American Politics – Babel-on-the-Bay

Boxing Day Blues.

December 26, 2023December 25, 2023 by Peter Lowry

Americans missed out on this one. The celebration on December 26, of Boxing Day that originated in England, never caught on in the American colonies. It is understandable, when you consider that it was a day for giving things to the poor and people who do the menial, under-paid chores for our society.

Canadians have Americanized the holiday by making it a time to buy things for themselves. It is just another day for shopping.

We Americanize a lot of things in this country. After all Canada’s population is strung out along the 5.5-thousand-mile border with its American neighbour. The only establishments guarding that unprotected border are outlet malls.

Canadians like to worry about the United States. America is our largest trading partner and we are never appreciated until the American administration needs something. There is always some American commodity organization complaining about our supposedly unfair trading practices because of government subsidies, in the guise of lower taxes or stumpage or our lower dollar. Sometimes we wonder if it is all worth all the trouble.

But our main concern in the coming year is the presidential election in the American Republic, next November. It is the stark fear that Donald Trump will find a way through the quagmire of charges and litigation to win the College of Electors and win a second four years in the Washington White House. As far as Canada is concerned it would be another reign of terror. It would be without the fumbling that marked the fiascos of the first four years. Trump would go for the jugular the second time around. He would be doing nothing more than assuaging his own ego that he can be, the dictator he wants to be. It might not mean the cancelling of the North American trade agreement but it would seem to be of the same effect.

Frankly, we should all be tired of these self-absorbed politicians of the extremist right, who are popping up around the world and have no compassion for us and our needs. There is much to be said for the kindly grandfather in the guise of a Franklin Roosevelt. We all need more people in politics of compassion and caring.

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Bums on the Doorstep.

December 20, 2023December 20, 2023 by Peter Lowry

One of the challenges of publishing a blog is the daily sweeping away of the myriad of organizations who send you story ideas to influence your output. The worst of this bunch are the public relations firms in the U.S. who want you to run stories about the awful Democrats. The worst of these is the one that uses the name Jerry McLothlin to send multiple story suggestions and people to interview every day. I have tried telling McLothlin et al that I am not really interested, but without success.

I suspect that they are having some limited success so they ignore your pleas to cease and desist. I like to think of them as bums on your doorstep that you have to sweep away each morning. If they really were bums, I would at least give them a toonie to get a morning coffee at Tims.

But these bums insult me. This is not just a stand-alone blog. I am also included in the collective known as Progressive Bloggers. You would think that would scare away these right-wing crazies.

One of those McLothlin missives landed in my in-basket today saying that President Biden’s Ignorance of “What is Happening at the Border Could Create a Major Crisis for the U.S. Before Christmas.” I am sure that one has the U.S. Secret Service puzzled. It reads as more of a threat unless the President caves into the demands of the Republicans. You would swear that Republicans should be more afraid of Putin and his merciless drive for more land to burn.

You wonder what is wrong with those MAGA supporters in the U.S. The silliest stuff comes from Texas.

It is not as though Canada does not have its own Looney-Toons politicians. I always get an up-tick in my U.S. readership when writing about that screw-ball premier we have in Alberta. I have always thought of Alberta as the most Americanized province in Canada. And if you ever want to meet a female version of Donald Trump, she is currently hanging out at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. Just follow your nose north until your nose freezes off and you are in Edmonton.

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Seeds of Civil War.

December 5, 2023December 5, 2023 by Peter Lowry

Recently I wrote that I was tired of writing about Donald Trump. He was boring everybody. That was until he started entertaining his followers with how he intended to use Americans against Americans. This man might be a compulsive liar and a damn fool but the prospect of a second American civil war is not good news. It is when Donald Trump refers to New York and Chicago as “crime dens.” He promises to treat those cities differently if he can get back into the White House. He intends to use the U.S. Army—and not to give shooting lessons.

What was surprising in Trump’s complaint about the two major democratic cities was that he was complaining about the number of shootings. He told his audience about the number of shootings that took place and the number of fatalities. At first, I thought he was complaining that the shooters were not very accurate. It was just surprising how few of the shootings were fatal.

But any military expert can tell you that wounded enemy soldiers are even better than dead as they become non-combatants and take up medical resources.

