The American mid-term elections held on Tuesday brought a repudiation of President Donald Trump on a scale that is almost impossible to exaggerate. Democrats won in southern states like Georgia, Florida and possibly even Mississippi that haven’t seen Democrats in statewide offices in 50 years.
Furthermore, this new crop of legislators looks shockingly like America today, with people of every race, creed, colour, gender and sexuality. Uniting them are two things: An intense hatred of the corruption, cynicism, incompetence, and self-dealing of the past two years and an almost shocking degree of competence and dedication to improving the lot of ordinary Americans.
But Kenyans must balance that good news with an awareness of three things: Donald Trump is still president; presidents are traditionally given wide latitude in foreign affairs; and Africa, sadly, remains low on the list of things most Americans--and hence most American legislators--care about. That said, there is at least some hope that we can see substantive progress on a host of policy issues of most concern to Kenyans, and indeed most Africans.
But first allow me to express my relief as an American living here in Kenya that the American people seem to have returned to their senses. The current administration seems to take pride in ignorance, racism and cruelty.
