Former President Donald Trump shocked the world by being elected again against all odds.
Interestingly, but not coincidentally, both times he has won it was against a woman, which tells you all you need to know why he won: America—or at least a majority of voters in the battleground states that determine elections - are not ready for a woman president.
That is why Democratic Party flag bearer and current Vice President Kamala Harris lost. There are other reasons, but none has to do with whether she did everything she could to win the election. She did.
One which proved to be fatal is Latino men who voted for Trump in staggering numbers to win several background states he otherwise would not have won had they voted for Kamala.
The million-dollar question is: why would any Latino vote for Trump, given his history of insulting them? But the answer is too complicated to provide here.
Suffice it to say there are more and more Latinos, especially those who legalise their status in the US, who prefer to be associated with whites than be seen as a minority.
Trump having been projected as the winner, a few things come to mind as to what his presidency portends.
Those of us who rooted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to be elected did so for several reasons, topmost of which is we just don’t see ourselves or our children living in a fascist country where racism rears its ugly head.
We also did not want to see our brothers and sisters living here without proper documentation worrying every day about being deported.
To be sure, many Kenyans living in the US are dual citizens thanks to our 2010 constitution, therefore worry not about being deported.
Many others are permanent residents, meaning they, too, do not have to worry about being deported, unless they commit certain crimes.
With a Trump administration, one can expect gains in employment immigrants have made to be reversed almost overnight as racist employers refuse to hire or terminate workers with impunity.
Since the passage of the Civil Rights Law of 1964, courts in America have consistently protected the civil rights of all people living in the United States, and not just American citizens.
This law more specifically prohibits discrimination in several key areas that affect mostly minorities which of course include all immigrants such as in employment and housing.
With Trump already having placed three judges in the United States Supreme Court, one can expect erosion of this civil rights law with little or no recourse in lower federal courts where he will appoint more conservative judges, and definitely not at the Supreme Court.
This would be particularly acute when Trump either dismantles or severely restricts the Equal Employment Opportunity, the agency charged with enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws.
Trump has already promised to do away with the US Department of Education, whose impact would be most painfully felt by minorities, and even more so immigrants who live in communities that benefit greatly from USDE.
That is just part of the immediate effects of a Trump presidency on immigrants. There is more and, of course, what adversely impacts all Americans in other areas would equally impact immigrants and for that, Trump has promised to implement what is known as Project 25.
In sum, these are policies specifically designed by ultra- right-wing American conservatives to make life in America hell on earth for minorities and women.
This is why minorities and women have been working overtime to make sure Trump is defeated again but this time by a woman—but all those efforts were for naught. However one looks at it, America changed with the November 5 vote.
This will not be the America we have known and even if it does not become a full-blown fascist state, it will be a country where minorities will find themselves living under conditions no different than they were before passage of the Civil Rights Law I mention above.
We can only pray and hope that does not come to pass.
