Well,
that didn’t last long, did it?
As much as I truly want to deny Trump any space in my head or in this blog, its just not going to be possible.
I’m calling this presidency “Trump 2: The Revenge Tour” as his Cabinet appointments bring his priorities into focus, pointing toward some of the problems Canada will need to face during Trump’s presidency:
– how will we help thousands (or tens of thousands) of refugees escaping Trump’s concentration camps?
– how will we defend our resources of water, oil, and minerals from Trump’s greedy grasp?
– how will we support our industries to survive Trump’s tariffs?
– how can we avoid being sucked into Trump’s wars?
The CBC’s weekly At Issue panel discussion last night discussed Trump. Naturally, Rosemary Barton trotted out the “well, we survived 2016 to 2020, didn’t we” and Chantal Hebert shut that down right quick – she said there will not be any comparison between the path Canada was able to take in 2016 to slide through the first Trump administration, and the existential threat to the nation that we now will face with the second Trump administration. Specifically, the panel talked about the likely refugee crisis at the US border, but they didn’t have any idea how Canada could or should handle it, except to agree that the “safe third country agreement” is now ludicrous.
…While some of Trump’s nominations for top jobs fall into the general realm of what you might expect in any administration—folks like Marco Rubio to State or Mike Waltz to the NSC, Susie Wiles to White House Chief of Staff or John Sauer to Solicitor General — people you might disagree with but who you have to acknowledge were qualified to hold the jobs for which they had been nominated — some clearly were not so much nominations as they were tests.
Nominating a TV talk show host with a history of advocating for war criminals to be Secretary of Defense or a guy with no health experience and head full of conspiracy theories, bad science and a brain worm to be Secretary of Health and Human Services or a woman of dubious loyalties to be the top intel official in this country or a guy who is fresh off being investigated for sex trafficking to be Attorney General are more than just affronts to our sensibilities or judgments. They are both a statement of the intent to tear down our bureaucracy as we know it (and do so in the service of bad policies) and they are a public showdown with every Republican in the United States Senate.
Trump is saying “Accept my nominations no matter who they are, no matter what your concerns, no matter what your oath to the Constitution may require you to do. I am the last word and the law in Washington now. I set the standards. Advise and consent is a thing of the past.”
While it is too early to tell whether the John Thune-led incoming Republican majority in the Senate will capitulate completely, it is already apparent that most of these completely inappropriate, dangerous nominees will, one way or another, end up in the jobs designated for them by Trump. Just as Stephen Miller will be Deputy White House Chief of Staff … and just as Elon Musk will play some kind of amorphous First Oligarch role despite all the concerns many have about him and his myriad conflicts of interest.
Last week, when Trump won, I was concerned but felt it was important that we not borrow trouble, not anticipate and react to every possible threat he may pose. Now, a week later, some of the real threats are coming into focus. They should not be minimized. They must be seen for what they are.
And a few more problems:
🇨🇦WAKE UP, CANADA🇨🇦
Here’s PnPCBC’s David Cochrane bluntly confronting dumbfounded Conservative pundit Gary Keller today with a very chilling scenario for Canada under Poilievre.
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— Jeff’s Fact Checker (@thunderbayed.bsky.social) November 15, 2024 at 9:23 AM
Conservative Albertans are excited about the prospect of a Trump presidency. They’re almost certainly going to live to regret that. #cdnpoli #abpoli www.nationalobserver.com/2024/11/15/o…
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— Max Fawcett (@maxfawcett.bsky.social) November 15, 2024 at 9:23 AM
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