And since the United States already has more guns in civilian hands than the military—and, in fact, by a factor of almost 20 to one, it could be a very bad scene.

Mind you, judging by the mental acuity of your typical Trump supporter in America, I would not want to be the bookmaker taking odds on the outcome.

Looking at the logistics for the Trump side, would be the problem of militarizing the American borders. Wide spread rioting and looting in major cities could be out of control very quickly. Elements both north and south of those borders would want to get in on some of that action and the situation would get quickly out of control.

But that is Donald Trump for you, always out of control.

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The Tiring Trail of Trump.

November 30, 2023November 29, 2023 by Peter Lowry

As a political commentator, I am tired of Donald Trump. He is no longer a mystery. He bores us. He barely holds the draw of Pierre Poilievre in Canada. Even the Donald’s lies are boring. His histrionics are wasted. He is old news.

But don’t ask any of the Donald’s supporters south of the 49^th Parallel. They are blind to his faults and ignorant of his objectives. Would you believe they think he is going to make America great again? So why does he have to pull it down first?

Yet there appears to be a drift. Very gradually, the Donald’s lustre is fading. There are American Republicans looking around, casually, wondering what the flavour of the month could be next November?

Like Pierre Poilievre here, the right wing of the political divide can neither be believed nor be trusted. Just the other day when news broke about the strange event at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, Poilievre rushed to the news media saying it was a reported terrorist attack and then lectured a Canadian Press reporter on accuracy in reporting.

Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau was sitting back and waiting for more information. The breaking news on my computer had to do a lot of back-tracking that day. And thank goodness most of the panicked response was on the American side of the bridge. In fact, the entire event and the panic was on the American side.

And Mr. Poilievre had egg on his face, again for being obnoxious with the media.

The problem is that Canadians do not have the certainty of Americans on just when the election will take place. Mr. Trump can plot with confidence that the presidential election will be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November next year which will be November 5, 2024.

If Mr. Trump can stay out of jail until then, he just might have a better chance to really defeat Joe Biden. As it is, he has more than enough legal problems to keep him answering for them until he is 100.

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Trying Trump.

November 13, 2023November 12, 2023 by Peter Lowry

The trial that Donald Trump and his co-defendants are currently undergoing in New York City is not a question of guilt or innocence. The State of New York knows that Trump and the others committed the offence. They know that Trump properties and other assets were overstated in value in a continued effort to deceive banks, lenders and fellow Americans as to the real wealth of Mr. Trump. This trial is seeking an appropriate penalty.

It has been obvious to observers for more than five years that Mr. Trump had a reason to conceal his real wealth. Where former American presidents were willing to release their financial figures, Mr. Trump refused. He lied to Americans. Any thinking person would realize that the only reason to hide the real figures is to cover up the fiction that he is a multi-billionaire. He has no bragging rights to such wealth.

Mr. Trump is a property developer. Regrettably, there is a tendency in that business to over-inflate the value of properties to cover mortgages and loans needed to finance development projects. The truth has never been a Trump ally.

As much as we might want our politicians to tell the truth, Mr. Trump carried this penchant for creative falsehoods with him to the White House. While some people might assume that all politicians lie, the truth is that the voters would prefer that they were not told lies.

Americans have never before seen anything like the final days of Mr. Trump’s time in the White House. It was his time of denial. He denied that he lost in his bid for re-election. He claimed he was cheated. He asked loyal followers to join in insurrection. He instigated the January six attack on the Capitol He took classified documents with him when he had to leave the White House. It was not an orderly transition.

Mr. Trump is still complaining.

Mr. Trump still wants to be president. He is planning to run next year. He is planning to run despite the verdicts of the courts. He is planning to run despite many American Republicans who do not want him to be their candidate. The arguments will continue over the coming year.

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PP: Not While I’m Eating.

October 28, 2023October 27, 2023 by Peter Lowry

There is a video clip doing the rounds of MP Pierre Poilievre eating an apple while being interviewed. He should only hope that the other guy in the clip knows the Heimlich Manoeuvre. Not that I was hoping that he would choke to death but to teach the little twerp not to be so damn arrogant.

