys Movement |
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