CHARLES R STITH: Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf in the White House?
If the world comes together, the huffin’ and puffin’ will amount to a lot of ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing’
04 February 2025 - 11:51
byCharles R Stith
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US President Donald Trump. Picture: JAY PAUL/REUTERS
On January 20, like much of the world I followed part of the time-honoured and grand tradition of America’s transfer of power from one president to another. Goodbye, Joe Biden. Hello, Donald Trump. Again.
Needless to say, as with anything involving Trump, “boring” is not a word one would use to describe the day’s proceedings. There were plenty of things that were cause for amusement, angst or conversation — from Trump not putting his hand on the Bible during the swearing-in ceremony, to his speech touting the return of a “Golden Age” that sounded more like something from the “Gilded Age”.
Then there was the flurry of executive orders meant to signify his promise to put America first, which will really leave America alone in the world or, more accurately, result in America being out of step with the world.
As the day drew to a close, a children’s fairy tale came to mind — The Three Little Pigs. It was definitely the image of the huffin’ and puffin’ big bad wolf that did it. What a fitting metaphor for what the world can expect from Trump over the next four years.
The Three Little Pigs is a classic tale that is universal in its reach and lessons. It is a tale told in some form or fashion in cultures and communities the world over. This particular fable is thought to be a German folktale that was collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, but the basic premise of the story is found in African-American folklore as well. In Joel Chandler Harris’ 1883 book - Nights with Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation — it features simply as “The Story of the Pigs”.
To quickly summarise the story before getting into its deeper meaning for today, the main characters are easy — the pigs and the wolf. The lessons are subject to various interpretations, but the most common and obvious are hard work, good decision-making, and making sure you do what you need to do to keep yourself safe.
As for the fairy tale’s meaning today, let me pick up where I started. The most obvious lesson is that Trump is clearly a “huffin’ and puffin’” kind of guy, if he’s anything. Bravado and bombast are his calling card Another takeaway from the tale is that just like the wolf he can be dangerous if you’re not careful.
From the inauguration to his oval office desk, the big bad wolf started howling. The explosion of executive orders has been a coup de main, the sort of huffin’ and puffin’ that would have made the wolf proud. All the executive orders so far have been bad, some downright ridiculous.
Among the worst was the blanket pardons for the thugs that stormed the capitol to prevent Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. A couple of the most ridiculous were those withdrawing the US from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Paris Climate Accords.
Trump started the process of withdrawing the US from the WHO the last time he was in office, just in time to render America useless in providing the leadership the world needed in the fight against Covid-19. The lesson — when you hear the huffin’ and puffin’, it’s time to build a better house.
Then there was withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords when signs of climate change are everywhere. Talk about being tone deaf and blind as a bat. Smoke still fills the air in California after firestorms incinerated thousands of homes of straw, sticks and bricks.
Houston and New Orleans, two of America’s premier sun and fun vacation spots, had to shut down this winter because of heavy snow. That’s how 2025 started. In 2024 we saw Typhoon Yagi kill more than 500 people across several Southeast Asian countries, and a heatwave struck Saudi Arabia, causing the deaths of at least 1,300 Muslim pilgrims during the annual Hajj to Islam’s most sacred site.
You don’t need to be a meteorologist or climatologist to know something is not right with the weather. You don’t need to be a doctor to know these latest moves by Trump are a prescription for disaster.
The trials and tribulations of the three little pigs offer more than a few obvious lessons that are applicable to Trump’s second term, but maybe the more subtle and nuanced have even more relevance. How about a bit of creativity and careful planning being the perfect antidote to protect us from harm and danger?
The Biden administration provided some relief from the vagaries of Trump One. It’s up to the world to figure out how to carry on if it is going to survive Trump Two. If the rest of the world is going to survive Trump Two, it’s going require a plan.
If Africa in particular is going to survive and thrive in 2025, it will need a plan that reflects and protects its interests. It will need a plan to grow African economies in a way that enables it to cope with Trump’s tariffs, counter climate change and form the necessary united front to combat the next global health emergency.
There’s one last lesson from this storied fable that might be the most important. The two little pigs that found refuge in their brother’s house of stone survived the wolf’s huffin’ and puffin’ for one reason, and one reason only. They discovered that if you can count on your brothers in a time of trouble, you can make it. If we turn to each other rather than on each other, the wolf in the White House can do all of the huffin’ and puffin’ he wants.
If the world, and particularly Africa, comes together and gets its act together, all the big bad wolf’s huffin’ and puffin’ will amount to a lot of “sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
• Stith, a former US ambassador to Tanzania, is nonexecutive chair of the Johannesburg-based African Presidential Leadership Centre and executive chairman of the Pula Group.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
CHARLES R STITH: Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf in the White House?