He keeps getting more and more pleased with himself every time you see him in action these days. He is certainly taking the arrogant approach to politics to new heights.

It is unusual. The last time we saw that kind of right-wing arrogance was when Donald Trump first won the republican nomination in 2016. I think the Poilievre touch is a bit lighter. His lies are more poetic. He uses a feather duster where Donald Trump uses a meat axe. I think Trump gathers his flocks a little further down intellect from those Poilievre targets.

Mind you, you need to be ‘kinda’ dumb to buy into the BS of either one of these guys. Their basic problem is that they feel they have to lie to make their point. If they were in opposing businesses instead of politics, Trudeau would have dragged Poilievre into court for defamation a long time ago. American politics seems to have no boundaries.

Donald Trump has the singular honour of being the only American president to be impeached twice. I am not sure just what could happen to Poilievre in the Canadian parliament. You can get rid of a prime minister with a simple vote of non-confidence.

And most Canadians seem to understand that the majority of the popular vote does not necessarily win you the government. The Canadian electoral system has its own quirks. The American system of government seems to be built on quirks.

Up here, we blame the errors in our constitution on Queen Victoria and her 19^th Century politicians in the United Kingdom of England and Ireland. In the United States of America, it was a bunch of white male landowners who gathered in Philadelphia and left the entire country in a constant state of confusion.

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American Chaos.

October 5, 2023October 4, 2023 by Peter Lowry

It is not that we have been ignoring what is going on with the Americans. We just keep hoping it will heal itself. Past President Trump is under indictment and on trial in a few states and it seems that he sees no problem to continue running to be president again.

These are uncharted seas. The man continues to delude himself that he can again run for president. And the people who want to vote for him who are suffering from the same delusion.

The really scary part of this fiasco in the United States is that it happened before. It must have been the soap opera that entertained us through the pandemic. Watching the antics of Trump and friends in the White House was our entertainment. It was unreal. It couldn’t happen here, we told ourselves. We lied to ourselves.

We’ve got a guy named Pierre Poilievre who is further right wing than Trump and friends, thinking he can be prime minister of Canada. If you believe pollsters, two years before the voting, can pick a winner, you might be just as deluded as those poor Americans.

Can you just imagine a pissing contest between the American White House and the falling down 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa? And you thought relations were bad between Ottawa and New Delhi? Just wait until you’ve got two right-wing twits slinging right-wing insults back and forth on the Internet. And we used to think that aluminium embargoes in the East and softwood lumber in the west were a strain on our economy?

With our luck, President Trump would send a platoon of American Marines to Ottawa to arrest the Canadian prime minister. Maybe we could embed a CBC camera crew and reporter with the Marines to record the historic event. We would see the Marines asking directions of an Ottawa police officer on how to get to Sussex Drive. They could still go to the wrong side of Sussex and break into Rideau Hall in error. Imagine taking the Governor General back to Washington as a prisoner of war. Would she have to confess to the burning down the White House in the War of 1812?

Would the Americans expect the Brits to pay a ransom for their Governor General?

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A Matter of Some Concern.

August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by Peter Lowry

We interrupt this stream of commentaries to discuss a matter of some concern. It has to do with the leader of the American dip sticks. His leadership is in jeopardy. He is being threatened with incarceration. That means he could be headed for prison, you bunch of yo-yos.

That is right. Your Mr. Trump is headed for the gaol.

In all of the judicial joints, in all of the towns in this country, he will eventually find a democratic judiciary who will throw his sorry ass in jail. That is where it belongs you know. The prosecutors have the evidence. All you need do is watch the video of his address to the miscreants. It is called incitement to riot. It pointed them in the direction of their nation’s capitol and told them to attack, to pillage, to do harm to the innocent, to obstruct the proceedings of the country.

Yes, Mr. Trump is going to prison, tra-la.

It will be a trial four years in the making. The White House will not be part of the end result. The House Committee was but a passing fancy. Mar-a-Largo will be but a distant refuge. There are no golf courses in the Club Fed prisons.

Poor Mr. Trump will not make par.

