Donald Trump is the undisputed 47th President of the United States of America. Jonathan Starling wrote an opinion last month titled “The lesser evil?”. I recall commenting on that article that I had recently to make such judgment calls.

Admittedly, if I had the opportunity to vote in this US election, I might have voted for Kamala Harris. Unfortunately, that would not have been because I wanted to, but because of the two candidates. I had more hope that she could be fashioned into something optimistic.

As the months progressed since she became the Democratic candidate, I grew increasingly disillusioned by her performance, particularly her lack of a stance on Gaza. She cloned her presidency with the Joe Biden legacy. If, for any reason, President Biden had remained in the race, we would have heard the victory bells ringing in the Republican headquarters much earlier on election night.

She never asserted how her presidency would be different from her predecessor; she didn’t listen to the university students’ protest, and she paid the price for that. Now, any hope for her to return to the limelight is gone, possibly for ever. I can only imagine that my scepticism was magnified a million times by other Black males. Add to that the millions of Muslims who had nothing to be enthused about, causing them to vote for her, and we can see the formula for he defeat.

President-elect Donald Trump has now broadened his coalition by gaining 20 per cent of the Black male support from urban areas, which is now in addition to his rural base.

This is the new Republican Party, and we will see more Black males featuring with prominent roles within its network. But I do not know what this means for the larger picture of America, its mosaic and diversity.

The real test is the future and how the next president sets about governing the country. How will his promises match his reality? Will there be a mass deportation, and what effect will it have? The foreign policy issues, starting with the war in Ukraine? The Middle East? China? Will he negotiate peace or bring about an escalation?

The vote cast strongly suggests there is mass dissatisfaction in the economy. The minimum wage in the US is $7.60. Will that remain, and will he lower taxes on the wealthy, while those who voted for him because of the wealth gap sought a change?

A large part of Trump’s success is as a result of his magnetic character. I recall my early university English professor once saying, “An honest scowl is better than a well-articulated speech that did not come from the heart”. Trump is all of that, warts and all.

Almost like the prophet David, the psalmist Donald Trump, too, has many flaws and his refusal to hide them leads to him getting involved with scandals. One clear sign is that he narrowly survived an assassin’s bullet. History will recall this escape from death as providence. It is already the case that no other president has been impeached twice — a convicted felon who comes back from the edge of infamy and wins the presidency with the popular vote.

All he needs to do now is govern and make America great again. The question is, can he bring back America from the brink of international insolvency as a declining empire to re-establish a life of prominence.