If the world comes together, the huffin’ and puffin’ will amount to a lot of ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing’
On January 20, like much of the world I followed part of the time-honoured and grand tradition of America’s transfer of power from one president to another. Goodbye, Joe Biden. Hello, Donald Trump. Again.
Needless to say, as with anything involving Trump, “boring” is not a word one would use to describe the day’s proceedings. There were plenty of things that were cause for amusement, angst or conversation — from Trump not putting his hand on the Bible during the swearing-in ceremony, to his speech touting the return of a “Golden Age” that sounded more like something from the “Gilded Age”.
Then there was the flurry of executive orders meant to signify his promise to put America first, which will really leave America alone in the world or, more accurately, result in America being out of step with the world.
As the day drew to a close, a children’s fairy tale came to mind — The Three Little Pigs. It was definitely the image of the huffin’ and puffin’ big bad wolf that did it. What a fitting metaphor for what the world can expect from Trump over the next four years.
The Three Little Pigs is a classic tale that is universal in its reach and lessons. It is a tale told in some form or fashion in cultures and communities the world over. This particular fable is thought to be a German folktale that was collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, but the basic premise of the story is found in African-American folklore as well. In Joel Chandler Harris’ 1883 book - Nights with Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation — it features simply as “The Story of the Pigs”.
To quickly summarise the story before getting into its deeper meaning for today, the main characters are easy — the pigs and the wolf. The lessons are subject to various interpretations, but the most common and obvious are hard work, good decision-making, and making sure you do what you need to do to keep yourself safe.
As for the fairy tale’s meaning today, let me pick up where I started. The most obvious lesson is that Trump is clearly a “huffin’ and puffin’” kind of guy, if he’s anything. Bravado and bombast are his calling card Another takeaway from the tale is that just like the wolf he can be dangerous if you’re not careful.
From the inauguration to his oval office desk, the big bad wolf started howling. The explosion of executive orders has been a coup de main, the sort of huffin’ and puffin’ that would have made the wolf proud. All the executive orders so far have been bad, some downright ridiculous.
Among the worst was the blanket pardons for the thugs that stormed the capitol to prevent Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. A couple of the most ridiculous were those withdrawing the US from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Paris Climate Accords.
Trump started the process of withdrawing the US from the WHO the last time he was in office, just in time to render America useless in providing the leadership the world needed in the fight against Covid-19. The lesson — when you hear the huffin’ and puffin’, it’s time to build a better house.
Then there was withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords when signs of climate change are everywhere. Talk about being tone deaf and blind as a bat. Smoke still fills the air in California after firestorms incinerated thousands of homes of straw, sticks and bricks.
Houston and New Orleans, two of America’s premier sun and fun vacation spots, had to shut down this winter because of heavy snow. That’s how 2025 started. In 2024 we saw Typhoon Yagi kill more than 500 people across several Southeast Asian countries, and a heatwave struck Saudi Arabia, causing the deaths of at least 1,300 Muslim pilgrims during the annual Hajj to Islam’s most sacred site.
You don’t need to be a meteorologist or climatologist to know something is not right with the weather. You don’t need to be a doctor to know these latest moves by Trump are a prescription for disaster.
The trials and tribulations of the three little pigs offer more than a few obvious lessons that are applicable to Trump’s second term, but maybe the more subtle and nuanced have even more relevance. How about a bit of creativity and careful planning being the perfect antidote to protect us from harm and danger?
The Biden administration provided some relief from the vagaries of Trump One. It’s up to the world to figure out how to carry on if it is going to survive Trump Two. If the rest of the world is going to survive Trump Two, it’s going require a plan.
If Africa in particular is going to survive and thrive in 2025, it will need a plan that reflects and protects its interests. It will need a plan to grow African economies in a way that enables it to cope with Trump’s tariffs, counter climate change and form the necessary united front to combat the next global health emergency.
There’s one last lesson from this storied fable that might be the most important. The two little pigs that found refuge in their brother’s house of stone survived the wolf’s huffin’ and puffin’ for one reason, and one reason only. They discovered that if you can count on your brothers in a time of trouble, you can make it. If we turn to each other rather than on each other, the wolf in the White House can do all of the huffin’ and puffin’ he wants.
If the world, and particularly Africa, comes together and gets its act together, all the big bad wolf’s huffin’ and puffin’ will amount to a lot of “sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
• Stith, a former US ambassador to Tanzania, is nonexecutive chair of the Johannesburg-based African Presidential Leadership Centre and executive chairman of the Pula Group.
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