Republicans having to lay in their own bed

By Jermaine Nkrumah

They weren't lying when they said you lay in the bed that you make.

In 2009 the United States economy was nearing depression. Unemployment figures as well as the Dow Jones Industrial Averages were heading in the wrong directions. Consumer confidence was down. The deficit was skyrocketing. We were mired in two unending wars with climbing death toll among servicemen and women. American image around the world was at its lowest. In short, America was in a serious trouble.

Along came a slim black man "with a funny name" known as Barack Obama. How dared he to even have "the audacity of hope" that he could even run for the presidency let alone win it. But he rolled up his sleeves and went to work. And so did Republicans in Congress. The only difference is that while he worked tirelessly to fix America's problems, the Republicans threw obstructions in his way at every turn. Where they failed to stop him, they either downplayed his successes, or simply and intentionally characterized them as failures using incessant media propaganda.

The end result after eight years? Despite righting nearly all of America's wrongs such as reducing unemployment from 7.8% to 4.9%, improving the Dow Jones from 6,700 to 18,000, cutting the deficit by two-thirds, raising income levels higher than it has ever risen for over three decades, ending both wars that were financially bleeding America to death, delivering justice to Osama bin Laden, restoring Americans image around the globe, slapping sanctions on Russia and tightening the existing one on Iran to restrain both countries' aggressive behavior, etc, etc, the Republican propaganda machinery has somehow managed to convince the American people that the nation is heading over the cliff.

Then along came The Donald who ended up being the craftiest of a dozen or so Republican presidential wanna-be's. In fact Trump whipped up such an anti-Washington frenzy among a section of the populace that the Republicans failed to do the simplest of homework when it comes to presidential candidates. They failed to verify his resume and conduct a thorough background check - something even an Uber driver must undergo.

If they had done their homework, they would have discovered that the guy who looked like a shoo-in to capture the White House for them is hopelessly egotistical, racist, Islamophobic, misogynist, a tax cheat, a sexual predator, and as a result universally deemed unfit to even run for the office that he seeks. Because they did not screen him at all due to their blindness to anything "Obama" or "Hillary,' it took them longer than the rest of America that they were selling a product that two-thirds of Americans did not even want for free.

Now having created an uncontrollable monster with a month to the general elections, Republicans have all but given up the fight for the presidency; they now face the potential of Donald Trump not only losing the elections but taking the entire party down with him by handing both the Senate and House of Congress to the Democrats. They are jumping the Titanic and further antagonizing a man who proudly describes himself as a "counter-puncher." Said one Republican leader: "we're in a free-fall right now."

In West Africa we would say "na who cause am?" As a fly on the wall, I am happy to say that I was right about the Donald from the first whistle. It is just a shame that a country I respect so much can be populated by people harboring so much hatred that they are willing to compromise this country's leading global image in order to score political points.