But here is the rub, my friends. Will they or won’t they give Mr. Trump a prison hair cut? Will his golden locks be shorn? Who but his wife and girl friends would recognize The Donald without his hair? And who would recognize him in prison denim? Will the hair be preserved in a safe humidor to preserve its golden lustre? Will it be there for him when he is restored to his family and friends that so fervently wish him dead.

And will we finally learn the truth of the Trump billions?

It has all been a sham, has it not? If you have billions, why would you ask your fellow billionaires for millions?

Is the truth of the Trump billions now to emerge? The con that led him through the cons to the White House could now be laid bare. Has it finally been proved that a pauper can wend his way to the White House?

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Trump’s Stand in Dixieland.

April 22, 2023April 21, 2023 by Peter Lowry

I always thought Dixieland was just a form of jazz. After the years of Donald Trump, today’s Dixie is just a place of darkness. It is a place of closed minds wrapped in ignorance. It is a place of small steps towards the light. It has chosen Donald Trump and it matters to the entire world.

It is not just Canadians and Mexican’s who fear Trump’s return. He cares nothing for Canada. It is his place of only one hotel in his world-wide game of Monopoly. He is titillated by his pal Putin in Russia. He would abandon Ukraine. He would have the might of America stand down. He would abandon America’s friends in his admiration for petty dictators and brutal regimes.

Trump builds walls, not bridges. He cares little in a country of guns, that are used to kill children. Trump Land is a place where people shoot first, alibi later. Never knock on a stranger’s door. The criminal National Rifle Association lobbies hard for more guns instead of better control of guns.

It is hard to explain why Trump wants the hollow victory he can get at the polls. He has little to no respect for America’s Republican Party. They are his toilet tissue, of brief use and function. He uses lies about those who oppose him. Why bother with truth when lies titillate and deceive. He is not fit to rule. He does not care for people. He wants subjects, not their problems. It is all about him.

He laughs at the charges against him in New York. The effort for justice will have the same effect as the wasted shells fired on Fort Sumter in the First American Civil War. In Dixie, they manage to forget that while the South captured Fort Sumter, the South also lost that war.

America is a country deeply divided. There seems to be little effort between the red and blue states to seek peace. Yet peace can be achieved. Compromise is possible.

All it takes is leadership. There was a lot of admiration for Liz Cheney—a Republican who put truth first. In a population of over 300 million people, there have got to be peace makers. They deserve support.

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The New Politics?

September 22, 2022September 21, 2022 by Peter Lowry

In writing recently about the similarities of Pierre Poilievre and Donald Trump, I kept walking around the obvious. Putting a political label on either of them is difficult. The truth is that their politics needs a new name. It isn’t as authoritarian as European fascism. It lacks the corporatism. And only Trump shows signs of racism. And neither is a real libertarian.

Both Poilievre and Trump have this inability to stick to the truth. That might just be the belief of politicians that if you say something frequently and loudly, it can become a truth, of sorts. Mr. Trump is under the impression that he was the winner between he and Joe Biden. And poor Pierre Poilievre thought (until recently) that Bitcoin was a good investment. No doubt both the gentlemen can be easily deluded.

But I mentioned the other day that they both need their hard-core supporters. The ‘brown shirts’ (and shirtless) who carried out Trump’s insurrection in the American Capitol could have used some better leadership. Poilievre’s trucker convoy had lost most of its leaders to jail cells or restraining orders before the police got them properly kettled and ran them out of the nation’s capital.

I tend to think of the two as buskers, playing for nickels and dimes on the periphery of politics. Trump caught everyone by surprise by winning in 2016 and the American public made sure he lost in 2020. He was a sorry spectacle in the White House.

The striking difference between Trump and Poilievre is that Trump started out in 2015 with no clue about how politics really works and Poilievre has no clue about anything outside of politics. I would say that Poilievre is the loser in the sense that his entire working life has been nothing but politics.

They both seem to think they can be dictatorial. It was probably Trump’s greatest disappointment in office. People kept telling him what he could not do. His only solution was to hire people who would lie to him. At least he felt better.

Other than ridiculous promises to end inflation, end government handouts and to prevent increases in taxes in the future, we have no clear idea of what Poilievre would do as prime minister. Like Trump, he obviously has no idea what to do about climate change or pandemics or inflation.

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