I thought I had completely given up on the United States demonstrating the ability to control the Trump administration. But this morning as I read the latest round of statements and watched the latest absurdity from Magaman and his minions, I realised I wasn’t just resigned.
I was also disappointed.
Which I think means that I still had hope that something will be done to stop the fucking madness. But I think disappointment is a tool and a precursor that serves to acclimate people to accept something long held as unacceptable. In this case, maybe unexpected is a better word selection than unacceptable, but no matter the word choice I’m guessing that most Canadians thought the kinship between the U.S. and Canada was too solid to be shattered by one man.
But Donnie is in possession of a special talent. He can destroy anything he touches from Casino’s to justice departments to relationships with entire countries. I think that if American manages to drag his ass out of the white house, that instead of a library, the citizens should stain the grounds orange around the department of justice with a liquid that takes a decade to remove.
A ten year reminder of the infection he’s spewed onto the American democracy.
Anyway.
I was talking about acceptance.
This acceptance method is nothing new for humans, and while grudgingly usually accompanies that acceptance, we still accept a new reality because we don’t have an alternative. Although conversations around the planet expressed concern and bewilderment over the reappointment of Donnie to the highest office the Americans have to offer, I still don’t believe that there was a consensus that America had changed permanently.
There was still a lingering hope.
Most everyone thought it was more of a phase, and we were lured into that belief when the U.S. elected Biden. But then after everyone relaxed, Americans went and turfed the old dude and replaced him with the crazy old dude. Even after fours years of what most people thought was craziness, you guys thought it was a good idea to give the lying king another shot. At that point Canadians kind of looked at one another, raised an eyebrow and began to wonder what the actual fuck was going on. But I’m convinced that even though the eyebrow was raised, that deep in our hearts we believed that America would only tolerate so much bullshit, and then the system would auto-correct.
Our Prime Minister however concluded quickly that we didn’t have an option to wait it out and hope for the best. Maybe because of his face time with the American emperor he was in the best position to conclude that Canada was looking at four years of an unpredictable whitehouse regardless of what we did, and ex-bank governors fucking hate unpredictable.
And so Mr. Carney steered Canada away from America in search of more calculable relationships. The rest of Canada seems amenable to the concept, with the notable exception of P.P Pete, and so the breakup began.
Reluctantly at first, because I think there was still disbelief that the pattern of belligerence and contempt would continue. But old double down Don has kept truth social bleating, and America hasn’t placed his fingers into a Chinese finger trap, so the rest of Canada basically said fuck it, lets go to Mexico this year and replace the Jim Beam with Canadian Club.
I think what Canadians find astonishing isn’t just that the lies and corruption are in plain view, but that there doesn’t seem to be anything or anyone that can make it stop. Following American court decisions is evidently optional for Don and his posse, and the justice department isn’t interested in justice so much as targeted vengeance toward anyone who’s hurt their masters feelings.
So let’s break it down.
Five out of nine supreme court justices, fifty three senators and two hundred and twenty two congresspeople have decided that the best interests of three hundred and fifty million Americans are served by letting Donald fucking Trump do whatever is best for Donald fucking Trump.
That’s 280 people who have participated in or enabled a transformation of your republic into a reflection of the mind and tastes of the Donald.
It’s debatable who actually owns the 280 votes other than Trump. It could be billionaires or Israel or some sandy oil guys, but the reality remains that a silent coup has taken place, and the 280 serve masters other than the people that voted for them. Masters who don’t seem interested in stopping Donnie either. I guess the Dow and deregulation makes them money, and so all is well in hedge fund land.
Fuck everyone else. The elites got their tax break, their sons won’t have to concern themselves with a draft, and if they’re bored they can always piss away some time speculating on oil prices.
But oligarchs and Israel aside, I think that Canadians eventually concluded that the real masters of America are the people who chose Donnie dos veces. Followed by electing the 283, who then approved the five. At that point it becomes difficult to not wonder about the decision making of an entire country, and Canadians began to feel that our neighbor had changed, and we either ignored or missed the warning signs.
But we’re paying attention now. I think we’ve concluded that Don is a product of the system, and it’s foolish to ignore the fact that the people who cast ballots are part of that system. As a result I also believe that most Canadians and probably the Europeans as well, have decided that the prudent course of action is to plan on a future where the United States isn’t just absent, but probably an adversary.
Which sucks for Canada in lot’s of ways, including an 8,891 kilometer proximity problem that we call the border. A proximity problem that a few short years ago we considered an advantage. But things have changed and it’s like a new neighbor moved in that thinks it’s a fine idea to forcefully adopt you. Come to think of it, the you part is probably irrelevant compared to the land and the water and the stuff buried under the land.
It seems that each day the American president does something so fucking outlandish that if his name were Joe, the red hats and republicans would be howling for an impeachment. Every day he reminds me that America has become more of a corporation than a democracy. A corporation wholly owned by one man with a spineless board of directors unwilling to direct.
Every bloody day without fail, he or his idiot posse break the law, start wars, target the media, and grift with impunity. They lie without shame, and we watch as America transforms into something unrecognisable. As we walk away we keep looking over our shoulders to see if the madness shows signs of an end.
And yet it continues.