Donald Trump may be the most talked-about man in the world. In January, the British Parliament debated a popular petition to ban him from entering their country (it failed). And world leaders, from Mexico’s former president to Pope Francis, have assailed Trump over his immigration proposals.
Trump’s talent for dominating the news and dividing public opinion isn’t confined to the West. As I discovered on a recent trip, it extends all the way to East Africa.
I visited Nairobi, Kenya, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in early March to observe cultures I was fascinated by but knew little about. While there, I decided to learn what I could about how Kenyans and Ethiopians view American politics — particularly Donald Trump and the prospect of him becoming America’s next president.
In Nairobi, almost everyone I spoke with had heard of the GOP front-runner. (Most had also heard of Hillary Clinton, but few knew the names of the other contenders.) I had assumed that most Kenyans would loathe Trump. After all, Trump spent years pedaling the theory that Obama was born in Kenya and thus is constitutionally ineligible to be president. He also has a long record of spewing xenophobic and racially incendiary rhetoric.
Some I spoke with did display contempt for the billionaire real estate developer. A young man in a Nairobi restaurant simply responded, “F–k Trump,” when I asked for his thoughts. But others viewed him somewhat differently.
“Donald Trump is going to win, that’s what Kenyans believe,” a cab driver who drove me on my ride from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to my hotel in Nairobi’s Westland’s district told me. My hotel was located less than half a mile from the Westgate mall, an upscale shopping center that in 2013 was the setting of a massacre by Al-Shabaab terrorists from Somalia in which 67 people were killed and 175 injured.
As he dropped me off at my hotel, the cabbie told me that with Trump as president, America would not have to worry about similar attacks on their homeland. I suggested instead that Trump’s bellicosity and erratic behavior would make anxiety grow about attacks on America. He seemed to consider that for a moment then chuckled “good luck” and drove off into the stifling morning traffic.
The only thing a young woman I met while wandering around downtown Nairobi could tell me about Trump was that he is a racist, or at least that he is portrayed as one in the Kenyan media.
Another taxi cab driver told me that while Kenyans love Barack Obama and are fond of the Clintons, there’s also something about Trump that they recognize. When I asked what it was, he effectively echoed “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah’s assessment of Trump. Noah, who is South African, had said, “The giant ego, the crazy sentiments, the huge fortune, the extremely casual relationship with facts — Donald Trump is basically an African dictator.” Those aren’t the only qualities that make Trump seem like a third-world autocrat. There’s also his complicated relationship with the rule of law, his authoritarian inclinations and those of his supporters.
Next I flew to Addis Ababa, a bustling city of more than 3 million located in the center of Ethiopia, which has sent a larger population of immigrants to the U.S. than any other African nation except Nigeria.
Last summer, President Obama visited the Ethiopian national palace in Addis to view “Lucy.” More than 3.2 million years old, Lucy is estimated to be the oldest and most complete skeleton of an early human ancestor ever discovered. As Obama was inspecting the skeletal remains, an anthropologist told him that Lucy demonstrated how all human beings are connected. “Every single person,” he said. “Even Donald Trump.” This caused the president to stifle a laugh.
On my second day in Addis, I visited Mercato, which is billed as the largest open-air market in Africa. I negotiated a good price for a few trinkets and pieces of jewelry, then headed over to check out the Grand Anwar Mosque.
Most mosques I’ve visited around the world do not prohibit non-Muslims from entering. This one seemed to be different. My driver told me in very broken English that he could not enter the grounds because he is an Orthodox Christian. But he encouraged me to go in, so I did.
My intention was to visit the mosque, take a photo or two and, if the opportunity arose, ask a Muslim Ethiopian or two for their thoughts on Trump. But I never got the chance. After taking a photo of the mosque, a group of men confronted me, shouting in Amharic. Soon I was surrounded by about a dozen men, all shouting at me as I tried to explain that I had no idea what they were saying.
At this point I decided it would be unwise to stay (and downright idiotic to bring up the Donald), so I quickly exited. Muslim Ethiopians I spoke with afterwards were surprised to hear I had been treated so rudely. Later I discovered that the mosque was on high alert because it had been the site of a grenade attack less than three months earlier.
Later that day I met Sara, a manufacturer in Addis, who said she was familiar with Trump through the BBC and other news outlets. She encouraged me not to agonize over the possibility of a Trump presidency. In much of Africa, she said, power is concentrated in the hands of the head of state, so a single bad leader can destroy a country. But America has a robust civil society and its founders established a system of government that can withstand even the most corrupt or incompetent president.
“You have a strong system that keeps the president in check, so you can always recover.” I told her that I hoped that America wouldn’t have to find out just how resilient our system can be.
With only a couple of days left in my trip, I decided to stop asking people for their thoughts on Donald Trump. I had left Washington in part for a respite from the 2016 election madness. Plus, I felt somewhat ashamed to be asking strangers in lands with such rich cultures and histories to talk about American politics, especially the vulgar Trump. It didn’t seem right.
But I did ask one more person for his thoughts. On my final day in Addis, I ascended Mount Entoto, which at more than 10,000 feet is the highest peak overlooking Ethiopia’s capital and the site of several monasteries. Mount Entoto is the location King Menelik II chose as the original location of his palace when he founded Addis Ababa in the late 19th Century. It is also home to St. Mary church, one of Ethiopia’s oldest Orthodox churches.
At St. Mary, I met Jon, a tour guide who told me that most Africans are bewildered that Americans would want a man like Trump to be their president. I explained to Jon that many Americans believe the U.S. takes in too many immigrants, who they feel are threatening their jobs and their security. “That’s crazy,” he said. “What’s good about America is that it’s open to outsiders and immigrants. Trump wants to shut them out.”
But after some thought, Jon said, “Maybe if he becomes president, Trump will favor more Ethiopian immigration, because Ethiopian women are the most beautiful in the world and if there’s one thing he appreciates it’s beautiful women.”
I could hardly argue with his logic. In today’s political climate, nothing seems too far-fetched.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
