The American Trump Timeline:
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.
