CURRENT AFFAIRS
Obama Killed Gaddafi But U.S. Republicans Also Killed Lumumba
There has been recent outrage over a since-deleted video posted to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The video drew bipartisan condemnation, forcing Trump to delete it. Trump claimed that a junior staffer posted the video but fell short of offering an apology.
What I found most disturbing was the immediate defense of Trump by some Africans, including some Cameroonians. Many of these Trump-supporting Cameroonians said that “Obama killed Gaddafi and so he deserves it”. However, apart from killing Gaddafi – for America’s own self-interest, these fellow Cameroonians are in absolute support of Trump invading Venezuela and violating its sovereignty. Trump also did it in America’s self-interest, just as the killing of Gaddafi was in their self-interest. However, Obama is a “bad” guy and Trump is not.
A second part of this argument is that Obama promoted the LGBTQ movement. While Obama helped advance this, it didn’t begin with him. He simply gave the American people Barabbas when they asked for it. This logic assumes that Obama is the end-all, be-all of the LGBTQ movement, but this is false.
Many Cameroonians don’t know that there is a group called Gays for Trump headed by a man called Peter Boykin. Another prominent lesbian who is a Trump supporter is Jillian Michaels who often appears on CNN, Piers Morgan Uncensored and Fox News defending Trump’s policies.
Also, Christian Walker (the son of prominent Trump supporter, Herschel Walker) is a gay man who openly supports Trump. So, acting like the gay thing starts and ends with Obama is naïve and misleading. The LGBTQ movement spans all aspects of America and gay people can be found in both parties in the US.
Back to my main argument about the Trump video on the Obamas: Cameroonians who support Trump for posting such a vile video, argue that because Gaddafi was killed under Obama’s watch, he deserves it. But why are we outraged about the killing of Gaddafi (as we rightly should); but not also outraged by the killing of Patrice Lumumba? Lumumba was killed in 1961 by the Belgians with help from the Americans under the watch of a Republican US President, Dwight Eisenhower.
The CIA director working under Eisenhower was Allen W. Dulles who was also a Republican and coordinated the murder of Lumumba three days before John Kennedy (a Democrat) took office. Are we only enraged at the killing of Gaddafi because it happened under Obama? Does the assassination of Lumumba not also deserve outrage? Or because it was done under the watch of a Republican, it doesn’t matter?
This is a watershed moment where we must accept that yes, we may support some of Trump’s policies while still being able to condemn some of his excesses. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a defense of Obama, but a call for us to reassess our logic.
I don’t believe that Obama is a Christian (he never claimed he was), but for much of Trump’s “Christian” talk, his actions and words demonstrate very little of the fruits of the spirit. Ironically, a Democrat (Jimmy Carter) had more Christian values than either Obama or Trump.
Carter died last year aged 100 and spent many years of his life teaching Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church for 40 years. Obama rarely attends church, while Trump who used to be a member of Presbyterian (PC USA), told Religion News Service that he no longer attends any church.
The last church service Trump attended was in January 2025 where Bishop Mariann Budde called on him to show mercy to immigrants. As Cameroonians, we need to dig deeper when analyzing international headlines.
– Hans Ngala, is CNA Political Affairs Editor. He writes on politics, religion and health.