Tag Archives: Trump

One Year Down

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Camp is away this week so I get to whistle in the dark on my own. From all the subjects I could choose I keep coming back to the one that affects us all. 

Just a year ago the US elected Donald Trump as their president and both houses of Congress went to the Republicans. What I still fail to understand to this day are the 70+ million people who thought that these guys would make their lives better, improve healthcare, education, fairer taxes and solve the immigration and assimilation problems. 

Fast forward. We have troops deployed in Portland, Chicago, Washington DC, New Orleans and promises of National Guard deployment to several other Democratic run states and cities. We have ICE roaming the country, harassing and profiling, arresting and deporting anybody they (don’t) like. Just like the Gestapo and the SS. Not much different. Convicted criminals are being pardoned while judges and prosecutors who ruled against Trump are indicted and charged. 

The world trade system is upended, international agreements and agencies like the Climate Change Agreement or the International Criminal Court, scuttled and cancelled. The wars in Gaza and Ukraine reduced to Nobel Peace Prize aspirations. Border security now includes anyone who enters the US being photographed and for longer than 30 days fingerprinted. 

Trump betrayed friends and allies like Canada and Mexico, imposed punishing tariffs on anybody that doesn’t want to dance with him and instead cozied up to autocrats like Victor Orban, Recep Erdogan as well as the convicted ex-president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro and El Salvador’s crypto king and jailer, Nayib Bukele. Not to mention Putin and Saudis ruler MbS, Mohammed bin Salman, Trump’s new best friend. 

Trump (with the approval of Congress) has appointed extremely unfit people like Peter Hegseth, a former FOX newscaster, to the head of the pentagon, renamed by him as the Ministry of War; Kristi Noem as head of Homeland Security, a climate change, abortion and vaccine denier and like her boss she has claimed to be divinely called to office.Robert F. Kennedy J. who believes autism is caused by Tylenol during pregnancy and childhood vaccines should not be mandatory. He wants to Make America Healthy Again.  All of these people are not only incompetent, they lack a moral compass altogether.

Trump always hated the media which reported the facts. Like the lost election, the attack on the Capitol, the Epstein friendship etc. but now he has created a ‘Hall of Shame’ in his latest effort to pillory the media and journalists that are critical of him or his administration. He’s always been a petulant, childish loser so this is just another attention grabber to take the spotlight off the increasingly fractured and beleaguered country he is supposed to lead. Anybody should be honoured to be on his ‘offender of the week’ roll. 

What a difference a year makes.

I still think Kamala Harris would have made a decent president. She seemed honest, smart, joyful and knew the ins and outs of the beltway. She was an advocate for minorities; as a former prosecutor she could tell the good from the bad guys and she had human qualities that are completely missing in Trump like compassion, common sense and empathy for the less privileged. We would be living in a different world now. Instead, we’ve gone the opposite way, toward a darker place where neighbours are suspicious of each other, long-time residents are hiding because they are afraid of being harassed and deported and the rich get richer while the poor have no chance to get out of their predicament. 

While ordinary citizen will pay the tariffs on all the imports; the health subsidies for millions will expire in January and tax cuts for the top 1% will be enshrined. Fear and mistrust have replaced decency and facts while conspiracies abound and misinformation comes right from the highest office in the land. The ascendant Christian militancy, sanctioned by the almighty both in the White House and in Heaven, embraces an extreme and exclusive philosophy, not the tolerant, turn-the-other-cheek forgiving kind but one which fundamentally believes in biblical metaphors like hell and heaven and Armageddon which apparently is just around the corner. Maybe we’re already in it.

The only chance for a better world is in the hands of today’s youth. Will they realize that it takes a community to ensure a safe environment for all, not a gun totting individualism that fosters only division and mistrust because that philosophy has only winners and losers. Do the young understand that the world is theirs to shape and that they have inherited the best and the worst from their parents and grandparents’ generation. In youth I must trust because they are the only future we have.

Betrayal

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“It looks like our ‘buy Canadian if you can’ or anything but from the US is working,” I said to Camp after he sat down in his usual chair at our watering hole. “David Eby, the BC premier said he believes the U.S. leadership has “very little awareness” of how offensive their remarks are, in response to the U.S. ambassador to Canada saying Trump thinks Canadians are “nasty” to deal with because of U.S. boycotts.”

“What would the ambassador say if I pointed out to him that his president is a convicted felon, a suspected pedophile with his buddy Epstein, a liar, a cheat, a narcissistic real estate hustler and a bully and that his race towards a fascist autocracy will not go over well in Canada or the rest of the civilized world.”

“He would probably have you blacklisted and incarcerated at the first opportunity. Don’t go near the US, if you value your life and family.”

“A bit dramatic, aren’t you Camp. Oh, I see, you’re serious. I thought you were being facetious, pulling my leg.”

