The world is in shock after the news of Donald Trump’s victory to become the 45th President of United States of America. The assumption was that Trump would not win because of his extreme xenophobic, misogynistic, white supremacist, and Islamophobic views. Nevertheless, he would rather allow Hillary Clinton to win. However, the tables turned unexpectedly and Trump won the election. This event begets the question, “What would become of the American Muslims, immigrants and non-immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, other non-Caucasians and especially the women of U.S.?”
When a candidate or a political party runs for an election to be part of an executive branch or legislative branch of the government, it is unlikely that the winning candidate or political party would keep up the promises that they made to the people during the election campaign. This happens in every country of the world, even in such countries where democracy is strong such as UK and Canada. The American history is filled with events of the president-elect never fully keeping a promise he made to the people during their election campaigns.
For example, Barack Obama promised during his first election in 2008 to shut down Guantanamo Bay, which he never did even after being re-elected in 2012. This is not just one promises that Obama failed to fulfil, but are many others he did not fulfil till the end of his second term. There have been some promises that Obama had kept and fulfilled such as the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, but it was a promise that took a lot of time coming. Therefore, the question is “Can Trump, as the President of U.S., fulfil all the promises he made during his election campaign?” It is unlikely that he would keep all the promises, except a few which would mostly be regarding immigration and domestic policies but that, too, is not certain.
The Pakistani people, however, are concerned with the fate of American Muslims especially of their friends and relatives. Not only are American Muslims in peril, but so too are the Hispanics, Asians, and other non-Caucasians living there. Still, for us Pakistani people, the concern is mostly with American Muslims living there: will they be safe or not?
“Daffy Duck for President”, an animated short film released by Warner Brothers studio during the 2004 U.S Presidential election, is an example of this scenario, which might also be an allegory to the current scenario as well. The animated short film was intended for children and the general audience for their entertainment but it also had a strong educational implication. The film starts with Daffy Duck running for the U.S presidency for which he campaigns by promising to make rabbit hunting season 12 months a year to beat his rival Bugs Bunny. Daffy Duck presumed that as president he could do anything he pleases, only for Bugs Bunny to guide him that the President of U.S cannot pass his own laws but enforces the laws made and passed by the U.S Congress. Listening to this, Daffy Duck runs for Congress, instead, and wins by a landslide due to his Rhode Island duck brethren. He again warns Bugs Bunny that he will propose a bill in the Congress to make rabbit hunting season 12 months a year, only for Daffy to be disappointed after learning that his bill could not be passed because it required a majority in the Congress to be passed and then signed into law. Later, Daffy Duck, not wanting to give up, tried to use the Supreme Court to rule in his favour only for Bugs Bunny to tell him again that the fourth amendment of the US Constitution forbids him to do such a thing. In the end, Daffy Duck is finally defeated, after receiving a civics lesson from Bugs Bunny. He, too, could not keep up the promises he originally made.
Here, you can imagine Daffy Duck as Donald Trump and Bugs Bunny as the American-Muslims, African Americans, Hispanics, and other non-Caucasians. The animated short film is accessible to everyone on YouTube on this link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4byjEWmZW4. Yes, racism and bigotry is present all over the world, even in Pakistan. It is something that we should not fear, but fight against.
Therefore, the problem is not what Donald Trump will do during his presidency; the problem is what Trump has done to gain the presidency. By using racism and bigotry as rhetoric to achieve this feat, Trump has divided the country, which has diverse communities. But in order to have a strong presidency, Trump would have to undo what he had done in his election campaign. Otherwise, the president-elect would have four years of a turbulent presidency or would likely face an impeachment from office as early as possible.