U.S. President Donald Trump attends the RNC Midterm Convention on Wednesday in Dallas. If the U.S. electorate wants to demonstrate that it has not completely lost its mind, then it will ensure the Democrats win both houses of Congress.Eric Lee/The Associated Press
One month before the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, the Washington Post broke a story about a tape recording it confirmed was Republican candidate Donald Trump talking to a reporter from the television entertainment show Access Hollywood about the perks of stardom.
Mr. Trump bragged that when you were a celebrity you could get away with things, including sexually assaulting women.
What he said specifically I won’t repeat because it is so crude and repulsive. And besides, the entire world knows by now the act he described. But make no mistake: He was boasting about something that would be considered a crime in every state in the Union.
And tens of millions of Americans decided to vote for him for President anyway.
Any time I talk to friends about what is going on south of the border, I usually bring this episode up as my demarcation point. It was the moment I knew something was up with the U.S., that it was no longer the country I had long known and admired. Something was broken – radically so.
Nearly a decade on from that moment, the U.S. is barely recognizable today. Its standing in the world is greatly diminished. Yes, it is still the pre-eminent economic and military power, but it becomes more isolated from its allies by the day. How many times, I wonder, have people around the globe said to themselves: It can’t get worse than this with Mr. Trump. And then it does.
And no one has felt the change in America more than Canadians.
There can’t be a country more shocked by what has taken place in the U.S. than us. It’s like discovering your best friend, someone you’ve known all your life and shared holidays with, is a closet arsonist.
Rift with Canada shows potential to become a pressing U.S. election issue
We might have allowed the U.S. to plead temporary insanity after electing Mr. Trump to one term and watching him incite a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, causing extensive damage to the building and severely injuring several police officers.
I mean, who would put someone that detestable back in office? Yet, in 2024, 77 million Americans voted to do just that. Which is why we are not surprised any more by what happens in the U.S. Furious, yes. And I mean, shaking with rage that so many people there could be so stupid, so self-absorbed, so selfish that all they care about is what is happening with the stock market.
Here’s the thing: The midterms are coming up. If the U.S. electorate wanted to demonstrate that it had not completely lost its mind, that it wasn’t part of a fiendish cult ready to follow their leader off the cliff, then it would ensure that the Democrats win both houses of Congress.
Only that can act as a drag on Mr. Trump’s worst instincts. And who knows how damaging his actions will become in the last two years of his mandate? How much more cash will he attempt to stuff in his pockets on his way out the door, and the pockets of his family and friends? We are witnessing the most corrupt administration in U.S. history and yet The New York Times is running pieces outlining ways in which the Republicans could maintain the House and Senate. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump announced an outright bribe for voters – US$5,000 to each adult if the Republicans win the midterms.
Trump will try to steal midterms, president of Halifax International Security Forum warns
And when I think about that, I just shake my head in blind fury.
Mr. Trump has plunged his country into a war with seemingly no plan to end it without having to concede to a humiliating defeat. Gas prices are through the roof as a result of it. He lies as easily as he breathes, delivering a daily barrage of falsehoods to Americans.
He has also debased the office of the Presidency with a steady stream of deranged late-night posts on his Truth Social account.
Recently, he posted a meme of him and Prime Minister Mark Carney in hockey gear and sweaters representing their respective countries. In it, Mr. Trump is seen attacking a fallen Mr. Carney with his stick and screaming: Get Up Governor.
This is the President of the United States. And there have been many other posts as bad or worse – one depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys comes to mind. Every day it is something as egregious or more so than the previous day.
Back in normal times, any one of the President’s actions would have prompted people (even in his own party) to call for him to apologize – or resign.
Not in today’s America. That America is gone, lost. And I’m not sure we’ll ever see anything that resembles it again.