TRUMP

The American Trump Timeline:

• It can’t happen here.

• It won’t happen here.

• It isn’t happening here.

• It didn’t happen here.

• How did we let it happen here ?

I am a cisgender heterosexual white male of European descent, with a Christian upbringing (though an atheist), so essentially one of Trump’s chosen people, so even if I was American I would presumably have nothing to fear from Trump’s politics of hate of “the other”, except for my political views.

As a Canadian I am also somewhat isolated from the direct impact of the Trump regime. Living in Ontario, some have compared Doug Ford to Donald Trump. But I disagree. While there are some similarities Ford does not preach the politics of hate that Trump does. Ford is more of an old fashioned anti-big government, pro-business and privatization populist.

Federal opposition leader Pierre Poilievre’s rhetoric echoes Trump’s to some extent, especially his reliance on slogans over policy and while he does sometimes play to the worst elements of his party, particularly his support for the #FuckTrudeau convoy types, his emphasis is also not on the politics of hate. At least we hope.

The Canadian leader that is closest to Trump and who is implementing dangerously similar policies is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a stain on all of Canada.

So as a Canadian I feel somewhat protected from the impact of Trump on America.

I believe we all feel a sense of disbelief in what is happening, that it cannot be as bad as it seems even though he is doing nothing he did not say he would do.

In some sense there was a sense of relief that his first term in office was not as catastrophic as it could have been. I believe to a large degree that was because his leadership team and Cabinet was made up of primarily traditional Republicans.

His new team and Cabinet are MAGA loyalists who have no allegiance to anyone but Trump, after themselves perhaps, and certainly not to the American people or Constitution.

Many believed America’s system of checks and balances would protect the country from any excessive or constitutional acts of Trump but when The President owns both Houses of Congress and even the Supreme Court there are no checks and balances and he can function as an elected dictator.

For many of us I believe the seriousness of the situation has not sunk in yet leading us take the situation lightly as a self-protective measure. It is hard to believe that this is taking place in a country once proud to call itself a beacon of democracy.

Perhaps it is the pettiness of it all that makes it all seem so unbelievable. But if there is one thing Donald Trump is, it is petty. Indeed, among all the words one could use to describe Donald Trump perhaps the most accurate and telling is “cruel”. He seems to relish being cruel and making people suffer more than anything else, even more than being worshipped.

The only hope is the emergence of an American resistance movement, the signs of which are already emerging.