“There’s supposed to be a bloody removal of a brutal, corrupt dictator, followed by a period of uncertainty until a new strongman asserts himself and takes control.”
Cairo, November 10 – Egyptian officials publicly welcomed the election of Donald Trump to the presidency yesterday, while subsequently expressing private astonishment that the change of leadership did not occur through bloodshed or hand-picked succession.
Throughout the Arab and Muslim world, government officials and private citizens are scratching their heads at the bizarre phenomenon occurring in Washington, where one presidency is soon to draw to a close and the next will follow smoothly on its heels, with the departing president cordially – and possibly warmly – handing the reins of the state over to a person with a diametrically opposing worldview who bears neither blood ties nor political allegiance to his predecessor.
“That’s not the way it’s supposed to work,” muttered Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, the Egyptian president who seized power in a coutercoup against Muhammad Morsi who in turn deposed Hosni Mubarak, who assumed the presidency as Anwar Sadat’s successor after the latter was assassinated. “There’s supposed to be a bloody removal of a brutal, corrupt dictator, followed by a period of uncertainty until a new strongman asserts himself and takes control. I don’t know what those Americans think they’re doing.”
King Abdullah II of Jordan voiced similar incredulity. “This makes no sense,” he observed to an aide. “I mean, congratulations to Mr. Trump and all, but the presidency wasn’t his father’s or grandfather’s position that he’s now inheriting. Nor is he fighting it out on the battlefield, or through proxy militias, to eliminate rivals. How does he expect this to happen? That’s one unpredictable system they’ve got.”
Embattled president of Syria Basher Assad elaborated on the source of confusion. “The media commentary on his development focuses on the deep disaffection of a large part of the American population as a result of prolonged economic hardship and a political culture that makes them feel disaffected and left out,” he noted. “And that’s exactly what I find so hard to grasp. Those are the prime ingredients for a violent popular uprising. Where is the army in all this? Aren’t they the ones who ultimately determine who takes the helm? It’s almost as if those Westerners don’t know the first thing about how to run a country.”
In Israel, the confusion stems less from the peaceful transition – anti-Trump protests in Midtown Manhattan notwithstanding – than from the ability of each administration to last four years. “We haven’t been able to do that in decades,” noted an amazed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “That’s no way to conduct acrimonious, selfish politicking.”
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