Yusuf Omar – Opinion | 27 October 2016

With so many critical issues currently being debated in South Africa, I asked myself is it worthwhile writing a piece on the US elections. Both demand equal attention. On the one hand, you have issues like free education and racism ripping South Africa’s reputation apart and on the other hand, you have an election that, no doubt, will have a ripple effect on the world, including our beloved Republic. To appease both voices, I decided to merge the two. The US elections and critical South African issues all in one piece attached to one rather exciting question ‘What if Donald Trump was the President of South Africa?’

Now, I write what I research and even though I might have my own personal opinions about an individual, I think it’s unfair to jump down a man’s throat and label him a ‘write-off’. I mean, if there’s something positive, then let’s look into it.

What if Donald Trump was the President of South Africa?

#FeesMustFall
Regarding schooling, Donald trump is in favour of something called ‘School choice’. Basically, it’s a voucher system. The poor and needy families are given vouchers and they can use these vouchers at a private school of their choice. It’s quite clear that Donald Trump is not a great supporter of the public schooling system. He has openly debated the ‘common core’ concept. The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English etc. These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. This concept is very similar to the CAPS system that we currently have in South Africa. Moving onto higher education, Trump hasn’t mentioned much about it in his campaigns however, he has repeatedly challenged Hillary Clinton’s ‘debt free’ policy. The policy is all about free education for lower-income families.

Conclusion: If Trump ruled the Republic, public schools would be neglected and you can protest all you want, fees won’t fall. One positive though, both the poor and rich kids will have access to the same level of education in private schools.

#CrimeMustFall
This is a difficult topic to dissect after reading Trump’s comments. He seems to be a great supporter of the police force. On many occasions he has spoken out on how police officers are ill-treated and misunderstood. He has also made it clear that he will get rid of drugs, theft, rape and murder. So far, so good. The problem is that Trump attributes these crimes to certain classes of people. Namely Mexicans, Muslims and Blacks. Trump fails to realize that criminals comes in all shapes and sizes. I don’t know if this is racism or just a misunderstanding but this type of thinking wouldn’t be too good coming from a South African president. Imagine full protection for the SAPS and JMPD despite corruption within the ranks. Imagine being a criminal just because you are from Zimbabwe or because you have a beard. Noted, some have stated that he has a point since in most countries, most criminals are foreigners. The thing is, most does not equal all. On the plus side, Trump will get rid of South Africa’s ridiculous gun laws. According to our current law, you basically in the wrong if you shoot an armed intruder on your property at night. You only allowed to shoot if the intruder attempts to shoot. Really!

Trump says there’s another way to fight crime – “by empowering law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves.”

Conclusion: You can’t really say whether Trump’s view in this regard will benefit South Africa or not. His view on guns will be welcomed by most but other than that I think it depends on the colour of your skin. Regardless, some things will never change.

#Xenophobia
Simply put, if Trump was our president while xenophobic attacks broke out, he’ll be missing in action. While the world’s media houses will look for him in pursuit of a presidential press release, he’ll be in Alexandria, with dagger in hand, sporting a pair of fake All Stars, blue overall and a Pantsula hat. Like I said before, I don’t run anyone down. I look for positives and I try to highlight it but when it comes to foreign policies, this man is on another level. If xenophobic attacks broke out in the US, the Mexicans and the Muslim foreigners will be the primary target. I won’t explain. I’ll just quote…

“With our weakness, it’s going to get much worse before it gets much better. Since 9/11, the United States had admitted half a million immigrants from countries where being gay is punishable by death.”

Regarding Mexicans…

“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists,”

He did say that he doesn’t have a problem with people entering the country legally provided that their hearts are free of hate. How is it possible to know what’s in a person’s heart? I personally think he just said the above to sound reasonable because majority of his statements tell a different story. If he was our number 1, our population and ‘cheap laboured’ workforce would decrease, Mugabe wouldn’t stop cursing him and woman will go wild when they can’t find anyone to hem their Abayas 3 days before Eid. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t know, you be the judge.

Conclusion: The foreign population of South Africa will find it very tough under his rule. Well, those that last. I think crime will drop but cheap labour will be hard to find. Face it, everyone wants cheap labour.

#HealthCare
You know whenever there was a fight in school and the one boy always said “Yea il show you, just watch I’ll show you’” but he never done anything? Well, when it comes to healthcare, that boy is Donald Trump. He continuously runs down Barack Obama’s Obamacare but never provides any solid alternatives. Almost as if he has to run it down for the sake of his campaign. Obamacare is a Health Reform Law that was signed by Barack Obama back in 2010. Yes, it does have a few flaws but the benefits are there as well. It regulates medical charges and grants medical access to many lower-income families. Can it be improved? Yes, it can. Did Donald Trump come up with an improvement? No, he didn’t.

“Obamacare. We’re going to repel it, we’re going to replace it, get something great. Repeal it, replace it, get something great!”

“We are going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better,”

But he never says what exactly is ‘much better’ and ‘something great’. What’s more sad is that whenever he says this, his followers cheer him on. Don’t they ever ask the question that I ask?

Conclusion: In South Africa, our healthcare policies hasn’t improved much. State of the art healthcare facilities we do have, but only for the rich. If Trump rules our Rainbow Nation, it wouldn’t make much of a difference in this regard.

So there you have it. Trump, in a South African climate.

During my research, I came across a few other points that I would like to share with you. 

Two things I hate about trump

1. National security
   According to trump, America’s strength is the only way to secure peace. He relies heavily on the military and its allied forces to keep the country in check. Do you remember Rabbi Michael Lerner? He spoke at Muhammad Ali’s memorial service. He said that America should show their dominance not by being the strongest, most powerful force on the planet but rather by being the kindest, caring nation on the planet. I totally agree with the Rabbi.
2. Immigration/Foreign policies
   Donald trump wants to build a wall along the Mexican border. Yes, a real wall, with bricks and mortar. Literally, like how you have a wall separating your house from your neighbour’s house, he wants to build a wall to separate America from Mexico.

Two things I love about trump

I told you, I’m an open minded thinker. I give credit where it’s due.

1. Veterans
Trump loves and appreciates those that served the country. This discussion is not about the wars that the veterans fought or what they stood for. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the fact that he appreciates those that serve the country. He once told America’s war veterans that they are going to get the greatest service of any veterans in any country because they deserve it. Once again, I am not focusing on the wars they fought. I’m focusing on the fact that they served their country and Trump appreciates it.

2. Abortion
Donald Trump’s stance on abortion is nothing more than perfect. I couldn’t agree with him more.

“The primary responsibility of the federal government is to protect the rights of its citizens. Life is the most fundamental right. The federal government should not diminish this right by denying its’ protection. I am opposed to abortion except for rape, incest and life of the mother. I oppose the use of government funds to pay for abortions.”

What do you love, or hate, about Donald Trump? Can he bring anything good to South Africa if he sat on Zuma’s throne? Leave a comment or interact on social media.