“Let me read you the first item that comes up when I Google Fascism:

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Wakeup Call

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            To top off the November blues, the short dark days and frequent rains, there is now the stunning re-election of Trump, defying all polls which are notoriously wrong.

‘Well Camp, what was your reaction?’

‘Stunned, dismayed but not surprised. Fact is: Americans want Trump with all his faults, lack of integrity, character and respect. They got what they deserve.’

 ‘But what about the rest of the world? Is that it, Camp. Simple as all that?’

Camp shrugged his shoulders. ‘I looked at the demographics of the electorate where we see that Trump gained especially amongst Hispanic men, up 18% from 2020 while the Democrats lost 15%, even amongst Latino women Trump gained 7%. Young voters, the GenZ, shifted away from Harris towards Trump by 7% and from those who never attended college Trump gained 8% of the votes. And the glass ceiling is stronger and made of sterner stuff then everybody thought.’

‘It wasn’t just a squeaker but a decisive victory. Trump even won the popular vote. It’s what you call a slam dunk.’

‘Yeah, I think he even surprised himself.  The good news is: There is now no need for any street violence, and no need for insurrection or lawsuits to challenge the election. He’s won this time around in a secure and legal election and we’re all suffering from a mental shock. And the stock markets are going up.’

‘But people will die because of Trump,’ I said. ‘Ukrainians, Palestinians, pregnant teens. Families with undocumented members will be torn apart. Project 25, Bannon’s baby, will tear down the guard rails of institutions. Obama care will be eliminated leaving millions of people without healthcare. But hey, there are already a lot of people who think that Trump is not as bad as we made him out to be, that it’s the democrats that have to look in the mirror, change their ways.’

‘You may be right. I also think he’s trouble for the world. It’s good vs. evil. It’s not just the Donald but the people gathering around him like at a royal court, curtsying and licking his boots.’ 

‘Not just his boots, I think. Bring on the jesters and troubadours.’

They can now do whatever they want since they flipped the senate, will most likely regain the house of representatives and have the presidency, as well as the Supreme Court.’

‘We’ll see if he does what he said. Like impose massive tariffs on everything that enters the US; demolish and dismantle the country’s intelligence agencies, part of what he calls the deep state; mass deportations of the undocumented which will send a wave of asylum seekers north to Canada. And of course, he said he would end the war in Ukraine and the Middle East with a few phone calls within 24 hours.’

‘There will be internment and deportation camps, trans national agreements will be ripped up and business will not be as usual between Canada and the US.’

‘Let the speculations begin. We’ve already entered a new aera of polls and surveys, predictions and possible outcomes.’

‘Makes me want to get off this never ending merry-go-around.’

‘Or get involved with our local politics. Don’t forget, we have a conservative tsunami building right here in Canada with a leader, Poilievre, who is more like an Avatar than a flesh and blood human being. As Obama says: Do something!’

‘Here in Canada the colours are reversed from the US. The conservatives are blue while the liberals are red. One thing is for sure. Trudeau has overstayed his welcome and is past his expiry date. He needs to step off the stage before he gets swepted off by a blue wave.’

‘I don’t think he knows how to step out of the limelight. Growing up in the prime minister’s household, surrounded by the trappings of power, he’s never known anything different then being the center of attention.’

‘Maybe the Trump doctrine will shock Canadians enough to reconsider a lurch to the right.  Mind you we already have our homegrown reactionary conservatives in Alberta and just narrowly avoided a right-wing takeover here in British Columbia.’

‘It’s a crazy world and we’ll head into some interesting times.’

Our beers were empty and Vicky was spot on with our refills.

‘What do you think of Trump’s win?’ I wanted to know.

‘I think it’s sad. I was rooting for Harris but the bully has won.’

 God Made Trump

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            ‘Have you seen the latest campaign commercial released on X by Trump? It’s called: God Made Trump.’ I asked Camp as soon he sat down. 

            ‘It’s frigging cold out there,’ he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around himself. ‘The arctic freeze is here.’ He shook his head in disgust. ‘Yes, I’ve seen it. The one where he claims that God Almighty personally appointed him to come down to earth to save America.’

            ‘Yes, that one where he promised God and America that he would work 7 days a week, not only 6 like his boss, work until midnight every day, use his strong arms to wrestle the Deep State and then deliver his grand child?’

            ‘You don’t have to repeat it. It made me barf the first time. At first I thought it to be a farce, a comedy stunt but no, this is a genuine Trump narcissistic maniacal promo video. No doubt to be lampooned at nauseum by Saturday Night Live, Steve Colbert and every self-respecting Late Night Show comedian.’

            ‘Adding fuel to the fire, no doubt, more press, more exposure. Just exactly what he wants.’ I said.

