Professor Adejinle Babalola is a Nigerian who has been in the US for close to three decades. He is the Presiding Apostle of Living Water Kingdom Ministries Inc. He has been in the US for about 28 years practicing Medicine and has been the recipient of several awards including America’s Top Surgeons award. He spoke with Church Times on the implications of the Trump Presidency. Find below excerpt:
You sure must have been following the US elections having lived there for nearly two decades. What was your immediate reaction when Kamala joined the race instead of Biden?
Yes, I have been following the United States presidential campaign from the beginning. President Biden did a fairly good job as president, with many presidential initiatives and actions. Many people believe he will be remembered as one of the most consequential presidents in modern history.
However, due to his age as well as his declining mental and physical abilities, it became apparent that he would be a weak candidate to go forward in the presidential campaign. More so his poor performance at the first presidential debate which led to a clamour for him to step down which he finally agreed to and immediately endorsed Kamala Harris.
The polls were already showing that Kamala Harris was going to do better against Trump if the election were held then. So many people expected Kamala Harris to do better against Trump than Biden would have done against Trump. Indeed, when Kamala Harris joined the race there was a grand swell of Support, and this surge gained a lot of popularity at the time.
Did you see Kamala making a good showing before the election?
When Kamala Harris started her campaign, which lasted only about 3 to 4 months, she had a grand swell of support from various groups, and she was gaining ground on Trump and closing up the gap behind Trump, but after a while, the groundswell stalled behind Trump, although she remained competitive.
In the last few weeks of the presidential campaign, she started to gain ground again and remained very competitive to the end. The presidential election could have gone either way, but I believe the Biden-Harris administration was facing the headwinds of a poor economy and illegal immigration problems, which has been a decade-old issue for immigration and the global issue with economic problems. So a segment of the American population wanted a change of administration believing that another administration might do a better job than the Harris Biden administration, but this remains to be seen in actual fact.
Is it true that the evangelicals in the US rooted for Kamala Harris?
The Evangelical Christians supported Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. The Trump support by the Evangelicals damaged the Christian witness in the United States because of the vulgar speech and character of Trump and his policies. Many Americans could not believe that Christians could be supporting a person who’s so unChristian like Trump.
But the support has mostly been among white evangelicals because most black evangelicals in the United States do not support Trump due to his manner of speaking and his xenophobic actions and policies. The evangelicals did not support Kamala Harris in mass or a group, but most African-Americans did support Kamala Harris, whether they identify as Christian Evangelical or not.
Now that Trump has won. What implications does his success at the poll have for the US and the church?
Trump‘s victory in the presidential elections has a lot of implications and impact, both for the nation of the United States, the World, and the body of Christ in the United States.
Trump has a policy to prevent illegal immigration to the United States, but many people do feel that he also doesn’t want legal immigration from certain races of people except white people or white immigrants. Secondly, he will give business people free rein to do business without caring about customers or environmental impact.
Trump‘s victory and election will have an impact on global politics because it will encourage many politicians with xenophobic tendencies and people often like Trump to be bold, vulgar, and xenophobic, which some of the people who work with Trump have confirmed.
The war in Ukraine is likely going to stall, and Ukraine will likely lose the war against the invading army of Russia because Trump is a personal friend of Putin and Putin, and Russia Enemies of the United States as a field. The war between Israel and Gaza Palestine will be negatively affected because of Trump‘s disposition to be brash and irrational.
I am most concerned about the negative impact of the election of Trump because of the support of the evangelicals again. This will negatively affect the Christian witness in the United States given the fact that Trump is fond of insulting people, being vulgar, and xenophobic, and his personal life has not been Christian, to say the least.
The Christians in the United States could have supported a better candidate than somebody that is so vile some people say. So for the next four years, every negative action from Trump or his administration will reflect badly on the evangelicals and the Christian witness.
Do blacks have any reason to be afraid of a Trump presidency?
Trump has a track record of racism and xenophobia. He and his father had pled guilty to racial discrimination for refusing to rent houses to African-Americans. In a rush to judgment, he called for the death penalty for a group of black young men who were falsely accused and arrested and tried for assault. And his campaign has always been negative toward ethnic minorities; he called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers.
He falsely said that Haitian legal immigrants were eating the dogs, cats, and pets of people in Missouri. He has always been against ethnic immigrants and never speaks or acts against White immigrants. So African Americans and other ethnic minorities are very concerned about Trump’s presidency and a lot of them have expressed grave concerns.
Do you see his coming affecting the immigration policy of the US?
I definitely expect Trump‘s presidency to affect immigration to the United States. The last time he was President, he sent out Immigration Officers to arrest and deport illegal immigrants. But he even curtailed legal migration from certain countries including Nigeria. This shows that he is actually against legal migration from non-European countries. So I do expect strict regulation of immigration, especially for ethnic minorities, but they will be open to migration from white immigrants
What advice do you have for those who are skeptical about a Trump presidency?
I will advise people who are skeptical and worried about Trump’s presidency, and people who are concerned about the presidency to know that God is still on the throne and that God is their source, provider, and keeper. Their source is not from a human person, but from God.
God is our refuge and strength even when the earth shakes, even when the sea roars. They should put that trust in God and these four years will soon pass.
