US: Trump victory a wake up call on global backlash

West Palm Beach, Florida 7 November: “He can be lawless. She must be flawless.” Those famous last words of CNN political commentator Van Jones just before the US elections are true for just about any woman who has run for political office, let alone bid for the most powerful job in the world. The words played themselves back over and over in my mind as Donald Trump swept back into power as the 47^th president of the world’s richest democracy, beating Vice President Kamala Harris, and crushing yet again the hope not just of a woman president, but of the first black women president of the United States of America.

Pundits across the media spectrum failed to see this victory coming in quite this way, with Trump winning both the electoral college and popular vote. They scrambled to find explanations: gas prices, grocery bills and many more. Fundamentally this victory sent home a simple message. The US is as racist, and even more sexist than ever. Maya Angelou’s words come to mind: “when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Or as Erin Hohlfelder, advisor to the Malala Foundation put it: “feminist movements have been sounding the alarm over the rise and the perverse appeal of anti-rights, authoritarian strongmen for years now. The US election results are once again proof that America is neither unique nor immune to this phenomenon.”

Consider this. Trump is a convicted felon, a rapist, serial philanderer, cheat, tax evader, fomenter of an insurrection that almost destroyed Capitol Hill, the citadel of US democracy; an opportunist seeking a get-out-of-jail free card through presidential immunity. He has questioned whether Harris, whose mother came from India and father from the Caribbean, is Indian or black. He has openly insulted her, calling her stupid, nasty, unintelligent. Trump almost brought the hitherto unknown city of Springfield Ohio to a standstill by declaring that Haitian immigrants there eat cats and dogs. A stand-up comedian at one of his close out rallies in Maddison Square garden referred to Puerto Rico as a pile of garbage floating in the sea.

When Trump and Harris squared off in their only debate of the campaign, every poll said the former attorney general of California and state senator won, hands down. Where Trump sowed hate Harris preached unity. Now the pundits are asking what the Democratic Party strategists got wrong. But is it Harris, who took the baton from Joe Biden with just three months to go, who failed America, or America who failed Kamala Harris?

Scroll back to 2008. Hilary Clinton failed in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, but Barrack Obama won, becoming the first black president of the USA. The North American democracy turned the page on its history of slavery and segregation, a momentous win celebrated around the world. Fast forward to 2016, when despite all the predictions to the contrary Hilary Clinton suffered a second defeat, this time to Donald Trump in his first term as the 45^th president of the USA. America was still not ready for a woman president.

A pandemic, weak economy, and world in crisis saw Joe Biden win the election in 2020, with Kamala Harris as his running mate, making her the first woman vice president of the USA. A clear blunder of the ageing Bidden was to announce that he would run for a second term (largely to keep Trump from winning) and then handing over to Harris with just three months to go. Nonetheless she raised a billion dollars and for a moment seemed to generate a wave of optimism similar to Obama in 2008. But America was still not ready for a woman president, much less a black woman president

As the election results came in with every one of the swing states going to the Republicans (Philadelphia, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin) the US showed its true colours. Only black women (92%) stood solidly behind Kamala Harris; they constitute 7% of the electorate. Four fifth of black men (5% of the electorate) voted for Harris, as did 60 percent of Latino women. But 70% of white men, who constitute 34% of the electorate voted for Trump, as did 54% of Latino men.

Anna Navarro, a Republican of Nicaraguan descent who supported Harriis, travelled around the US for CNN news to discover why Latino men found Trump attractive. She concluded that he reminded them of the strong men in Latin American politics. Ironically, many Latin American immigrants leave their countries precisely because of these kind of men. Still they are secretly (or instinctively) attracted to them. Closer home in Africa, its not hard to find Trump supporters, particularly among men, even if they shy away from saying so because of Trump’s open disdain for Africa. Like Vladimir Putin of Russia, Kim Jong Un of North Korea and many other dictators, they resonate with the strong man of global politics.

What about white women? They comprise 37 percent of the US electorate, the biggest voting bloc. At stake in these elections were women’s reproductive rights, with Trump threatening to roll back the gains that have been made since the seminal Roe vs Wade case on safe abortion.  Yet 52% of white women voted for Trump, many waving “Women for Trump” placards. Is this because of grocery prices, considering every economist has said that average American citizens will be worse off with Trump’s “concept of a plan”, essentially huge tax cuts for corporations? Have they internalised their own oppression as women, to the extent of being immune to Trump’s (at worst) misogyny, at best patronising behaviour? Remember, Trump (caught on tape talking about groping women) will also “protect women, whether they like it or not.” Or are white women just part of a privileged, fundamentally racist demographic which is a more powerful force in their lives than being denigrated as women?

I found myself pondering these questions as I sat in my 8 year old grand-daughters play room. She lives in Florida, daughter of first generation immigrants, the kind Trump loves to hate. In 2016 as an infant, my grand-daughter joined the Women’s March with her parents carrying the banner “I am a #NastyWoman.”  When Kamala became vice president four years ago, a family friend gave her a framed picture of the vice president. This week, without any prompting, my grand-daughter scribbled the words: “Vote for Camila Harris” on her blackboard a few days before the elections, despite having many friends whose families openly support Trump. How does one explain to the girl child the world that is about to unfold?

In her gracious speech conceding defeat (and devoid of any suggestion of the fraud Trump had geared to allege had he lost) Harris did what most mum’s would do. She looked for the glimmer of hope, reminding us that it is only on the darkest night that you see the brightest stars.

I am privileged to lead the Women of the South Speak Out (WOSSO) initiative which will soon have about 200 fellows – young women across the global south leading feminist advocacy campaigns. One of the big pieces of research we will undertake together with the fellows is on backlash. These “bright stars in a dark night” will seek out the voices of those who fight against backlash in all its forms and guises, at all levels. As we “brighten our corners where we are” (WOSSO theme song) we will take inspiration from Harris’ campaign, for her work is far from done.

(Colleen Lowe Morna is special advisor to Gender Links. This article is written in her personal capacity. To sign a petition thanking Kamala Harris for her courage please follow this link)