Let me read you something that shows who is is. ‘He a liar and a cheat, says sports writer Rick Reilly. When he plays golf he takes ‘mulligans’ (extra strokes that aren’t counted in one’s score), throws opponent’s balls off the greens and into the bunkers, and kicks his own errant shots back onto the fairway so often that one of his caddies nicknamed him Pele, after the soccer star. Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf, Reilly concluded. He cheats like a three-card Monty dealer. He throws it, boots it and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs.’

‘It’s harmless behavior on a golf course but not on the international stage as president of the USA,’ I said.

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The New Reality

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There is no place like home, goes the cliché which is certainly true for the Sunshine Coast. We’re very lucky to live here in paradise by the sea. I haven’t been to the city, Vancouver, in over three months and don’t see any reason to go. Life is good here and the sun is shining right now. Summer is finally here and people are out camping, swimming, hiking and biking. But we don’t see any tour buses or Germans driving around in RV’s, no Americans filling up the pubs, no Chinese clusters looking for the washrooms. It’s eerily quiet which suits us locals just fine. How long will this go on? Predictions say at least another year, maybe longer.

I found Camp sitting at our table, separated by a plexi glass barrier from the next table. He was thumbing through the Worldometer which highlighted the dismal US numbers of new covid cases and deaths.

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Theatre of the Absurd

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“This was quite the week”, I said to Camp who was sitting in my seat as arranged a week ago.. “We had the theater of the grotesque in Singapore.”

“Yep, a photo op for a mass murderer who killed his uncle and poisoned his half brother in Malaysia. Just a week ago he was the dictator of the most brutal regime on the planet with over 200’000 prisoners in the gulag.?”

“And then Trump made him into a pop-star. For what? Did anything of substance result from this depressing charade,” I asked.

“Not really, no time plan for denuclearisation, no concrete agreements, just a publicity coup for Kim the pariah and an embarrassment for world politics.”

“All hype and bluster, theater of the absurd,” I said. “He insults Trudeau, the host of the G-7 club in Quebec, and then calls Kim his new best friend.”

“That’s what you get when you let the lunatics run the asylum.”

“On another sad note, Anthony Bourdain stepped off this world last week. He was one of my heroes ever since ‘Kitchen Confidential’, the book that started the whole food and chef fascination. “

“Yes, quite sad really,” Camp said, “he is the one who said: our bodies are not temples but amusement parks, enjoy the ride.”

We quietly toasted Anthony and paused for just a few beats taking in the summery vista out front our perch above the pebble beach of Gibsons Harbour.

“How is business these days,” I asked Camp, owner of Coast Books, one of the few independent bookstores left and an anachronism of sorts.

“The tourists are here already, every ferry is overloaded and the store is always full of browsers,” Camp said, “but hey, I’m not complaining about a fate of my own making. There are still people who buy books.”

“I personally enjoy nothing more then reading a book when I find the time,” I said, “mind you, more often then not I’m staring into my small or big screen instead, consuming the latest news clips. It’s a bit like an addiction. You can never get enough and it’s always the same. You think the sun would still rise and the tides would still go in and out if I would go cold turkey and not watch the news for a month?”

“The world would never be the same,” Camp laughed, “but you might feel left out. I for one will be glued to the screen for the next month, waiting to catch that magic move or brilliant pass to stop time. It’s the world cup in Russia, that’s what I’m talking about, sure to distract, entertain and provide drama, tears and glory.”

“I might stop by and join you for a few games. Maybe I’ll even buy a book from you. How many books do you think are out there?” I asked. “Must be a challenge to keep up with the latest.”

“I can tell you. According to Google, some 130 million books have been published and every year, in the US alone, there are between 600’000 and a million new books. About half of them are self-published and sell less then 250 copies each. I stock about 1’000 titles and some of those haven’t moved in years. It’s a fickle business and I’m constantly second guessing myself. My perennial bestsellers are children’s books, mostly purchased by grandmothers. My personal favourite this season: Ferdinand, now a major motion picture cartoon. You should watch it.”

“A cartoon?” I said, somewhat baffled.

“I watched it with my niece,” Vicky said, having overheard Camp’s recommendation while refreshing our beverage. “It’s a great story and a fun film about a gentle soul inside the wrong body. A flower loving bull who doesn’t want to fight.”

“Wow, sounds like they should screen that at the White House,” I said.

“Right after they show that bizarre Destiny Pictures propaganda video for the hundredth time, the one Trump presented to Kim. ‘Out of the dark can come the light and the light of hope can burn bright. Leni Riefenstahl would be jealous. Guess who the two main protagonists are.”

“Dear Leader and Manchild? Are people really that gullible,” I asked.

“People love nothing more then fantasy, especially when the reality is a disaster. Give me Laurel and Hardy any time,” Camp said, finished his beer and got up. “I’m taking Muriel to the new pizza place,” he announced.

“Pizza, cartoons, soccer? What happened to the Campbell I knew, the recluse and naysayer of yesterday, now suddenly the man of the world,” I wisecracked.

“You need to get out more often. See you next week,” he said with a wink and a smile.